Payroll Project Manager/3 months

At Karl Lagerfeld, you will join a diverse and driven international team working across Europe in a dynamic and fast-growing environment.

The Role

The Payroll Project Manager will lead and coordinate strategic payroll transformation initiatives across our EMEA region, supporting employees in 11 European countries. This role is responsible for planning, coordinating, and delivering payroll-related projects while ensuring business continuity and compliance throughout implementation. Working closely with Payroll, HR, IT, Finance, external vendors, and business stakeholders, the Payroll Project Manager will play a critical role in shaping the future of our payroll landscape.

This role reports directly to the Sr. Manager Payroll & HR Operations and works closely with the Payroll team, HR Specialists, HR Interns, IT, Finance, and external payroll providers.

This is an exciting time to join our team. We are currently driving several strategic transformation projects across Europe, including:

• Implementing a new Human Capital Management (HCM) system.
• Transitioning to new payroll vendors in France and Italy.
• Implementing a time and attendance system.

The Payroll Project Manager will lead and coordinate these initiatives, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope, and with minimal disruption to employees and the business.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead payroll transformation projects across multiple European countries from planning through implementation and post-go-live support.
• Coordinate the transition to new payroll vendors in France and Italy, including planning, testing, parallel runs, cutover activities, and hyper care support.
• Support the implementation of the new Human Capital Management (HCM) system and payroll modules, working closely with HR, IT, vendors, and project teams.
• Develop and maintain detailed project plans, timelines, risk registers, and project documentation.
• Coordinate cross-functional project teams and facilitate collaboration between HR, Payroll, Retail Operations, Finance, IT, Legal, and external vendors.
• Manage project governance by tracking milestones, dependencies, risks, issues, and project budgets where applicable.
• Coordinate payroll data migration, validation, testing (UAT), and reconciliation activities to ensure data quality and payroll accuracy.
• Ensure payroll compliance throughout all project phases by partnering with local payroll providers and internal subject matter experts.
• Support change management activities, including communication, stakeholder engagement, documentation, and user training.
• Identify opportunities to standardize, simplify, and improve payroll processes across Europe.
• Support the Payroll team during project implementation while ensuring continuity of payroll operations.
• Process payroll together with the team.
• Calculate bonuses and commissions.
• Manage relationships with external implementation partners and payroll vendors, monitoring project deliverables and service quality.
• Provide regular project status updates to senior leadership and key stakeholders.
• Support the implementation of future payroll solutions, country rollouts, and payroll setup for new business entities as required.

The Profile

• Minimum 5–8 years of experience in international payroll and project management.
• Proven experience leading payroll implementations, payroll vendor transitions, HRIS/HCM implementations, or large-scale payroll transformation projects.
• Experience managing cross-functional projects involving HR, Payroll, IT, Finance, and external vendors.
• Strong understanding of European payroll processes and payroll compliance; knowledge of Italian and/or French payroll is a significant advantage.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders simultaneously.
• Experience with project planning methodologies, testing, data migration, and change management.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all organizational levels.
• Highly organized, structured, and detail-oriented with strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Proactive, hands-on, and comfortable working in a fast-paced, changing environment.
• Create, perform, and review SOX-related controls.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Excel; experience with project management tools is an advantage.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent higher education qualification.
• Fluent in English; additional European languages are considered a plus.
• Comfortable working in an international and multicultural environment.
• Strong understanding of GDPR and the importance of confidentiality when handling employee data.

Why #TEAMKARL? (HQ)

• Learning and development courses/training
• Opportunity to make an impact
• Remote working arrangements
• Relocation allowance
• Bonus holidays
• Working in the heart of Amsterdam
• Brand discounts
• Exclusive sample sales only for #TEAMKARL