Payroll Specialist

Job Purpose

Own statutory payroll compliance and governance across eight APJ markets from a Malaysia-based hub, ensuring local statutory obligations are met in each jurisdiction while maintaining a consistent regional governance framework, risk controls, and audit readiness. Provide support and backup Payroll Specialist Monthly payroll process and statutory filings.

Key Responsiblities

• Monitor, interpret, and ensure compliance with local statutory payroll requirements across all in-scope countries:

• Track legislative changes across all eight markets and translate them into process or system updates.
• Partner with local tax/legal advisors or in-country finance teams to validate statutory interpretations, especially in complex markets such as Japan, India, and Indonesia.
• Maintain awareness of state/prefecture-level variance — e.g. Australia payroll tax by state, India Professional Tax by state.

Governance and Controls

• Design and maintain a regional governance framework with standardized SOPs, allowing for legally required local variation.
• Define control ownership: approvals, segregation of duties, and statutory filing sign-off matrix across all eight countries.
• Maintain a master statutory filing calendar spanning all markets — deadlines vary significantly by frequency and jurisdiction (e.g. Japan's nenmatsu chosei is annual; Malaysia's PCB is monthly).
• Support internal and external audits and statutory authority reviews, coordinating documentation across time zones.

Risk Management

• Maintain a regional risk register capturing compliance exposure by country.
• Flag jurisdictions with elevated regulatory change velocity — e.g. Indonesia's evolving BPJS/tax rules, Australia's STP Phase 2 requirements — for closer monitoring.
• Escalate material gaps to regional d global stakeholders with clear remediation timelines.

Vendor and Stakeholder Management

• Manage in-country payroll vendors and BPOs across all eight markets, holding them to statutory SLAs.
• Serve as the single point of contact for statutory queries from Finance, Legal, HR, and auditors across the region.
• Liaise with local tax or social security authorities and advisors as needed.

Reporting and Documentation

• Maintain country-specific statutory compliance calendars and a centralized knowledge repository.
• Produce governance reporting — compliance dashboards, audit status, risk heat maps — for leadership, consolidated across all eight markets.
• Document jurisdiction-specific nuances, such as dual social insurance systems in Indonesia and state payroll tax thresholds in Australia.

Continuous Improvement

• Drive standardization and automation of statutory processes across markets where feasible.
• Support payroll system and tax engine implementations from a compliance lens.
• Provide training to in-country payroll teams on statutory changes, particularly where requirements shift frequently.
• Utilize AI-enabled tools (e.g., chatbots, documentation automation, analytics assistants) to improve efficiency, accuracy, and streamline routine tasks while following company AI governance and data privacy standards.

While the job description describes what is anticipated as the requirements of the position, the job requirements are subject to change based upon any changing needs and requirements of the business.

• Cross-time-zone stakeholder management, given APJ spans multiple time zones from a Malaysia base.
• Strong analytical skills to navigate eight distinct legal and regulatory regimes simultaneously.
• Ability to communicate complex statutory requirements clearly to non-specialist stakeholders.
• English required; proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia is useful given the base location. 

• 3-5 years in payroll with hands-on multi-country APJ statutory compliance experience.
• Direct experience with at least four to five of the eight markets in scope; working knowledge of the rest.
• Experience managing payroll vendors and BPOs across multiple jurisdictions from a regional hub.
• Strong grasp of statutory frameworks: Malaysia (EPF/SOCSO/PCB), Singapore (CPF), Australia (Super/STP/payroll tax), Japan (Shakai Hoken), Hong Kong (MPF), Indonesia (BPJS/PPh21), India (PF/ESI), and Vietnam (SI/HI/UI/PIT).
• Familiarity with SOX/SOC 2-style control environments.
• Working knowledge of payroll platforms such as Workday, ADP, SAP SuccessFactors, or local in-country systems.
• Bachelor's degree in HR/Accounting, or a related field. Payroll or tax certification (e.g. Certified Payroll Professional, or local equivalents) is a plus.

Tungsten Automation Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Vets