Payroll Manager

AppLovin makes technologies that help businesses of every size connect to their ideal customers. The company provides end-to-end advertising solutions for businesses to reach, monetize and grow their global audiences. For more information about AppLovin, visit: www.applovin.com.

To deliver on this mission, our global team is composed of team members with life experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives that mirror our developers and customers around the world. At AppLovin, we are intentional about the team and culture we are building, seeking candidates who are outstanding in their own right and also demonstrate their support of others.

AppLovin is looking for a driven Payroll Manager to own global payroll operations across the US and key international markets. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives on building compliance frameworks from the ground up, partnering cross-functionally, and making payroll run like infrastructure — accurate, on time, and scalable.

You will be the subject matter expert on payroll tax and statutory compliance across our primary geographies: United States, Singapore, Germany, Ireland, Cyprus, and Italy. You will manage vendor relationships, own the end-to-end payroll cycle, and work closely with Finance, Accounting, and HR/PeopleOps to support month-end close, audit readiness, and equity-related payroll events.

Global Payroll Operations

• Own end-to-end payroll processing across the US (multi-state) and international entities in SG, DE, IE, CY, and IT — ensuring accuracy and on-time delivery each cycle

• Manage relationships with external payroll vendors and in-country service providers; hold them accountable to SLAs and quality standards

• Serve as the primary point of contact for all payroll-related matters across Finance, Accounting, HR, and Legal

• Handle off-cycle payrolls, manual calculations, retroactive adjustments, and termination runs

Tax & Statutory Compliance

• Maintain deep, current knowledge of payroll tax obligations in each covered jurisdiction — federal/state/local in the US and statutory requirements in SG, DE, IE, CY, and IT

• Ensure timely and accurate filing of all payroll tax returns, year-end forms (W-2, P60, IR8A equivalents), and local employer statutory filings

• Monitor legislative and regulatory changes across all jurisdictions; assess impact and implement required changes proactively

• Partner with Tax and Legal on cross-border employment structures, shadow payrolls, and treaty-related matters

• Support external payroll audits, tax authority inquiries, and statutory inspections

Equity & Stock Compensation

• Process and reconcile equity-related payroll events including RSU vesting, ESPP purchase cycles, NQ exercises, and ISO exercises

• Ensure proper tax withholding and reporting for stock transactions across all jurisdictions, including applicable FBT, social security, and spread income treatment

Systems & Controls

• Monitor integrations and manual business processes between Workday HCM and payroll systems (Workday, Cloudpay, local partners)

• Audit input data, validate outputs, and maintain strong internal controls around payroll authorization and data