Senior Manager, Rewards, Payroll & Systems

Overview

Who We Are Nando’s PERi-PERi USA is a growing restaurant group seeking a full time Senior Manager, Total Rewards, Payroll & People Systems to join our Restaurant Support team. We are known for our flame-grilled chicken, our South African roots, and our passion for putting people at the center of everything we do.

NANDO’S VISION We want to be the most loved restaurant brand in America—sharing the spirit of Nando’s PERi-PERi with everyone who chooses to access it. We will redesign and build a business that thrives as it fully answers its consumers’ needs—and endures over time by putting people at the heart of what we do. We will lead with our values and act with care, compassion, and kindness.

By doing this, we will Change Lives Together, every day and everywhere.

THE ROLE The Senior Manager, Total Rewards, Payroll & People Systems is a hands-on operational and analytical leader responsible for managing payroll accuracy, compensation administration, benefits operations expert, and HR systems integrity. This role partners closely with HR, Finance, and Operations to ensure compliant, timely, and data driven execution across payroll, pay programs, and HR systems. The Senior Manager will lead critical day-to-day processes, build strong controls, and drive incremental process improvements—while escalating more complex, strategic decisions to People Leadership.

• Payroll Operations
• Manage end-to-end payroll processing for U.S. Nandocas across regular, off-cycle, and special payrolls.
• Ensure accurate, timely, compliant payroll, including wages, overtime, deductions, garnishments, multi-state tax and labor compliance, Fair Workweek / predictive scheduling rules (where applicable), and yearend activities (W2/W2c).
• Maintain payroll controls, documentation, audit trails, and reconciliations.
• Prepare and submit required payroll tax reports and partner with Finance on funding and variance review.
• Provide responsive support to employees and managers regarding payroll matters.

• Compensation Administration
• Administer compensation programs, structures, pay ranges, and job classifications.
• Ensure compensation programs, pay adjustments, and incentive plans are accurately reflected, configured, and administered within the payroll system (e.g., ADP) to support correct and timely pay outcomes.
• Support minimum wage compliance and ensure wage updates are reflected in payroll and labor forecasting tools.
• Support leaders and HR Business Partners with compensation recommendations and lifecycle pay changes.
• Collaborate with Talent Management organization regarding Internal Equity Review and Analysis
• Maintain compensation guidelines, workflows, and documentation.
• Provide data and insights that support workforce planning conversations.

• Performance Management & Pay for Performance
• Coordinate the annual performance cycle and ensure data accuracy throughout the process.
• Manage merit and bonus cycle setup, timelines, eligibility, and reporting.
• Partner with Talent teams to engage with leaders to ensure consistent communication and execution across client groups.
• Support ongoing performance checkins and data tracking.

• Benefits & Total Rewards Administration
• Serve as the day-to-day operational partner for benefits administration.
• Support annual open enrollment, new hire enrollment, ACA tracking, and vendor coordination.
• Oversee monthly benefits processing and reporting.
• Manage employee leaves (FMLA, ADA, STD/LTD, parental, workers’ compensation) and partner on return-to-work plans.
• Engage with vendors and third-party administrators to support accurate processing, issue resolution, and ongoing benefit operations.

• People Systems (HRIS)
• Serve as a functional HRIS expert for ADP and related People systems.
• Configure, test, and deploy system changes, workflows, and automations.
• Maintain user permissions, security roles, and data governance.
• Support upgrades, integrations, and cross functional testing initiatives.
• Manage day-to-day relationships with key vendors (e.g., ADP, Harri) ensuring service quality, issue resolution, and alignment to Nando’s operational needs.

• Data Integrity & Analytics
• Ensure accurate employee data throughout the…