Payroll Specialist (Part-Time)

About the Role & Our Culture

We are looking for an experienced Payroll Specialist to join us on a part-time basis (3 days per week / flexible hourly equivalent).

This is a part-time role with genuine flexibility. You structure your own 3 days around deadlines and payroll cycles, and we trust you to deliver without the need for micromanagement.

This is a hands-on, delivery-focused role where you will lead and coordinate our end-to-end monthly payroll process across all of our legal entities and Employer of Record (EoR) arrangements. Working closely with external providers, you will prepare and validate inputs, review gross-level outputs, and ensure proper documentation and audit readiness.

While sitting within the People team, you will serve as the vital link between Finance and People teams, handling employee pay queries and proactively improving processes and controls over time.

What You'll Be Doing

• Payroll Coordination & Execution: Manage end-to-end monthly payroll across all entities (DE, UK, US, FR) and EoRs, partnering collaboratively with external providers. Prepare, validate, and review payroll inputs and outputs, ensuring high accuracy and resolving discrepancies. Reconcile payroll data and oversee statutory deductions and filings (taxes, pensions, benefits).

• People Interface: Act as the key liaison between the Finance and People teams on all payroll matters. Review and validate monthly payroll journal entries, ensuring accurate cost center allocations and correct treatment of employer-related payroll expenses. Perform monthly balance sheet reconciliations of payroll-related accounts (accruals, liabilities, clearing) within the month-end close timeline. Maintain accurate records, audit trails, and supporting documentation to ensure audit readiness across all entities.

• Employee Support & Compliance: Serve as the first point of contact for payroll queries from employees, ensuring clear, empathetic, and timely responses. Ensure compliance with payroll regulations across jurisdictions and drive continuous process improvements.

What We're Looking For

• Multi-country payroll experience: A solid understanding of running payroll across Germany and at least one other jurisdiction (UK or US), with the ability to manage each independently and concurrently.

• Statutory Knowledge: Strong understanding of statutory payroll requirements (taxes, pensions, filings) and experience collaborating with external payroll providers.

• Languages: Excellent written and spoken German and English language skills are required; French language skills are a plus.

• Key Attributes: High level of accuracy, attention to detail, and discretion when handling sensitive data. Ability to work independently across multiple payroll cycles and surface issues proactively.

• Communication & Collaboration: Confident collaborating cross-functionally and holding external providers accountable when needed.

• Systems Experience (Helpful, but not required): Previous experience working with an HRIS platform or an EoR platform (such as Papaya Global, Justworks, or HiBob) is a plus. Familiarity with payroll-specific tools like DATEV (or equivalent) is also a helpful advantage, but we are happy to train the right person.

About parcelLab

At parcelLab, we help leading retailers turn post-purchase moments into experiences customers remember and come back for. Our platform is used by iconic brands like John Lewis, AllSaints, Yeti, SharkNinja, and IKEA to power post-checkout communication, drive retention, and build long-term loyalty.

We unify every touchpoint, from customer conversion and order tracking to delivery, returns, and engagement, into one seamless ecosystem. We are a motivated, diverse, and international team made up of over 25 different nationalities. With top-tier ratings for company culture and employee experience on Glassdoor, you’ll love working here!

Why Join Us?

We move fast and build together, offering real ownership, meaningful challenges, and a front-row seat to shaping our processes as we scale. Growth here isn’t about titles or tenure; it’s about taking on bigger challenges, learning fast, and making a real impact. We’ll support you every step of the way, but you will have the autonomy to lead.

What We Offer & Benefits

• Competitive Salary: We offer a highly competitive compensation package scaled to your part-time hours, ensuring your deep experience and seniority are fully valued.

• Remote-First Flexibility & Autonomy: Equipped with the latest MacBook or PC, you choose whether to work entirely from home, in one of our offices, or a mix that suits you. Need to log off for appointments or a family event? No problem—our focus is entirely on output, not presenteeism.

• Regular Quarterly Offsites: Working remotely doesn't mean working alone. We host energetic, structured quarterly offsites that bring the whole team and company together in person. It’s the perfect opportunity to collaborate, align on goals, and bond with colleagues before heading back to your flexible home base.

• Seamless Integration: A comprehensive 30-60-90 day onboarding plan is in place from day one to help you integrate with the team at a manageable pace and confidently understand your responsibilities.

• Room to Grow: Plenty of room for your own ideas... space to try, fail, and learn!

• Career Development: Access to continuous development opportunities, including our Leadership Development Program, online language courses, and dedicated budgets for further training.

• ♀️ Wellbeing: Stay grounded with free meditation, mindfulness, and coaching sessions via our mental wellbeing platform, TELUS.health.

Equal Opportunities

parcelLab is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We live the motto always joy, always team, always equality, which means we celebrate diversity and do not accept any form of discrimination or harassment. We believe that diversity enriches our employee experience and allows each of us to deliver the best work possible.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, disability status, or other lived experience.

Come be part of our growth – contribute your ideas and share in our success as we continue to improve the post-sales customer journey for millions of people every day!