Senior Payroll Specialist (Global)

Who We Are: Alpaca is a US-headquartered self-clearing broker-dealer and brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, 24/5 trading, and more. Our recent Series D funding round brought our total investment to over $320 million, fueling our ambitious vision. Amongst our subsidiaries, Alpaca is a licensed financial services company, serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with our institutional-grade APIs. This includes broker-dealers, investment advisors, wealth managers, hedge funds, and crypto exchanges, totalling over 9 million brokerage accounts. Our global team is a diverse group of experienced engineers, traders, and brokerage professionals who are working to achieve our mission of opening financial services to everyone on the planet. We're deeply committed to open-source contributions and fostering a vibrant community, continuously enhancing our award-winning, developer-friendly API and the robust infrastructure behind it. Alpaca is proudly backed by top-tier global investors, including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Derayah Financial, Elefund, and Y Combinator. Our Team Members: We're a dynamic team of 230+ globally distributed members who thrive working from our favorite places around the world, with teammates spanning the USA, Canada, Japan, Hungary, Nigeria, Brazil, the UK, and beyond! We're searching for passionate individuals eager to contribute to Alpaca's rapid growth. If you align with our core values—Stay Curious, Have Empathy, and Be Accountable—and are ready to make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply. About the Role We are seeking a Senior Payroll Specialist (Global) to own and operationalize payroll across a rapidly scaling international organization. This role will centralize payroll operations within Finance and support our continued global expansion, including growth to ~500 employees this year. The ideal candidate is a hands-on payroll professional with strong international aptitude, comfortable navigating multiple tax jurisdictions, Employer of Record (EOR) structures, and Professional Employer Organization (PEO) relationships. This individual will play a key role in supporting potential transitions off the U.S. PEO model, improving payroll controls, and partnering on upcoming Human Resource Information System (HRIS) and ERP initiatives. This is an operationally focused role with meaningful exposure to strategic projects and system implementations. Key Responsibilities Global Payroll Operations Manage end-to-end payroll processing across three global payroll tiers: Direct payrolls (U.S., Canada, UK/Wealth Kernel) Vendor-supported international payrolls (e.g., Singapore, India, Hungary, Japan, Bahamas) Employer of Record (EOR) arrangements Serve as primary operational owner of global payroll processes within Finance. Centralize payroll administration, including transition of new entity payrolls into shared services. Ensure payroll compliance across multiple tax and employment regimes. Partner with local consultants and vendors to validate statutory requirements. North America Payroll & PEO Management Support evaluation and potential transition off the U.S. PEO model. Maintain and optimize payroll operations through ADP (or future provider). Coordinate closely with HR and Finance regarding 401(k), benefits administration, and related payroll implications. Assist with state unemployment insurance and provincial payroll setup (including Quebec). Accounting & Finance Integration Prepare and support: Payroll reconciliations Journal entries Accruals (PTO, bonuses, commissions, etc.) Ensure payroll data integrates accurately with ERP and finance systems. Partner with Finance to strengthen internal controls and audit readiness. Support permanent establishment risk monitoring by maintaining clean payroll and contractor classification records. Systems & Process Improvement Partner with Finance and HR to ensure strong integration between HRIS and existing payroll tools. Help evaluate integration considerations with current ERP (Sage) and future ERP replacement. Reduce manual work through improved reporting, automation, and system-driven processes. Ensure payroll data resides in structured system reports, reducing reliance on tribal knowledge. Cross-Functional Partnership Work closely with HR on benefits changes (including annual March decision cycles). Collaborate with Finance leadership on scalability planning as the company grows. Provide training and documentation to ensure continuity and process clarity. Receive transition support from internal team members for UK/Spanish payroll knowledge transfer. Qualifications Required 5+ years of progressive payroll experience, including multi-state U.S. payroll. Demonstrated exposure to international payroll environments (direct payroll, vendor-supported, or EOR models). Strong understanding of payroll accounting, reconciliations, and accruals. Experience working with ADP or similar enterprise payroll platforms. Comfort managing PEO relationships and understanding their operational implications. High attention to detail with strong systems aptitude. Ability to operate effectively across different tax jurisdictions and regulatory frameworks. Strong Excel and reporting skills. Preferred Experience supporting payroll transitions off PEO structures. Experience participating in HIS or HRIS implementations. Familiarity with ERP systems (Sage preferred). Exposure to permanent establishment considerations and contractor classification compliance. CPP, FPC, or international payroll certifications (a plus). How We Take Care of You: Competitive Salary & Stock Options Health Benefits New Hire Home-Office Setup: One-time USD $500 Monthly Stipend: USD $150 per month via a Brex Card Alpaca is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce. Recruitment Privacy Policy