Payroll Specialist Lead - Japan

📋 Description

• • Own and elevate the end-to-end payroll process for Remote’s rapidly growing Japan entity, ensuring 100 % accuracy, statutory compliance and on-time delivery for 300 + employees across multiple prefectures and employment types (full-time, part-time, contractors, secondees).
• • Act as the primary escalation point for complex payroll queries from employees, People Business Partners and Finance; translate intricate Japan-specific regulations (gensen chōshū, shakai hoken, kōsei nenkin, employment insurance, inhabitant taxes, year-end adjustments) into clear, actionable guidance that keeps everyone compliant and confident.
• • Design and continuously improve scalable payroll workflows, SOPs and control checklists that reduce manual touchpoints, cut processing time by 20 % and eliminate audit findings; champion automation initiatives with our global Product & Engineering teams to integrate Japan nuances into Remote’s proprietary payroll engine.
• • Partner closely with Accounting, Treasury and FP&A to ensure accurate GL mapping, cash-flow forecasting and month-end close; provide insightful payroll analytics (cost-center splits, overtime trends, tax equalisation impacts) that inform leadership decisions and support board-level reporting.
• • Lead, mentor and up-skill a small but mighty team of Japan payroll administrators; conduct quarterly capability assessments, create individual development plans and foster a culture of continuous learning that positions Remote as the employer of choice for top-tier payroll talent in APAC.
• • Serve as the key liaison with external vendors—payroll software providers, social-insurance offices, tax agents and labour consultants—negotiating SLAs, monitoring performance and ensuring seamless data exchange while safeguarding employee privacy under Japan’s APPI and GDPR-equivalent standards.
• • Drive year-end statutory activities (December payroll, January withholding summaries, February filing of statutory reports) with zero defects; coordinate closely with employees on dependent declarations, mortgage deductions and hometown tax to maximise take-home pay and employee satisfaction.
• • Collaborate with Legal & Compliance to interpret new legislation (e.g., upcoming invoice system, work-style reform updates) and translate regulatory changes into system configuration updates and employee communications delivered weeks before deadlines.
• • Champion a “remote-first” employee experience by crafting bilingual (Japanese & English) self-service resources, hosting live Q&A webinars and maintaining an internal knowledge base that empowers employees to resolve 80 % of routine questions without ticket escalation.
• • Represent Remote in local payroll networks, industry roundtables and government consultations, feeding market intelligence back into our global Total Rewards strategy and reinforcing our reputation as a thought leader in compliant, borderless employment.
• • Contribute to cross-border mobility projects—shadow payrolls, hypothetical tax calculations, permanent-establishment risk assessments—supporting Remote’s mission to hire the best talent regardless of geography while protecting both company and employee from unforeseen liabilities.
• • Maintain rigorous SOX-level controls: segregation of duties, audit trails, quarterly access reviews and semi-annual payroll reconciliations that satisfy Big-4 auditors and venture-fund investors alike.
• • Deliver an exceptional employee experience measured by ≥ 90 % eNPS on payroll-related surveys and ≤ 24-hour resolution time for tier-2 tickets, turning payroll from a back-office function into a strategic differentiator for talent retention.