Team Lead Payroll (m/f/d)

At Flix, we offer a dynamic work environment with competitive pay, strong growth opportunities, and a tech-driven approach to making travel more accessible, sustainable, and affordable.  We are looking for a highly analytical, tech-savvy Team Lead Payroll (m/f/d) to join our People Operations team and take holistic ownership of our European payroll landscape. Currently, preliminary payroll across Europe is handled by our local People Operations Managers, with support from external consultancies. Germany is by far our largest market, with a significantly higher headcount than any other European country. The other markets operate at smaller scale, each with their own local requirements. As we scale, we are building a central payroll function to bring expertise in-house, harmonize where possible, mitigate compliance risks, and establish a robust payroll setup across Europe, with Germany as the operational anchor. In Germany we are building a dedicated in-house payroll team, and you take direct line management responsibility for it as it grows. We are also working through a significant digital transformation of our HR function, with AI as a central part of how we are rethinking the way we work. You do not need to arrive with deep AI expertise, but you need to be someone who is genuinely interested in exploring what automation and AI-driven approaches can do for payroll operations and who wants to grow with us in that direction. We have the people and the knowledge to develop these capabilities together. About the Role Operational Ownership & Compliance : Take full end-to-end responsibility for preliminary payroll processes across Europe, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance. Own internal and external payroll audits, implement robust compliance frameworks, and serve as the internal subject matter expert for complex payroll, income tax, and social security cases Team & Functional Leadership: Hold disciplinary line management responsibility for the German payroll team, covering hiring, development, performance, and day to day steering. In parallel, provide functional leadership by guiding and upskilling local People Operations Managers across the other European countries in all payroll-related matters. Act as the primary interface between HR, Finance, Controlling, and Compliance, translating complex payroll data into clear financial language for relevant stakeholders Vendor Management: Evaluate, steer, and optimize relationships with external payroll providers and consultancies to ensure high service quality and cost-efficiency Tech & Automation: Drive the digitalization of our payroll processes. Assess the current tech stack, optimize integrations with our HRIS, and automate manual preliminary workflows where possible About You Payroll Expertise : Substantial experience in payroll management within a fast-paced, international environment. Deep, hands-on knowledge of German payroll, including income tax (Lohnsteuer) and social security (Sozialversicherung), combined with experience orchestrating multi-country payrolls across Europe Tech-Savvy & AI Mindset: Comfortable with HR and Finance technology and genuinely curious about what automation and AI can do for payroll operations. You do not need to be an expert today, but the interest and openness need to be there. We invest in building these capabilities together Leadership & Communication: Proven experience leading a team with disciplinary responsibility, combined with a collaborative style that builds trust with decentralized teams and leads the other markets through influence and expertise. You can explain complex payroll topics clearly to Finance, Legal, and senior leadership. Fluent in English and German Problem Solver: Where others see a messy legacy process, you see an opportunity to build a clean, standardized, and scalable framework Hands-On Mentality : You lead from the front and are not afraid to get into the det