Payroll Systems Analyst

About the role

Wave, a fintech building financial services for Africa, is hiring a Payroll Systems Analyst to streamline its payroll operations and build the tools that connect payroll to the wider business. The role reports to the HR Systems Lead in the HR Technology team, joins after the new HRIS goes live, and acts as a bridge between Payroll, People and Finance and the technical side. It covers multi-country payroll, different statutory and tax regimes, multiple currencies and local requirements.

Key responsibilities

• Map current payroll runs in each market (inputs, calendars, cut-offs, approvals, handoffs with HR and Finance, in-country providers) and identify manual or duplicated effort.
• Align global payroll standards, system controls and RACIs while accommodating local statutory requirements.
• Define how payroll requests, changes and issues are received, tracked and resolved, for example through an internal service desk.
• Train Payroll team members on new processes and tools and act as their main partner for systems questions.
• Build an in-house payroll-to-finance reconciliation tool, defining logic (headcount, gross-to-net, employer costs, accruals, cost center and entity mapping, FX, variance thresholds) and automating data ingestion with clear exception reporting.
• Stabilize HRIS-to-payroll data flows after go-live, analyze workflows and integrations to reduce manual inputs and spreadsheets, and support future provider changes and new markets.
• Coordinate testing of legislative and system updates so statutory changes are applied correctly.
• Own payroll data quality, run regular audits, develop reporting and dashboards (payroll cost by entity and country, period-over-period variance), and manage data privacy and access controls in line with GDPR.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Information Systems, Business Administration or a related field.
• 3+ years of experience in HRIS, payroll operations, payroll systems or payroll accounting, ideally in a multi-country or multi-entity organization.
• Fluent in English and French.
• Nice to have: payroll experience in francophone West Africa or with OHADA accounting, Workday or another enterprise HRIS, and a payroll certification (CPP, FPC, CIPP).

Required skills

• Hands-on payroll-to-general ledger reconciliation and end-to-end payroll processes.
• Experience with third-party payroll providers and data flows between HRIS, payroll and finance.
• Documenting, standardizing and improving processes, controls, checklists and RACIs.
• Advanced Excel/Google Sheets; BI tools such as Sigma, Power BI or Looker.
• Building tools or automations (scripts, Apps Script, Workato or Zapier), or strong interest in learning them.

What we offer

• Remote work from anywhere between UTC -8 and +4, with up to three in-person meetups per year funded by the company.
• Annual gross salary up to $125,900 depending on level and location.
• Subsidized health insurance for you and dependents and retirement contributions.
• 6 months fully paid parental leave and subsidized fertility assistance.
• Flexible vacation (most take 30-40 days per year) and $10,000 annual charitable donation matching.

To apply, use the application form and upload a resume in English and a cover letter describing your interest in Wave and the role.