Role Overview

Rise is hiring an International Payroll Lead based in Canada to take full ownership of payroll design, execution, and compliance across its Canadian client payroll population and beyond.

This role is suited to a Canadian payroll specialist with around 6 years’ experience who is comfortable designing, owning, and executing payroll in a complex environment that includes:

• Multi-province payroll operations

• Manual statutory filings and calculations

• Historic compliance remediation

• Building payroll controls in a partially underdeveloped environment

• Supporting direct client payroll delivery operations in Canada

• Some international payroll processing exposure

Reporting to the Head of Global Payroll & HR, this role will be critical in stabilizing Canadian payroll operations, introducing a compliant and scalable control framework, and ensuring Rise is operationally ready to deliver payroll services to clients in Canada.

Key Responsibilities

Canada Payroll Operations Ownership

Own end-to-end payroll operations across the Canadian employee and client payroll population

Validate payroll inputs, outputs, calculations, statutory deductions, and payments

Perform and review manual payroll calculations where required

Manage payroll calendar, approvals, and processing timelines to ensure accurate and timely payroll delivery

Ensure compliance with CRA requirements and all relevant provincial payroll obligations

Own payroll processing across multiple provinces with differing statutory requirements

Canada Compliance, Filings & Controls

Manage and review federal and provincial payroll tax filings and remittances

Maintain payroll compliance tracker and statutory filing calendar for Canada

Build and implement payroll controls across input validation, processing review, reconciliation, filing, and sign-off

Introduce practical and audit-ready control evidence into the Canadian payroll cycle

Identify and escalate payroll compliance issues, filing gaps, tax issues, underpayments, or overpayments quickly and effectively

Support T4 and year-end reporting obligations across all relevant jurisdictions

Ensure compliance with CPP, EI, provincial health tax, and other statutory obligations

Remediation & Stabilization

Review and correct historic payroll set-up issues in partnership with internal stakeholders and external advisors where needed

Validate statutory deductions, year-end reporting, and historical payroll records

Lead payroll reconciliations, variance analysis, and corrective action where required

Document manual workarounds, operational risks, and recommended improvements

Support audit, due diligence, and internal control documentation requests

Client Payroll Readiness & Service Delivery

Take operational ownership of payroll delivery for Rise’s client payroll population in Canada and various other countries

Help design repeatable payroll workflows, controls, and documentation standards suitable for client-facing payroll operations

Contribute to payroll operating procedures covering onboarding, recurring processing, compliance tracking, filings, reconciliations, and issue management

Identify gaps between current internal payroll operating model and the requirements of a scalable client service model

Partner with internal stakeholders to improve service readiness, delivery quality, and operational risk management

Support future growth of the play books as Rise scales its North American service offering

SOPs, Documentation & Reporting

Build and maintain payroll SOPs for payroll operations (internal and client-facing)

Maintain organized, complete, and audit-ready payroll records

Produce monthly payroll reports and variance summaries for the Head of Global Payroll & HR

Support internal governance reporting and stakeholder communications on payroll performance

Systems & Process Improvement

Assess current payroll configuration and identify functional, compliance, and control gaps

Partner with internal stakeholders to improve payroll set-up, controls, and calculation logic

Recommend pragmatic automation opportunities and process improvements without compromising compliance

Support future-state payroll design and operational scalability as the Canadian client book grows

Experience Required

Essential

Minimum 6 years’ Canadian payroll experience, with demonstrated ability to design, own, and execute a full payroll remit independently

PCP (Payroll Compliance Practitioner) or PLP (Payroll Leadership Professional) qualified — must have

Strong multi-province payroll experience including federal and provincial tax compliance

Solid working knowledge of CRA requirements, CPP, EI, T4 obligations, and provincial health taxes

Proven experience with manual payroll calculations and manual statutory filings

Experience building or strengthening payroll controls in underdeveloped or partially manual environments

Strong reconciliation, documentation, and audit-readiness capability

Comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment with evolving processes and structures

Strongly Preferred

Experience in a payroll services, EOR, PEO, or client-facing payroll delivery environment

Experience managing payroll for third-party client populations, not just internal employees

Familiarity with payroll systems used in Canadian multi-province environments

Experience supporting year-end reporting, audit preparation, and compliance documentation

Exposure to Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec payroll requirement

Exposure to UK payroll — familiarity with HMRC obligations, PAYE, and UK statutory requirements an advantage given Rise’s broader international payroll operations

Bilingual (English and French) an advantage but not required