Payroll Specialist Germany - Payroll Setup & Operations...

Shine is the financial copilot for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Founded by serial entrepreneurs Rico Andersen and Martin Hegelund, Shine is a leading European fintech unicorn on a mission to restore the joy of running a business, by ending wasted time on financial admin. Shine offers a connected solution for invoicing, accounting, payroll, business accounts, payments, and financing, meaning business owners can focus their energy on growing a healthy business, not held back by manual admin.

Part of something bigger
Today we're part of Cegid, a European leader in cloud software for finance and accounting. Together we're building Europe's leading financial copilot for small businesses and their accountants.
Shine already supports more than 400,000 small businesses. As part of Cegid, we now reach over one million small businesses and 15,000 accountants across Europe.
We're a multicultural team working from France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, contributing to a wider European network that spans Spain, Portugal.

Your hiring experience matters
Just as we respect our customers' time, we respect yours. Your experience with Shine and Cegid should feel simple, transparent and genuinely supportive.
If this sounds like somewhere you want to grow, we'd love to hear from you.

Your Role as a Payroll Specialist

Payroll for our two German entities (around 185 and 60 employees) is currently run by an external provider. We're hiring a Payroll Specialist, based in Berlin, to bring payroll in-house end-to-end: select and implement a payroll tool, migrate the data from the current provider, and then own German payroll production for both entities going forward.

This is a hands-on, individual-contributor role. You will personally run payroll from A to Z — this is not a vendor-oversight or coordination role, and it's not a system migration of existing tools either: you'll be setting up a new payroll tool from scratch and building the process around it.

What you'll do

• Own end-to-end monthly payroll production for both German entities (~245 employees combined): salary, bonuses, benefits in kind, expenses and all statutory deductions.

• Lead the insourcing project: evaluate and select a payroll software suited to multi-entity German payroll, and migrate employee and historical payroll data from the outgoing provider.

• Design the new payroll process end-to-end — calendars, controls, approvals — so it runs reliably without an external provider.

• Ensure full compliance with German labor, tax and social security law (Lohnsteuer, Sozialversicherung) and statutory reporting (DEÜV, ELStAM, and filings to Finanzamt, Krankenkassen, Berufsgenossenschaft and Bundesagentur für Arbeit).

• Manage payroll-relevant employee lifecycle events: starters, leavers, parental leave, sick leave (Lohnfortzahlung), contract changes and terminations, in close coordination with People/HR.

• Prepare year-end and ad hoc statutory documents (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung, social security annual reports, audits).

• Act as the main point of contact for German payroll for employees, tax advisors (Steuerberater) and authorities.

• Partner with Finance and People teams across the group (Paris, Copenhagen, Amsterdam) to keep payroll aligned with contracts, benefits and headcount planning.

• Maintain accurate, GDPR-compliant payroll records and documentation.

About you

• At least 3 years of hands-on experience running German payroll (Lohn- und Gehaltsabrechnung) end-to-end

• Strong knowledge of German payroll tax, social security and employment regulations.

• Experience implementing, configuring or migrating payroll systems is highly valued. The ability to independently select and set up the payroll solution and support data migration is important, as this role will build the German payroll process from scratch.

• Experience running payroll across more than one legal entity is a strong plus.

• Rigorous, detail-oriented and discreet — this role handles sensitive personal and financial data.

• Comfortable independently owning payroll operations and resolving payroll-related issues with employees and authorities.

• Fluent German.

• Good professional English.

Nice to have

• Payroll system implementation or migration experience.

• Experience bringing payroll in-house from an external provider.

• Experience across multiple German legal entities.

• Experience in fintech, banking or another regulated environment.

Our recruitment process

1️⃣ Screening call — with our recruiter (30 min): technical background check and profile fit

2️⃣ Technical interview — with Patrice Mahe, Director of Payroll

3️⃣ Business case — short scenario to assess your payroll knowledge and autonomy in practice.

4️⃣ A team introduction, followed by a soft skills interview based on personality assessments to see how we can best support your growth at Shine

What's in it for you

• Permanent contract

• Hybrid — 3 days/week in our Berlin office

• A founding role with full ownership from day one

• A small, international, and highly competent team

• A company building something meaningful for millions of self-employed workers across Europe

  Equal Opportunity Employer

  We follow the principle of equal treatment to consider all job applicants and do not discriminate based on their gender, sexual orientation, color, racial or ethnic origin, religion, disability, etc. as per applicable law.