HRIS-and-Payroll Separation Leader

The mandate

A chemicals business separating from its parent failed its first payroll parallel run. Employee records exist in both retained and divested masters, shift time from two plants did not reach the new engine and benefit deductions used outdated elections. The HR technology transition leader resigned after the buyer found that “matched” totals concealed person-level overpayments and missing statutory fields.

The interim must take Chennai authority within seven days and lead fifteen months through corrected design, four parallel runs, Day One and three stable payroll cycles. Search for a permanent workforce-service leader starts after two parallel runs reconcile at person and element level, expected in month eight. The successor will lead the final parallel run and first independent payroll during six weeks of overlap.

Handover requires a governed employee master, source ownership, data lineage, time and absence interfaces, pay and deduction rules, benefit and identity feeds, exception handling, security roles, vendor service measures and employee support. Four parallels and three live cycles must meet agreed tolerance. The successor inherits country defects, manual workarounds, delayed integrations, employee cases and remaining TSA exits.

The interim may reject a cutover, freeze uncontrolled master changes, assign remediation owners, direct vendors and commit up to ₹18 crore from the approved separation programme. Employment terms, statutory interpretation, individual pay decisions, enterprise architecture, vendor replacement and changes above delegation require existing authorities. Country payroll and HR leaders remain accountable for formal submissions and employee actions.

Finance ledger separation, payroll fraud investigation, enterprise ERP design, broader benefit harmonisation and technology systems outside workforce service remain outside scope. The seat owns people-data integrity, HRIS and payroll readiness, parallel-run evidence, employee support, vendor control, team build and succession. It cannot declare success from aggregate totals when individual employees or pay elements remain wrong.

Why this seat is open

The failed parallel run exposed person-level errors hidden by aggregate reconciliation, followed by transition leadership resignation. Buyer, parent, countries and vendors each own fragments of the pay chain. Temporary service authority can enforce end-to-end evidence through real payroll cycles before permanent leadership assumes the separated operation.

What you will own

• Reconcile employee, assignment, organisation, location, bank, tax-status and benefit masters across seller and buyer populations.
• Establish authoritative sources, change controls, effective dating, interface lineage and person-level exception ownership.
• Repair time, absence, shift, variable-pay, benefit, deduction and identity feeds into each payroll calendar.
• Direct four parallel runs through gross-to-net, element, person, bank-file and employee-case reconciliation.
• Govern access, segregation, vendor defects, manual workarounds, approvals, cutover gates and rollback readiness.
• Stabilise Day One and three live cycles with rapid employee support, root-cause evidence and repeat-defect prevention.
• Transfer run books, country issues, control evidence, TSA exits and trained workforce-service leadership to the successor.

Candidate qualifications

• Held executive HRIS and payroll authority through a multinational carve-out and independent Day One.
• Recovered parallel runs where aggregate agreement concealed person, pay-element or statutory-field errors.
• Integrated employee master, time, absence, benefits, identity and payroll through controlled effective dating.
• Directed vendors and country teams without assuming statutory, employment or individual-pay decision authority.
• Governed cutover, rollback, employee support and defect elimination through multiple live payroll cycles.
• Handed permanent service leadership an independently auditable, employee-tested separated operation after controlled transition-service exit.

Non-negotiables

• Can start onsite in Chennai within seven days and travel monthly to plants and buyer reviews.
• Will accept exclusive executive accountability for workforce-system readiness and pay-continuity escalation.
• Brings multinational carve-out HRIS and payroll separation; routine platform implementation alone is insufficient.
• Must disclose payroll vendors, systems integrators, buyer, seller, benefits providers and country advisers.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a payroll parallel run whose totals agreed while person-level outcomes remained wrong.
2. 49 words maximum. Which interface must be proven before a shift-based plant payroll can cut over safely?
3. 49 words maximum. State your Chennai availability and the largest payroll separation you directly led.