Senior Payroll Specialist

Job description

We’re building the AI-driven future of customer success, from retention to growth! We’re building the AI-driven future of customer success, from retention to growth! Gainsight is the AI-powered retention engine behind the world’s most customer-centric companies. The Gainsight CustomerOS platform orchestrates the customer journey from onboarding to outcomes to advocacy. More than 2,000 companies trust Gainsight’s applications and AI agents to drive learning, adoption, community connection, and success for their customers. To explore how our suite of solutions is shaping the future of customer success, check out the link https://www.gainsight.com. About This Role: We’re looking for a full-time Senior Payroll Specialist to join our Finance team reporting to the Senior Director Finance. This role is a hybrid role based out of our Hyderabad, India, location. In this role, you'll play a key role in keeping Gainsight India's workforce paid accurately and on time by owning the end-to-end monthly payroll cycle for ~500 employees and ensuring full statutory compliance across EPF, ESI, TDS, and related obligations. This is a great opportunity for someone who thrives in a high-ownership, detail-driven environment and enjoys working cross-functionally with teams like Finance, People Operations, and external payroll and EPF consultants. The ideal candidate brings strong skills in Indian statutory compliance, outsourced payroll vendor management, and audit readiness. What You'll Do: - Own and run the complete monthly payroll cycle for Gainsight India end to end – inputs, validation, processing, approvals, and disbursement – with zero tolerance for accuracy or timeliness misses. - Manage the relationship with our payroll partner – owning monthly data handoffs, SLAs, output validation, and sign-off on processing and statutory filings. - Coordinate with our external EPF consultant on provident-fund compliance, contributions, filings, transfers, member queries, and any inspections or notices. - Ensure full statutory compliance across EPF, ESI, Professional Tax, TDS, Labor Welfare Fund, and gratuity – including timely remittances and filings (PF/ESI by due dates, quarterly Form 24Q, annual Form 16 issuance, and PT returns). - Manage year-end activities: investment-proof verification, tax declarations, Form 16 generation, and employee tax communications; and process full-and-final settlements for exits accurately and on time. - Partner with Finance on GL posting, payroll reconciliations, accruals, and month-end close; and serve as the primary point of contact for employee payroll, tax, and compliance queries (including via Slack), responding promptly and confidentially. - Own payroll audit readiness end to end – act as the primary payroll point of contact for statutory, internal, tax, and controls/SOX audits, as well as for due-diligence and transfer-pricing reviews. - Prepare, reconcile, and maintain a complete, audit-ready evidence trail – payroll registers, statutory challans and returns, bank disbursement proofs, GL and headcount/CTC reconciliations, and approval documentation – so that any period can be substantiated on request. - Respond to auditor requests (PBC lists, samples, walkthroughs) accurately and within deadlines, coordinating inputs from payroll partner, the EPF consultant, Finance, and People Operations. - Support the design and operating-effectiveness testing of payroll controls (SOX/ICFR where applicable), remediate any gaps or audit observations, and keep process and control documentation current. - Manage statutory and labor-law inspections, notices, and assessments related to payroll and provident fund, in coordination with consultants and Finance leadership. - Safeguard payroll data confidentiality and integrity at all times; drive process improvement and automation (using Google Sheets/Docs and related tools); and stay current on Indian labor and tax law, including the new Labor Codes, proactively implementing changes. Travel Requirement: This role may require occasional travel for team meetings, training, or company events. This is not a complete list of responsibilities, and the scope of the role may evolve with the needs of the team and business.   What We're Looking For: - 5 to 8 years of progressive India payroll experience (including 3+ years owning end-to-end payroll for a mid-to-large workforce) and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Finance, or HR (or equivalent combination of education and experience), required. - Deep, hands-on knowledge of Indian statutory compliance: EPF, ESI, Professional Tax, TDS, gratuity, LWF, and Shops & Establishments / multi-state requirements. - Proven experience managing outsourced payroll providers and external compliance consultants end to end. - Strong track record of supporting payroll audits – statutory, internal, tax, and controls/SOX – including preparing reconciliations and audit evidence and closing out observations. - Advanced proficiency with MS EXCEL, Google Sheets (formulas, pivots, large data sets, reconciliations) and Google Docs, and comfort collaborating over Slack in a fast-paced environment. - Demonstrated accuracy, ability to meet non-negotiable statutory deadlines, and the highest standards of integrity and confidentiality when handling sensitive compensation data. - Strong stakeholder management and communication skills across People Operations, Finance, external vendors, and global teams, with a service mindset for resolving employee queries.   Nice-to-have skills or experience: - Experience supporting internal-control (ICFR) environments. - Exposure to global or multi-entity payroll and coordination with US-based Finance and People teams. - Experience setting up, transitioning, or scaling payroll processes in a growing GCC; relevant payroll/finance/HR certification.   Why You’ll Love It Here: Gainsight is a place where innovation is shaped through collaboration