Payroll Lead

Helsing is a defence AI company. Our mission is to protect our democracies. We aim to achieve technological leadership, so that open societies can continue to make sovereign decisions and control their ethical standards.

As democracies, we believe we have a special responsibility to be thoughtful about the development and deployment of powerful technologies like AI. We take this responsibility seriously.

We are an ambitious and committed team of engineers, AI specialists and customer-facing programme managers. We are looking for mission-driven people to join our European teams – and apply their skills to solve the most complex and impactful problems. We embrace an open and transparent culture that welcomes healthy debates on the use of technology in defence, its benefits, and its ethical implications.

The role

As the Payroll Lead, you will build, oversee, and continuously develop a world-class payroll operations organisation, encompassing both internal teams and outsourced partners. Acting as the operational authority for payroll, you will provide legislative guidance to the business and deliver a high-trust employee payroll experience. You will play a fundamental role in the People Team, coordinating the delivery of accurate and timely global payroll for all employees across multiple regions and entities through our external payroll providers.

The day-to-day

• Oversee the end-to-end execution of global payroll processing and coordinate with external vendors to deliver accurate, compliant, and on-time payroll results across multiple regions, entities, and pay frequencies
• Guide and develop our Payroll Specialist and outsourced partners, establishing high standards for performance, accountability, and operational excellence
• Act as the operational authority for payroll, maintaining the integrity of all employee pay data across multiple systems and HR, finance, and accounting pipelines
• Identify, investigate, and resolve complex payroll issues and system discrepancies sustainably, applying clear judgment and root-cause analysis to eliminate recurrence and reduce operational risk
• Design and build the payroll support operating model, including case workflows, intake channels, escalation paths, service-level agreements (SLAs), and quality standards
• Build and maintain a rigorous control environment, ensuring external providers uphold strict compliance with all statutory requirements, alongside process documentation, approvals, reconciliations, and audit-ready evidence
• Manage and conduct audits in the areas of payroll accounting and social security in collaboration with internal and external partners within the respective legal jurisdictions
• Architect payroll workflows using automation and AI-powered tools to facilitate improvements in speed, accuracy, efficiency, and scalability with vendors

You should apply if you

• Possess extensive experience overseeing global payroll operations in scaling environments, specifically managing and coordinating external payroll provider relationships
• Hold deep foundational knowledge in finance, HR, law, or economics as applied to payroll operations
• Bring global payroll coordination experience with a comprehensive focus on Germany and the wider DACH region
• Possess an excellent working knowledge of global payroll regulations, tax requirements, and standard payroll compliance
• Exhibit excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with meticulous attention to detail
• Communicate fluently in German and English to effectively coordinate with local authorities, vendors, and stakeholders

Note: We operate in an industry where women, as well as other minority groups, are systematically under-represented. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all the listed qualifications; ability and impact cannot be summarised in a few bullet points.

Nice to have

• Have background managing international payroll or tax advisory and integrating HRIS platforms (such as HiBob) with payroll systems (such as DATEV or ADP)
• Demonstrate effective guidance skills, direct communication, and a commitment to continuous professional growth and learning

Join Helsing and work with world-leading experts in their fields

• Helsing’s work is important. You’ll be directly contributing to the protection of democratic countries while balancing both ethical and geopolitical concerns
• The work is unique. We operate in a domain that has highly unusual technical requirements and constraints, and where robustness, safety, and ethical considerations are vital. You will face unique Engineering and AI challenges that make a meaningful impact in the world
• Our work frequently takes us right up to the state of the art in technical innovation, be it reinforcement learning, distributed systems, generative AI, or deployment infrastructure. The defence industry is entering the most exciting phase of the technological development curve. Advances in our field of world are not incremental: Helsing is part of, and often leading, historic leaps forward
• In our domain, success is a matter of order-of-magnitude improvements and novel capabilities. This means we take bets, aim high, and focus on big opportunities. Despite being a relatively young company, Helsing has already been selected for multiple significant government contracts
• We actively encourage healthy, proactive, and diverse debate internally about what we do and how we choose to do it. Teams and individual engineers are trusted (and encouraged) to practise responsible autonomy and critical thinking, and to focus on outcomes, not conformity. At Helsing you will have a say in how we (and you!) work, the opportunity to engage on what does and doesn’t work, and to take ownership of aspects of our culture that you care deeply about

What we offer

• Competitive salary and stock options (ESOP)
• Relocation support: up to €2,500 and 4 weeks temporary accommodation
• Learning: €500/£450 yearly allowance
• Health & wellness: gym membership and mental health support (Nilo.health)
• Social: regular company events and monthly social allowances
• Enhanced parental leave: 22 weeks fully paid for primary caregivers & 6 weeks for secondary caregivers
• Family support: 5 days of paid family emergency leave, 100% remote work option during pregnancy and phased return to work

These are the core benefits across all locations; there may be additional benefits in specific sites.

Helsing is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or gender identity. Please do not submit personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning your health, or data concerning your sexual orientation.