Director, Payroll - Latin America and the Caribbean

About the role

Visa is looking for a Director of Payroll to lead and manage payroll operations across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The role covers three locations (Brazil, Mexico and Colombia), drives process efficiencies, supports integration projects linked to acquisitions and global initiatives, and involves regular interaction with cross-functional departments and senior management.

Key responsibilities

• Lead regional payroll strategy, governance and operational delivery, and ensure timely, accurate end-to-end payroll, legislative compliance and issue resolution.
• Maintain payroll governance, internal controls, audit readiness, risk management and remediation processes.
• Ensure payroll systems correctly calculate and record pay, benefits, deductions, taxes, garnishments, time and company liabilities, and confirm general ledger accuracy and pay-element mapping.
• Oversee system testing for upgrades and legislative changes, use analytics to improve service delivery, and act as strategic payroll leader and cross-functional partner.
• Partner with People, Finance, Controllership, Legal, Tax, M&A and business leaders, and lead payroll readiness for new countries, legal entities and acquisitions.
• Provide strong local leadership in Colombia while balancing regional priorities, stakeholder expectations, escalations and employee experience.
• Drive transformation, vendor performance and scalable operating models, and lead process optimization, automation and systems improvements.
• Hold vendors accountable for service levels, compliance and issue resolution, and build a sustainable regional leadership structure.
• Lead and coach geographically dispersed payroll teams across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, with clear accountability for country deliverables.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, Business Administration or a related field; advanced degree or professional certification preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive payroll experience, including leadership of complex, multi-country payroll operations in LAC within a large multinational and matrixed organization.
• 10+ years of people leadership experience, including leading dispersed teams, coaching leaders, succession planning and talent development.
• Strong knowledge of payroll legislation, labor practices, tax and regulatory environments across LAC, including Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
• Experience with payroll, time reporting, HR and absence management platforms, preferably Workday, ADP, Deloitte, TMF and/or CloudPay.
• Fluency in English and Spanish required; Portuguese strongly preferred.