Payroll Specialist (Germany) - Oyster

About Oyster

Oyster is building a global employment platform that empowers companies to hire, pay, and care for brilliant people anywhere in the world. We believe talent is universal, and we're dedicated to closing the gap between companies and the global talent pool. As a remote-first company distributed across 60+ countries, we've built a high-performing culture without a traditional office.

Oyster has been recognized for its impact and culture, including rankings by TIME, Newsweek, and G2. We are also proud to be a B Corp-certified global employment platform.

Role Summary

This is an exciting opportunity to join Oyster's in-house payroll team and take ownership of German payroll operations. You will play a key role in ensuring best-in-class payroll standards at scale within one of our most important markets. If you have hands-on German payroll experience, are comfortable executing structured processes with precision, and are eager to grow within a dynamic payroll function, this role is for you.

Core Responsibilities

• Process Payroll Accurately: Produce assigned German payroll streams in-house each cycle, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and timeliness.
• Master Data Accuracy: Process and verify employee payroll master data, including new hires, terminations, salary changes, variable pay, benefits, absences, and garnishments (Pfändungen), adhering to defined procedures and flagging any discrepancies.
• Payroll Controls & Quality: Execute pre- and post-payroll validations, meticulously checking your own work and escalating any potential issues before they impact team members, customers, or Finance.
• Statutory Filings & Accesses: Manage statutory filings such as Lohnsteueranmeldung, SV-Meldungen, Jahresmeldung, and U1/U2 reimbursement claims. Handle the retrieval and maintenance of ELStAM data, following established procedures and flagging any anomalies. Support the setup and maintenance of required government accesses.
• Payroll System Procedures: Follow defined steps to maintain the in-house payroll system, test legislative updates, and report issues or suggestions to the team lead or Product team.
• Subject Matter Knowledge: Learn and apply German wage tax (Lohnsteuerrecht), social insurance (Sozialversicherungsrecht), labor law (Arbeitsrecht), and collective agreement (Tarifvertrag) interpretations relevant to your work, seeking clarification when needed.
• Financial Reconciliation: Verify payroll journals and General Ledger (GL) mappings against payroll outputs, identifying and flagging any data integrity issues.
• Ticket Handling: Manage assigned client payroll tickets efficiently and escalate complex issues to senior team members with clear context, always maintaining a customer-first approach.
• Reporting: Assist in preparing statutory and ad-hoc reports, including those for the EU Pay Transparency Directive, Betriebsrat-facing pay assessments, and Datenschutz/GDPR compliance.
• Audits: Provide structured data and documentation to support internal and external audits.
• Team Support: Adhere to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), identify and flag gaps, share knowledge, and support peers to maintain and update our knowledge base.

Minimum Requirements

• 1-3 years of experience running native (in-house) payroll processes for Germany, with the ability to independently handle a defined volume of payslips monthly.
• Hands-on experience with DATEV processing.
• Completed Kaufmännische Ausbildung (e.g., Steuerfachangestellte/r) and/or Lohnbuchhalter qualification.
• Working knowledge of German wage tax, social insurance, and labor law, with a commitment to deepening expertise.
• German language proficiency at C1/C2 level for local authority interactions and fluent English for global team collaboration.
• Comfortable handling assigned client queries and escalating issues beyond your scope with clear context, balancing accuracy with a customer-first mindset.
• A meticulous, detail-oriented approach with thorough self-checking and proactive flagging of patterns or issues.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity within your workstream and escalate appropriately when tasks fall outside your defined scope.
• Willingness to share knowledge and support peers informally.
• Comfort working largely asynchronously in a fast-paced, remote-first environment.

Desirable Skills

• Broader accounting background or qualification (e.g., Bilanzbuchhalter), particularly beneficial for GL mapping and reconciliation.
• Proven experience in delivering cross-functional HR/Payroll projects.
• Hands-on experience with AI tools for payroll or operations workflow optimization.
• Strong data transformation skills and practical experience with data analytics platforms.

How we work together at Oyster

Our values—Make it Happen, Drive Change, Build Trust, and Move as One—guide our work and culture. We are committed to our mission of creating a more equal world of work. We embrace asynchronous, collaborative work and share our operational practices openly.

How YOU work

Oyster supports your whole human experience through programs like:

• Work from anywhere: Work from anywhere you are authorized to work, as long as your work is timely and your team is supported.
• Paid time off: 40 days off per year (including holidays and vacation), or more if required by local law.
• Mental health support: Access to Plumm, our mental well-being service.
• Wellbeing allowance: Monthly allowance via ThanksBen wallet for various wellness options.
• Flexible parental leave: Minimum three months paid leave for all new parents, with job protection up to 12 months or as locally required.
• WFH stipend: Stipend for laptop and home office equipment.

Oyster is committed to diversity and inclusion. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals. If you require accommodations during the application process, please contact jobs@oysterhr.com.

Please note: Oyster will only contact you from an @oysterhr.com email address and will never ask for money during the hiring process. Report any suspicious communications to our Compliance and Ethics Helpline.