Payroll Manager (Contractor), 100%

At Cytokinetics, each team member plays an integral part in advancing our mission to improve the lives of patients. We are seeking tenacious, compassionate, and collaborative individuals who are driven to make a positive impact.

We are seeking an experienced Payroll Manager to support our growing organization. This role will be responsible for overseeing payroll operations, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and efficiency across processes while partnering closely with internal stakeholders and external providers.

This is a fixed-term contract until the end of the year, with the possibility of extension. The position follows a hybrid working model, with three days per week in our Zug office.

Key Responsibilities:

• End-to-End Payroll Operations: manage and oversee full-cycle payroll processing for EU entities, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and timely salary payments in compliance with local labor and tax regulations. Partnering with HR and BDO. Process manual payment for newly created entities.
• Balance Sheet Reconciliations: own payroll-related balance sheet accounts for all EU entities, including salaries payable, social security liabilities, bonus accruals, and other employee-related provisions.
• Payroll Accounting & Accruals including PTO / Leave Accrual Management: oversee paid time off (PTO), vacation, and leave accrual calculations; ensure compliance with local labor laws and accurate financial reporting of leave liabilities. Prepare and issue monthly PTO balance report with lead team.

Review payroll-related journal entries, including salary, bonus, commission, and employer tax accruals; ensure proper reconciliation to the general ledger.

• Equity / Stock Compensation Process Management: coordinate payroll treatment of stock-based compensation (RSUs, options, ESPP), ensuring proper taxation, reporting, and accounting in alignment with corporate policies. Close partnership with BDO and Tax department. Validation of annual certificate required for employees.
• Compliance & Regulatory Reporting, Internal Controls & SOX Compliance: ensure timely submission of payroll tax filings, social security contributions, and statutory reports in coordination with local authorities and providers.

Maintain and strengthen payroll-related internal controls, support SOX documentation and testing, and ensure audit readiness for both internal and external audits.

• Accounting Manager responsibility for France entity, FBNL protentional (approximately 30% of time). Lead preparation and filing of statutory financial statements for France legal entities under local GAAP. Oversee preparation and timely submission of VAT returns and related filings across all France, in coordination with internal tax teams and external advisors. Own balance sheet integrity across all DACH entities.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 10+ years of progressive experience in end-to-end payroll management, with strong expertise in multi-country or multi-state compliance, tax regulations, statutory reporting and benefits administration.
• Proven ability to implement, optimize and scale payroll systems and processes.
• Demonstrated capability to design and manage agile payroll frameworks within fast-paced, high-growth or startup-style environments, partnering closely with Finance, HR, and leadership teams.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills, with experience mentoring team members and building trusted cross-functional relationships in dynamic organizational cultures.
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required to effectively manage global payroll communications, documentation and stakeholder coordination. Additional proficiency in relevant regional languages (e.g. French) is strongly preferred.
• Clear and professional written communication skills for reporting, policy documentation, and audit-related correspondence.

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