Xemplo is building a technology-led payroll business across Australia and New Zealand, connecting payroll with HR, onboarding, compliance and the broader Xemplo platform.

We are looking for a senior operational leader to strengthen and scale our managed payroll function across ANZ.

This role is accountable for how the payroll operation performs and evolves. That includes the operating model, team structure, service performance, capacity, customer risk, process improvement, automation and the effective use of technology.

Working closely with the Head of Payroll Delivery, Product, Technology, Enablement, Customer Success and the executive team, you will create a more disciplined, measurable and scalable payroll operation.

The Head of Payroll Delivery remains the technical authority for payroll, responsible for payroll execution, technical accuracy, complex payroll matters and day-to-day technical guidance to the payroll team.

The Head of Payroll Operations & Transformation is the operational authority for the payroll function, responsible for ensuring the broader operation performs effectively and can scale.

The role Your first priority will be to establish a clear and consistent operating model across ANZ.

You will bring greater structure to how the payroll team is organised, how work is allocated, how capacity is understood and how service performance is measured. You will establish clear accountability, service standards and escalation pathways, while improving visibility of customer risk and operational performance.

A significant part of the role will be understanding where effort is being consumed and why. You will use operational data to identify bottlenecks, unnecessary manual work, process inconsistency and service risk, then lead the changes required to address them.





You will work closely with the Head of Payroll Delivery to ensure operational improvements support payroll quality and technical integrity, while allowing that role to remain focused on payroll execution, technical leadership and complex payroll matters.

You will also partner with Product and Technology to reduce operational friction, improve automation and create stronger connections between payroll, HR, onboarding and employee data.

As Xemplo grows, you will help ensure that new customers, teams and potentially acquired payroll businesses can be brought into a repeatable and scalable operating model without simply increasing headcount at the same rate as revenue.

What you will be accountable for

- Building a consistent, scalable ANZ payroll operating model.
- Improving team structure, capacity planning, resourcing and operational accountability.
- Establishing clear service measures, controls and performance visibility.
- Leading process improvement, standardisation and automation.
- Improving customer onboarding and the transition into managed payroll.
- Partnering with Product and Technology to improve the payroll operating environment.
- Providing explicit visibility to leadership on performance, capacity, customer risk and investment priorities.

- How success will be measured Success in this role will be visible in the way the payroll operation performs.

We expect to see clearer accountability, better capacity visibility, stronger service consistency, fewer customer escalations and reduced operational risk.

The function should become less dependent on manual intervention,



with greater automation and better use of data to support decision making.

Most importantly, the payroll operation should be capable of supporting material customer growth without requiring proportional increases in headcount.

Working with the Head of Payroll Delivery The Head of Payroll Delivery remains responsible for payroll execution, technical payroll quality, complex payroll escalations, payroll interpretation and day-to-day technical guidance to the payroll team.

You will be responsible for the operating environment around that delivery, including structure, performance, capacity, resourcing, process, service standards, customer risk and scalability.

Together, these roles provide both strong technical payroll leadership and strong operational leadership.

About you You are an experienced operational leader who knows how to take a complex service environment and make it more structured, measurable and scalable.

You may come from payroll, managed services, shared services, BPO, professional services or another transaction-intensive operational environment.

You have experience leading operational teams, improving service performance, redesigning processes and using data to make better decisions. You are comfortable working across technology, people and process, and you know how to move from analysis into implementation.

Strong payroll operations experience is highly desirable. You do not need to be the most technically experienced payroll practitioner in the organisation, but you must understand the complexity, controls and risks involved in running a high-quality managed payroll service.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can diagnose operational problems, establish accountability, implement change and make sure the improvements stick.

📌 Head of Payroll Operations & Transformation ANZ (Sydney)
🏢 Xemplo
📍 Sydney