Regional People Ops & Payroll Lead - Northern Europe
<h1><strong>Regional People Ops & Payroll Lead — Northern Europe</strong></h1>
<p><strong>People | Berlin</strong></p>
<h2><strong>Team description</strong></h2>
<p>The People Enablement team ensures every SumUpper has a consistent, high-quality experience throughout their time here, from their first day to their last.<br>We're building something ambitious: a People Ops and Payroll function that's faster, smarter, and built to scale across borders. As the lead for Northern Europe, you'll shape how a team of eight operates across Germany, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium turning complexity into clarity and manual work into automation. This is a role where you will bring structure, automation, and clear ownership to a function that's built to scale.</p>
<p>📽<a href="https://youtu.be/ZF8A9onHQCE?si=c-GZnVUkrOATN2Jg"> Berlin</a></p>
<h2><strong>What you'll do</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Lead and develop a team of eight People Ops and Payroll partners, consolidating two distinct functions into one integrated, accountable regional team</li>
<li>Map, redesign, and scale core processes across the full employee lifecycle — from onboarding through to offboarding — ensuring accuracy, compliance, and efficiency across all markets</li>
<li>Identify and implement automation opportunities using no-code and low-code tools, reducing manual effort and setting a new standard for how the team works</li>
<li>Build a success measurement framework covering SLAs, error rates, and processing times — and report on this regularly to senior stakeholders</li>
<li>Partner with Finance, People Partners, Legal, and Compliance to ensure payroll accuracy and regulatory alignment across Germany, the UK, and beyond</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>You'll be great for this role if…</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Proven leadership experience in multi-country People Ops, with Germany as a core market and exposure to the UK, Ireland, or the Netherlands</li>
<li>Strong knowledge of German employment law and HR compliance requirements, with the ability to navigate complex legal scenarios confidently across the employee lifecycle</li>
<li>A solid understanding of payroll processes across EU markets, with UK employment law knowledge considered a strong plus</li>
<li>A clear track record of delivering process improvements and automation initiatives, with concrete examples of efficiency gains and time saved</li>
<li>Hands-on experience with AI-powered or no-code tools such as Make or n8n, alongside advanced Excel skills and a data-driven approach to decision making</li>
<li>Comfort leading through change and ambiguity, with the stakeholder management skills to build trust while restructuring how a team operates</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>Why you should join SumUp</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>🌎 Opportunity to work with SumUppers globally on large-scale fintech products used by millions of businesses worldwide, from our Berlin office. This involves an office-first setup</li>
<li>🌈 Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: be part of a workplace that values and promotes diversity, fostering an inclusive environment where everyone's perspectives are respected and embraced</li>
<li>🚀 Enrolment onto our Virtual Stock Option programme: you will own a stake in SumUp's future success</li>
<li>📚 A dedicated annual L&D budget of €2000 for your individual development, which you can use to attend conferences and/or advancing your career through further education</li>
<li>💶 A corporate pension scheme where we match up to 20% of your contributions</li>
<li>🏖 Generous time off: enjoy 28 days of paid leave plus public holidays and special leave days</li>
<li>🏋️ Numerous other benefits such as Urban Sports Club subsidy, Kita placement assistance, subsidised office lunches</li>
<li>🌴 Break4me: 1-month sabbatical after 3 years of service</li>
<li>🔗 Referral Bonus: earn additional rewards by referring talented individuals to join the SumUp team</li>
</ul>
<p> </p><div class="content-conclusion"><p><strong>Job Application Tip</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We recognise that candidates feel they need to meet 100% of the job criteria in order to apply for a job. Please note that this is only a guide. If you don't tick every box, it's ok too because it means you have room to learn and develop your career at SumUp.</span></p></div><p>Find <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.com/">Jobs in Germany</a> on Arbeitnow</a>
<p><strong>People | Berlin</strong></p>
<h2><strong>Team description</strong></h2>
<p>The People Enablement team ensures every SumUpper has a consistent, high-quality experience throughout their time here, from their first day to their last.<br>We're building something ambitious: a People Ops and Payroll function that's faster, smarter, and built to scale across borders. As the lead for Northern Europe, you'll shape how a team of eight operates across Germany, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium turning complexity into clarity and manual work into automation. This is a role where you will bring structure, automation, and clear ownership to a function that's built to scale.</p>
<p>📽<a href="https://youtu.be/ZF8A9onHQCE?si=c-GZnVUkrOATN2Jg"> Berlin</a></p>
<h2><strong>What you'll do</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Lead and develop a team of eight People Ops and Payroll partners, consolidating two distinct functions into one integrated, accountable regional team</li>
<li>Map, redesign, and scale core processes across the full employee lifecycle — from onboarding through to offboarding — ensuring accuracy, compliance, and efficiency across all markets</li>
<li>Identify and implement automation opportunities using no-code and low-code tools, reducing manual effort and setting a new standard for how the team works</li>
<li>Build a success measurement framework covering SLAs, error rates, and processing times — and report on this regularly to senior stakeholders</li>
<li>Partner with Finance, People Partners, Legal, and Compliance to ensure payroll accuracy and regulatory alignment across Germany, the UK, and beyond</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>You'll be great for this role if…</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Proven leadership experience in multi-country People Ops, with Germany as a core market and exposure to the UK, Ireland, or the Netherlands</li>
<li>Strong knowledge of German employment law and HR compliance requirements, with the ability to navigate complex legal scenarios confidently across the employee lifecycle</li>
<li>A solid understanding of payroll processes across EU markets, with UK employment law knowledge considered a strong plus</li>
<li>A clear track record of delivering process improvements and automation initiatives, with concrete examples of efficiency gains and time saved</li>
<li>Hands-on experience with AI-powered or no-code tools such as Make or n8n, alongside advanced Excel skills and a data-driven approach to decision making</li>
<li>Comfort leading through change and ambiguity, with the stakeholder management skills to build trust while restructuring how a team operates</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>Why you should join SumUp</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>🌎 Opportunity to work with SumUppers globally on large-scale fintech products used by millions of businesses worldwide, from our Berlin office. This involves an office-first setup</li>
<li>🌈 Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: be part of a workplace that values and promotes diversity, fostering an inclusive environment where everyone's perspectives are respected and embraced</li>
<li>🚀 Enrolment onto our Virtual Stock Option programme: you will own a stake in SumUp's future success</li>
<li>📚 A dedicated annual L&D budget of €2000 for your individual development, which you can use to attend conferences and/or advancing your career through further education</li>
<li>💶 A corporate pension scheme where we match up to 20% of your contributions</li>
<li>🏖 Generous time off: enjoy 28 days of paid leave plus public holidays and special leave days</li>
<li>🏋️ Numerous other benefits such as Urban Sports Club subsidy, Kita placement assistance, subsidised office lunches</li>
<li>🌴 Break4me: 1-month sabbatical after 3 years of service</li>
<li>🔗 Referral Bonus: earn additional rewards by referring talented individuals to join the SumUp team</li>
</ul>
<p> </p><div class="content-conclusion"><p><strong>Job Application Tip</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We recognise that candidates feel they need to meet 100% of the job criteria in order to apply for a job. Please note that this is only a guide. If you don't tick every box, it's ok too because it means you have room to learn and develop your career at SumUp.</span></p></div><p>Find <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.com/">Jobs in Germany</a> on Arbeitnow</a>