What’s your next big career move? If it involves driving meaningful change, we should talk.
The Director, Global Payroll will lead the execution, implementation, and stabilization of the global payroll function for the Food Ingredients business as it transitions to a standalone organization.
With a defined global payroll strategy and vendor model already in place, this role is accountable for delivering against the project plan — ensuring successful stand-up across 45+ countries and approximately 5,700 employees, while establishing a stable, compliant, and scalable payroll operation post go-live.
This is a hands-on transformation and delivery leadership role, focused on Day 1 readiness, implementation execution, operational excellence, and future-state ownership of the steady-state global payroll function. The role will also double-hat as US Payroll Lead in the future-state organization.
The Director, Global Payroll will play a critical role in supporting the Food Ingredients business as it transitions to a standalone organization. This role will lead the execution, implementation, and stabilization of the global payroll function, ensuring readiness across 45+ countries and approximately 5,700 employees.
With a global payroll strategy and vendor model already defined, this leader will be accountable for translating the strategy into execution — driving the project plan, managing key milestones, enabling Day 1 readiness, and building a compliant, scalable, and operationally strong payroll function for the future-state organization.
This is a hands-on transformation and delivery leadership role that requires strong global payroll expertise, project execution discipline, vendor management capability, and the ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving business transformation environment. Following implementation, this role will own the steady-state global payroll function and will also serve as the US Payroll Lead.
Where You’ll Make a Difference
- Lead the execution, implementation, and stabilization of the global payroll function for the Food Ingredients business as it transitions to a standalone organization.
- Own delivery against the global payroll project plan, ensuring milestones, risks, dependencies, and readiness activities are actively managed.
- Drive Day 1 payroll readiness across 45+ countries and approximately 5,700 employees.
- Partner closely with internal stakeholders, external vendors, and cross-functional teams to ensure successful payroll stand-up and transition.
- Ensure payroll processes are compliant, scalable, and aligned with business, legal, tax, and regulatory requirements across countries.
- Support the transition from implementation to steady-state operations, ensuring strong controls, governance, and service delivery.
- Lead vendor coordination and performance oversight, ensuring the defined vendor model is executed effectively.
- Establish operational excellence practices, including process documentation, issue resolution, service metrics, and continuous improvement.
- Serve as the future-state US Payroll Lead while maintaining global payroll leadership responsibilities.
What Makes You the Right Fit
- Extensive global payroll leadership experience, ideally within a complex multinational organization.
- Strong experience leading payroll implementations, transitions, or transformation initiatives across multiple countries.
- Demonstrated ability to execute against large-scale project plans with strong attention to milestones, risk management, and operational readiness.
- Deep understanding of payroll compliance, governance, controls, and country-specific payroll requirements.
- Experience managing external payroll vendors and working within global vendor service delivery models.
- Ability to operate hands-on while also providing strategic leadership and direction.
- Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to partner across HR, Finance, Legal, Tax, IT, and business leadership.
- Experience supporting business transitions, carve-outs, stand-ups, shared services, or organizational transformation is highly valuable.
- Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and execution skills in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
How Would You Stand Out?
- Experience leading payroll stand-up activities for a new or standalone organization.
- Prior experience supporting payroll operations across the US and multiple international markets.
- Experience in a business separation, divestiture, merger, acquisition, or large-scale transformation environment.
Why Choose Us?
- Be part of a meaningful business transformation with global reach and impact.
- Lead a high-visibility function during a critical phase of organizational change.
- Help build a scalable, compliant, and future-ready payroll operation from implementation through steady state.
- Work across a global business with diverse stakeholders, markets, and operational needs.
- Join a purpose-driven organization focused on innovation, collaboration, and operational excellence.
- Your potential is our inspiration.
Important Information Regarding This Position
For your awareness, IFF has announced its intention to sell its Food Ingredients Business to CVC Capital Partners. The sale is presently expected to close in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. The Food Ingredient business unit will remain a part of IFF until close and, at such time, it will transition to CVC Capital Partners. In applying for this position, you acknowledge your awareness that the position is a part of the Food Ingredient business unit and has been identified to transition to CVC Capital Partners.
We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.
Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more