Payroll & Benefit Specialist - Latam

The Payroll Specialist & Benefits Administration is responsible for the preparation and delivery of payroll and benefits services to our employees in the LATAM region (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama and Mexico). It is a key role which involves collaborating and building relationships internally and externally with our colleagues, partners and advisors to deliver our promises to our customers. This role involves the coordination and support of Payroll & benefits, where the payroll processing is carried out by an outsourced global payroll provider, as well as supporting the other Payroll Specialists on the team.**Main responsibilities, duties or tasks**:**PAYROLL**- To act as the first point of contact for all payroll & benefits customer inquiries.- To process the assigned monthly & fortnightly payrolls in LATAM region through our third-party vendor in a timely and accurate manner.- Responsible for collating and processing HR & Benefit Changes; new hires, terminations, transfers, Leave of Absences, salary changes, sales commission, bonuses, terminations, pensions, medical benefits, Benefit in Kind, tax exemptions, payroll taxes etc.- Proactively identify and troubleshoot payroll issues to determine the root cause and to find solution.- Review & check output payroll reports.- Prepare Control books and reconciliations.- Ensure net payments are processed on banking platforms on time.- Ensure that all monthly, quarterly and annual tax, social security, pension declarations & payments are done accurately and on time.- Ensure payroll journals are posted accurately for our GL team.- Assist finance in the completion of various statutory & group audits.- Deal with various payroll queries and build relationships with external payroll providers and colleagues.- Continually update payroll documentation.- Maintain the employee personnel files for Mexico on site.- Assist the HRBP with the calculation of employee’s payroll costs for the annual budget in Mexico.- Validate the calculation of the Mexico Profit Sharing Plan (PTU).- Act as a backup to the rest of the international payroll team where needed.**BENEFITS**- Process the orders for meal vouchers in Chile & Mexico and the gas vouchers in Mexico on a monthly basis- Process employee benefit enrollments (eg. Medical & Life Insurance registration for new hires and the deregistration for leaver in all LATAM countries)- Validate and make the payments of the monthly retirement plan FONDIKA in Mexico)- Check, reconcile and approve all benefits invoices before submission to Accounts Payable team for payment.**Qualifications/Skills**:- Payroll certification or equivalent qualification- Relevant years’ experience in a similar Payroll specialist role is required. Supplementary experience in a Benefits / HR / accounting role is favorable.- Knowledge of Mexico payroll- A solid knowledge of payroll processes and the accounting for them.- Strong verbal & written communication- Strong inter-personal skills.- Customer orientated, demonstrating an ability and willingness to satisfy both internal and external customer demands and requirements.- Demonstrated ability to manage 3rd parties- Competency in using tax, social security, pension & benefit platforms- Competency in banking & making payments- Ability to prioritize and multi-task in a pressurized work environment- Demonstrating problem-solving (incl. active listening, critical thinking, process improvements).- Must be detail oriented and organized- Strong planning and organizational skills- Very good knowledge of Excel spreadsheets.- Fluency in Spanish and English. Portuguese is a plus.