Compensation & Benefits Manager

Job Description

CrossBoundary is recruiting a full-time People Operations Manager - Compensation & Benefits to join the People Team. We are bringing the management of global payroll into the People function, maturing manual workflows into a robust, integrated, and employee-centric system, and building a clear point of view on how we reward and support our people across our jurisdictions.

This is a builder-operator role. You will receive high-level goals and design the blueprints, tools, and cross-functional processes required to achieve them, while also rolling up your sleeves to run the monthly payroll cycle, administer our compensation structure, and manage our benefits programs. Beyond payroll, you will own our compensation and benefits agenda, from shaping a clear vision for our global benefits package to designing a regular compensation review cycle that keeps our reward approach consistent as we grow. You should expect a role that is balanced between designing systems and hands-on execution, and you should be energized by both.

Why join us?

CrossBoundary operates in frontier markets that also hold immense investment opportunities. The chosen candidate will play a key role in a unique team with the opportunity to have a transformational impact on the renewable energy landscape in Africa. Team members come from diverse backgrounds, but share several qualities: curiosity, humility, integrity, a drive for excellence, and a bias for action.

What you will do

Your primary responsibilities would be:

Payroll operations and transformation

• Own and transform the payroll process: take full ownership of the People side of payroll and redesign it. Our current process is manual and fragmented, and your mandate is to move it to a structured, automated, and reliable system, not to maintain the status quo.
• Own all payroll inputs: own every payroll update, change, and input that feeds into Finance execution each month, including new joiners, salary changes, bonuses, deductions, advances, loans, and terminations, delivered accurately and on time against the Global Payroll Calendar, with payment execution remaining with Finance.
• New jurisdictions: own the payroll inputs element of new jurisdiction readiness: complete the New Jurisdiction Payroll Readiness Checklist, document statutory obligations, mandatory benefits, and thirteenth cheque requirements, deliver complete onboarding data packs to Finance, and partner with Finance on payroll provider selection.
• Rebuild the monthly rhythm: co-run the monthly HR-Finance review where inputs are agreed and locked, and progressively replace manual tracker steps with structured BambooHR reports and automated workflows so accuracy stops depending on heroics.
• Own the employee experience: act as the single point of contact for employee payroll queries, triaging between People, Finance, and payroll providers, and building clear FAQs and communications on topics like thirteenth month payments, tax withholding, and currency.
• Build the Playbook: turn our payroll, compensation, and benefits processes into centralized, documented playbooks and self-serve guides.
• Design and implement rigorous audit trails for all compensation changes, ensuring compliance with local labor laws and internal financial controls.

Benefits administration

• Audit current benefits coverage across all geographies and team types, design a benefits framework for site-based teams, and lead the phased rollout of locally appropriate packages.
• Run periodic reviews of key plans with recommendations for optimization.
• Oversee day-to-day benefits administration executed by the People Operations Assistant, ensuring every new hire is enrolled in the right benefits by day one.

Compensation systems & operations

• Administer our increasingly complex compensation structure, including annual bonus operations across platforms, salary changes, and effective date management.
• Clean up and standardize pay structure conventions in BambooHR so compensation data is consistent, reliable, and reportable.
• Design and drive a regular compensation review cycle, and support leadership on compensation philosophy and transparency work.

Who You Are

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field.
• 9+ years of experience in People Operations or Human Resources, with meaningful depth in payroll, compensation, or benefits, ideally across multiple jurisdictions.
• A systems builder: you can design and implement processes from the ground up, and you naturally look for ways to automate manual tasks and build source of truth systems.
• An owner of outcomes: you thrive when given a goal without a blueprint, you enjoy figuring out the how, and you project-manage yourself and others to deliver reliable results.
• Execution-proud: you find satisfaction in a flawless monthly cycle, not just in the strategy deck, and no balls get dropped on your watch, even in complex, multi-stakeholder work.
• A global navigator: you are comfortable with the ambiguity of international labor and payroll requirements and can translate murky jurisdictional rules into clear, achievable tasks.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills across diverse audiences.
• Demonstrated leadership skills, including directing and developing junior team members, preferably in a fast-moving and complex environment.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel and HRIS systems, specifically BambooHR.

Location

Candidates will join our team in Nairobi, Kenya.

Interested in applying?

Think you have what it takes but not sure you check every box? Research shows that while men apply to roles when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women often only apply when they meet every requirement. If you're passionate about what we're building, we want to hear from you!

Equal Opportunity Employer

CrossBoundary is an equal opportunity employer. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request to [email protected].