Team Lead - Payroll & Data Management

Job Requisition ID: 180203 

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the world's most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organization to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate. 

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity; Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day

• The Payroll Manager leads payroll operations across SEA / MENA, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and timely delivery. The role involves coordinating end-to-end payroll processing, managing statutory compliance, and engaging stakeholders through effective reporting and management. Success in this role requires tactical leadership in standardising and improving payroll processes, driving innovation, managing a team, and maintaining high organisational standards.

Payroll Delivery & Processing

• Manage end-to-end payroll processing (source-to-gross, gross-to-net) across SEA/MENA countries.
• Ensure accurate and timely payroll runs including off-cycle payments.
• Manage payroll exceptions and issue resolution.
• Maintain strong payroll controls including approvals, reconciliations, and system interfaces.
• Support internal and external audits.

Statutory Compliance & Reporting

• Ensure compliance with country-specific statutory requirements (tax, social insurance, filings).
• Manage timely remittances and statutory submissions.
• Ensure statutory filing timeliness and address any compliance breaches.

Stakeholder Management & Reporting

• Partner with Finance, HRBPs, and Total Rewards on payroll inputs and reporting.
• Provide payroll reporting and insights to stakeholders.
• Drive engagement and capability building across payroll teams.
• Ensure stakeholder satisfaction and reporting accuracy.

Cyclical Events & Payroll Projects

• Support bonus cycles, annual pay reviews, and other cyclical payroll activities.
• Ensure accurate execution of variable pay elements.
• Drive performance, capability building, and engagement across the payroll team.

Process Improvement & Digital Enablement

• Drive standardisation and automation across SEA/MENA payroll processes.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce manual intervention.
• Implement automation adoption for cycle time reduction and cost-to-serve improvements.

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead and develop payroll team members across SEA/MENA.
• Drive performance, capability building, and engagement.
• Manage team performance metrics and support succession planning.

• Advanced proficiency in SAP Payroll and related systems.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills across complex payroll scenarios.
• Excellent stakeholder management and collaboration abilities.
• Commitment to continuous process improvement and digital enablement.

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, HR, or related discipline.
• 8-10+ years in payroll operations with multi-country SEA / MENA experience.
• Proficiency in SAP Payroll / S4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors, and statutory reporting platforms.
• Strong knowledge of regional statutory requirements and payroll controls.

About Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate
The real estate development and operations arm of Al-Futtaim, Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate is responsible for a multi-billion-dollar portfolio across MENA. With high-quality residential, business, retail, tourism, educational and healthcare developments, the master developer caters to the diverse needs of cities and communities in the region. From origination, conception, development, sales, procurement and construction of mega-projects and the leasing, operation and management of these projects after completion, Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate (AFGRE) has been developing and managing owned landbanks, unlocking the economic potential of the region and contributing to future development for more than 40 years. 
Our focus is to enable and invest in meaningful relationships to make our properties the best places to live and work, build additional products and services and enable partnerships to create true value to our customers throughout their entire experience with us.
AFGRE is responsible for master planning of all projects in its portfolio, including two large scale mixed use destinations: Dubai Festival City and Cairo Festival City.

About Al-Futtaim Malls 
Al-Futtaim Malls provides development and asset management expertise, specializing in building retail-led super regional malls in prime locations across MENA and beyond. With a proven track record of creating both sustainable revenue growth and value enhancement for tenants, Al-Futtaim Malls delivers exceptional experiences and exciting shopping environments for customers. 

Part of the Al-Futtaim Group, Al-Futtaim Malls leadership team brings more than 30 years of experience and a deep understanding and knowledge of the retail sector, both from a shopper’s point of view but as curators of space or landlords to other brands. The company has a directly managed portfolio including over 9 million sqft of retail space across four malls in the MENA region and two under development. Malls under the Al-Futtaim Malls portfolio include Dubai Festival City Mall and Festival Plaza in the UAE, Cairo Festival City Mall in Egypt, Doha Festival City in Qatar and Zenata Mall, Morocco.

Leveraging on the expertise of its parent company, Al-Futtaim Malls established PLEX Management Services offering a full array of services including asset management and development, leasing, and brand experience expertise to shopping mall landlords and retail organizations globally. Implementing global best practice and deploying Al-Futtaim Mall’s deep understanding of mall management and retail dynamics, PLEX promises to deliver continuous growth and long-term value for its partners.

For more information on Al-Futtaim Malls, please visit https://www.al-futtaimmalls.com/

About Al-Futtaim Engineering & Technologies
Al-Futtaim Engineering & Technologies offers customers complete engineering and systems integration solutions. 
 
The Engineering arm operates in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt providing a wide variety of products and services from air conditioning, scaffolding and access solutions, elevators and escalators, control and life safety, facilities management, building products, MEP, Energy Management, Technology Infrastructure and Digital Transformation. 
 
The Technologies division provides complete business solutions to large, medium and small customers that include, contact centre solutions, business applications, business intelligence, data management, advanced analytics amongst others. The IT infrastructure portfolio comprises IP telephony, ELV systems, networking solutions, professional audio-visual solutions and managed services. 
 
These solutions are further complemented by services that include project management, installation, testing, commissioning and after-sales maintenance contracts.