Compliance and payroll manager

The Opportunity

About Socium

Contract and Commercial Compliance

• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of contractor and client contracts, including drafting, negotiation support, execution, storage, and renewal tracking.
• Maintain and improve master service agreements, statements of work, contractor assignment agreements, and supplier frameworks.
• Ensure all hires comply with UAE law.
• Manage external service-provider relationships.
• Identify and mitigate contractual risks including rate changes, liability caps, and payment liabilities.

Process Design and Operational Excellence

• Design, document, and embed repeatable compliance processes across onboarding, contractor management, off-boarding, and audit readiness.
• Build and maintain a compliance calendar covering regulatory filings, licence renewals, and reporting obligations.
• Lead internal audits and gap assessments, produce action plans, and follow through to closure.
• Work with sales, delivery, and finance teams to embed governance into everyday workflows.

Regulatory and Licensing

• Manage UAE business licences, MOHRE registrations, and free zone compliance obligations.
• Monitor employment law, data protection, and recruitment-sector regulatory updates and communicate impacts internally.
• Support visa and work permit processes for placed contractors.
• Act as the first point of contact for compliance and payroll queries from clients, contractors, and external bodies.

Stakeholder Management

• Build trusted relationships with co-founders, commercial leads, delivery managers, and external legal counsel.
• Communicate compliance requirements clearly to internal teams that are not compliance specialists.
• Represent Socium's compliance position in client and contractor conversations.

Essential Qualifications

• 3–5 years of HR compliance and payroll experience within staff augmentation, contracting, or an equivalent staffing agency.
• Experience designing and embedding repeatable compliance processes that scaled with a growing business.
• Experience selecting and implementing compliance and contract management technology, with demonstrable outcomes.
• Experience managing founders, commercial teams, contractors, clients, and regulatory bodies.
• Solid working knowledge of UAE commercial and employment law.
• Bachelor's degree from a European institution.
• Experience working within an international business and navigating multi-jurisdiction complexity and cross-cultural working environments.

Preferred Qualification

• Prior experience in a scale-up or high-growth environment where processes had to be built rather than inherited.

What the Company Offers

• A visible role with direct access to the co-founders and managing director and influence over how the business operates.
• Competitive tax-free salary commensurate with experience.
• The opportunity to build and own a compliance function from the ground up.
• Visa sponsorship and relocation support for the right candidate.