Description:

Compensation & Benefits Manager

Work Level: Middle Management

Industry: Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences

Role Summary:

We are seeking a highly "Organized" and "Process-Oriented" Compensation & Benefits Manager to lead the payroll and statutory ecosystem for a leading Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences organization. In this middle-management role, you will be the custodian of the organizations financial commitment to its employees, ensuring 100% accuracy in Third-party payroll, Full & Final (F&F) settlements, and statutory compliance. You will bring a rigorous "Work Ethic" to manage complex benefit structures, including Gratuity and Leave Encashment, while maintaining an up-to-date organizational organogram. The ideal candidate is a master of MS Excel with deep knowledge of Income Tax and Labour Laws, capable of maintaining the highest levels of confidentiality and accountability in a high-stakes corporate environment.

Responsibilities:

- Payroll Governance: Execute and oversee end-to-end Third-party payroll management, ensuring seamless coordination with external vendors and internal finance teams.

- Settlement & Statutory Compliance: Manage the complete Full & Final (F&F) settlement process, ensuring all calculations for Gratuity, Leave Encashment, and notice periods adhere to statutory mandates.

- Tax & Labour Law Adherence: Ensure all payroll activities comply with current Income Tax regulations, PF, ESIC, Professional Tax, and relevant state-specific Labour Laws.

- Compensation Structure Maintenance: Own the design and execution of corporate salary structures, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and industry benchmarks within the Life Sciences sector.

- Record Management: Maintain exhaustive and audit-ready records for Training & Development, ensuring all professional growth initiatives are documented for compliance.

- Organizational Design Support: Own and update the organizational Organogram, reflecting real-time changes in reporting lines and department structures.

- Audit & Accuracy Control: Implement rigorous checks to ensure high accuracy in all payroll disbursements, minimizing errors in statutory payments and tax deductions.

- Confidentiality Management: Uphold the highest standards of data privacy and confidentiality regarding sensitive employee compensation data.

- Process Efficiency: Drive continuous improvement in payroll operations through Time Management and disciplined process orientation to reduce turnaround times for settlements.

Technical Requirements:

- Payroll Expertise: 7+ years of hands-on experience in Compensation & Benefits (C&B) and Payroll management, preferably in the Pharma/Life Sciences industry.

- Statutory Knowledge: Expert-level understanding of the Payment of Gratuity Act, EPF Act, ESI Act, and the Income Tax Act (specifically Section 192).

- MS Excel Mastery: Advanced proficiency in MS Excel (Pivot Tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, Macros) is non-negotiable for complex data modeling and reporting.

- Reporting & Analytics: Ability to generate detailed MIS reports on payroll costs, tax liabilities, and headcount trends for senior leadership.

- Vendor Management: Experience in managing third-party payroll service providers and ensuring their delivery meets agreed SLAs.

Core Competencies:

- Accountability & Ownership: A self-driven mindset that takes full responsibility for the accuracy of every decimal in the payroll sheet.

- Alignment to Organizational Goals: Ability to translate corporate strategy into effective compensation and retention policies.

- Disciplined Work Ethic: A high level of commitment to meeting strict monthly payroll deadlines without compromising on accuracy.

- Organized & Systematic: Capability to manage multiple administrative streamsfrom F&F settlements to training recordsin a structured manner.

- Time Management: Proficiency in prioritizing tasks during month-end cycles to ensure zero-delay in salary disbursements.