AVP – HR Service Delivery & Payroll Asia

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MetLife in Asia has adopted a nimble approach to each market across the region and has successfully established a diversified geographical footprint in Asia that spans across nine markets Australia, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Korea, India, Malaysia, Nepal and Vietnam. We have regional teams in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and India.

Position: AVP – HR Service Delivery & Payroll (Asia excluding India and Japan)

Job Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Department: HR

Role Value Proposition

This role leads a team of Asia regional and country HR service delivery and payroll team members thereby focusing on identifying, enabling, consolidating, and delivering HR services and solutions to key stakeholders, people manager and employees, ensuring the smooth operation of end-to-end HR processes and enhancing the employee experience. The role is integral to HR’s outsourced operating model for service delivery and serves as the key escalation point for the regional HR Support leads and payroll partners.

Key Responsibilities:

This role is responsible for the delivery of all regional administrative and supportive HR services and processing including the management of employee lifecycle transactions as well as management of local service delivery requirements (SLA compliance), data quality, and data reporting. In addition, this role supports global HR processes such as performance management, goal setting, talent processes and compensation planning including ensuring smooth regional and local processes addressing queries and troubleshooting problems.

This role also provides oversight and guidance for local payroll processes including vendor relationship management, coordination with HR Technology, Employment Law, and Finance teams to ensure processes are run timely, accurately and in compliance with all applicable local laws and regulations.

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead and develop a team of HR Service Delivery and Payroll professionals who are responsible for:
• End-to-end HR process support
• Coordination between outsourced delivery partner and broader HR team
• Essential execution support for HRBPs and key initiatives
• HR Content ownership
• Local country payroll processing, regulatory reporting, tax filings, and benefits administration for Regional Office entities (i.e., HK, Malaysia, and Singapore)
• Accuracy, consistency, and reliability of HR data across all systems and processes, and implementation of measures to maintain high data quality standards
• Deployment of HR systems and applications
• Take responsibility for critical process improvements across employee experience lifecycle
• Build relationships and partnerships across teams and organizational boundaries to enable the HR operating model
• Ensure policies, procedures and practices are designed and implemented consistently and efficiently
• Aligns HR Service Delivery strategy with providers on all people related services.
• Negotiate and monitor SLAs in accordance with the scopes of work with a commercial orientation and strong financial aptitude
• Lead root cause analysis and identify opportunities to continually improve our interactions with partners
• Function as the senior relationship manager for service delivery with senior HR regional leadership and key business leadership
• Support the deployment of Global HR systems and processes, and have responsibility for regional data, analytics, and reporting for the function. Be a change management leader for technology and service delivery deployments, strategically developing processes and initiatives to raise the overall performance of the HR practice across the region
• Integrate the global service delivery model into the responsible countries within the region, with careful review and consideration of country differences in terms of culture, regulatory requirements, and controls
• Manage contingent plans for respective critical processes to ensure business continuity and mitigate risks
• Serve as the country service delivery lead for regional offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, requiring direct experience and country knowledge in these locations, including payroll, tax, labor laws, regulatory reporting, and benefits administration.

Candidate Qualifications:

Essential Business Experience and Technical Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree, HR certifications added advantage
• 10+ years relevant experience
• Proven experience leading, developing and implementing business-oriented HR operations and solutions for countries in scope
• Exceptional knowledge of all disciplines in HR and experience collaborating across HR to solve problems
• Sound judgment skills to review and resolve issues
• Strong collaboration credentials with an enterprise focus, including considerations of regional and country needs and cultures
• Strong people leadership skills and experience
• Adaptable and agile; an agent of change
• Strong analytical skills including gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data to drive performance and optimize HR process improvement
• Effective communication skills
• Technical skills and system knowledge to utilize automation/technology that will improve process efficiency and enhance the employee experience
• Strong overall knowledge of Asia markets and customers, with a multicultural operating style
• Firsthand experience and country knowledge in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, including payroll, tax, and labor laws
• Language proficiency: English, Mandarin

Why MetLife?

At MetLife, we’ve been in the business of making and keeping promises for more than 150 years. We’re always there for our employees, customers, shareholders, and communities — navigating life and change together, finding purpose every day while laying the foundation for a more confident future. A future where our families and finances are protected. A future that’s exciting and full of potential. A future that’s inclusive and sustainable.

At the heart of our culture lies a passion for people. We hire smart, creative, collaborative people and we believe that when we’re kind to each other, when we respect and empathize with co-workers and customers alike, that’s when we make a lasting impact. We embrace inclusion, actively listen, respect every contribution, and ensure that everyone has access to what they need to succeed. This allows us to think bigger, experiment more, innovate faster, and win together.

We are building a purpose-driven and inclusive culture that energizes employees to make a difference. MetLife’s diversity of people commitment ensures our employees are empowered, thriving, and feel like they belong. These efforts begin with our purpose —Always with you, building a more confident future. We are strengthening our resolve to help build a workforce and society that protects all people, values all voices, and creates economic growth and opportunity for all.