Lead, Payroll APAC (Japan Specialist)

Lead – Payroll | Japan Payroll Specialist

Kyndryl is looking for an experienced Payroll Lead / Japan Payroll Specialist to join our team and provide operational leadership across Japan, India, and other APAC countries.

This role is ideal for a payroll professional with strong hands-on experience in Japan payroll processing, Japanese statutory compliance, vendor management, and enterprise HRIS/payroll platforms.

What you'll do:

- Lead end-to-end gross-to-net payroll processing for Japan and other APAC entities.

- Act as a Subject Matter Expert on Japanese payroll regulations, including Shakai Hoken, Koyou Hoken, Juminzei, and Nenmatsu Chousei.

- Partner with third-party payroll vendors and internal/global stakeholders as a key regional liaison.

- Perform payroll audits, reconciliations, and control checks to ensure accuracy and compliance.

- Support Workday, SAP HCM/ECP, ADP, or similar HRIS/payroll system enhancements and integrations.

- Partner with HR teams on separation payroll, final settlements, severance, and offboarding.

- Drive process improvements and support global payroll initiatives across APAC.

What we're looking for:

- 7+ years of overall experience in Payroll Operations / Payroll Accounting.

- 5+ years of hands-on Japan Payroll experience.

- Business-level Japanese language proficiency (Japanese language proficiency of 3-5 years).

- Strong knowledge of Japanese employment law, payroll taxation, social insurance, employment insurance, resident tax, and year-end tax adjustment processes.

- Experience with enterprise payroll/HRIS platforms such as Workday, SAP HCM/ECP, ADP, or similar.

- Advanced MS Excel skills.

- Strong stakeholder, vendor management, and communication skills.

- Experience managing multi-country APAC payroll is preferred.

- Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, HR, or a related field is preferred.

Why this role

You'll have the opportunity to take ownership of Japan Payroll operations while working across a broader APAC payroll landscape, partnering with global stakeholders and contributing to payroll transformation, systems, and process improvement initiatives.

If you have strong Japan Payroll expertise and are looking for a regional leadership opportunity, we'd love to hear from you.

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