What first inspired you to pursue a career in Payroll, and how did your path lead you to GoDaddy?
Honestly, I did not grow up dreaming about Payroll. I studied Economics and Management, and my first opportunity in the profession came through consulting for a Payroll software market leader in South Africa. At first, it was the mix of numbers, systems, legislation, and problem solving that pulled me in. I quickly realised, though, that Payroll is not only a technical discipline. It is a profession built around people, trust, and the moments in working life when accuracy matters most.
Geographically, it has been quite a journey. I grew up in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and studied at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape, then moved to Cape Town for a consulting role in 2013 before stepping into in-house Payroll teams there. Cape Town is where I joined GoDaddy in 2021. In 2023, I moved to the United Kingdom, where I now live about 20 miles from where my grandfather was born. It really is a small world after all.
One honest reason I joined GoDaddy was to gain experience in a publicly listed company. Every step of my career has shaped who I am. Something I especially appreciate about GoDaddy is the collective buzz of energy from people who are willing to challenge their own understanding of what they are capable of, and it raises the bar for everyone. What makes that special to me is that I have felt that energy despite working remotely from day one. I have always worn my heart on both sleeves, and that feels right at home among this team. As a leader, I am empowered to nurture the same in others.
I am coming up on five years at GoDaddy now, and I still feel like there is so much opportunity to learn and grow. There is always another problem worth solving or a new way to make things better, and that keeps the work genuinely exciting.
What are some of the unique challenges of managing Payroll across multiple countries and regions?
The first thing you learn is that international Payroll is never one-size-fits-all. Every country has its own tax rules, social security systems, banking requirements, deadlines, reporting obligations, and cultural expectations. A process that works perfectly in one place may be completely wrong in another, and even things that look similar on the surface often hide important local nuances.
At GoDaddy, that means delivering thousands of payments across more than 20 currencies, with Payroll, HR, Finance, Treasury, Technology, local advisers, and external providers all needing to come together on time. The visible outcome looks simple: someone gets paid. Behind it is a globally coordinated operation in which data, systems, people, regulations, and deadlines all have to align.
What makes it work is the team. We are remote-first, spread across countries, cultures, and time zones, yet some of the strongest professional relationships I have built have been with people I have rarely met in person. Years of solving problems together, supporting one another through challenges, celebrating successes, and continuously learning have created a foundation of trust. That human connection lets us manage the complexity responsibly while keeping the employee experience as simple and dependable as it should be.
What is the most rewarding thing that you have worked on at GoDaddy?
The most rewarding part has not been one single project. It has been helping our team rethink what Payroll can be inside a global technology company, including how we work together, how we learn, and how we show up for the employees we serve.
Every payment that Payroll delivers supports a real person — someone with their own goals, financial responsibilities, family, ambitions, and challenges. The trust our employees place in us is at the heart of everything we do, and it is never taken for granted.
What I love most is the ripple effect. GoDaddy serves more than 20 million customers worldwide. My team may never meet most of them, but we support the employees who do. Every accurate Payroll helps create the conditions for someone to focus on building products, supporting customers, solving problems, innovating, and helping entrepreneurs succeed. When you zoom out far enough, you realise how connected it all is. Behind every employee is a life outside work, and behind every entrepreneur is an ambition and people who depend on it.
It also helps that I am surrounded by people who genuinely care about what they do. Across Payroll, HR, Finance, Technology, Customer Care, Product, Engineering, and the wider business, there is so much good work happening that, if you pay even a little attention, it is impossible not to be inspired.
I find inspiration everywhere at GoDaddy, but the real learning happens when you take that inspiration and turn it into action.
Payroll is not traditionally known as one of the fastest-innovating professions, and accuracy, compliance, and consistency must always remain at the heart of what we do. At the same time, being part of a technology company gives us access to modern tools and the freedom to explore how automation and AI can improve both the employee experience and the experience of working in Payroll itself.
The aim is not to replace professional expertise, accountability, or human judgement. It is to support those things and help people imagine what they might accomplish with the right tools, context, and encouragement. I believe Payroll has a genuinely unique vantage point in a company. We play a crucial role in the experience of every employee, in every location, and at every stage of the employee journey. That gives us a responsibility and an opportunity to help shape key moments in the employee experience with care, consistency, and trust.
Growing up in South Africa, where unemployment remains a significant challenge, taught me from an early age not to take opportunity or employment for granted. I have never viewed employment as something to take for granted. When thousands of employees are empowered to do their best work, and they help millions of entrepreneurs do the same, I am genuinely proud of the quiet role Payroll plays in that story.
Are there any resources that you would recommend to others interested in personal development?
I do not think development only happens through formal training. Courses, books, professional qualifications, and structured learning can provide valuable knowledge, but some of my most important development has come from people, conversations, feedback, and being willing to try something before I felt completely ready.
For anyone interested in Payroll, I would recommend combining technical learning with broader development in leadership, communication, technology, data, and change management. Payroll increasingly sits at the intersection of people, finance, compliance, operations, and technology. Developing technical capability is important, but it is only part of the picture. The more effectively you can communicate your ideas, the greater your ability to influence outcomes.
I am also a big believer in learning out loud. An experiment will either produce the result you expected or teach you something useful. Neither outcome is a failure. When those lessons are shared openly, they help others build on what you have learned and give them permission to experiment as well. My practical advice is simple: do not treat learning as finished when a course ends. Take one useful idea, apply it, share what happened, and improve it. The greatest value appears when learning becomes something you do, not just something you consume.
What is a piece of career advice you have received that has stuck with you?
The advice that has stayed with me is to remain curious, particularly when I find myself in unfamiliar territory. You do not need every answer before you begin. You need enough curiosity to ask good questions, enough humility to listen to the answers, and enough courage to take the next responsible step.
Earlier in my career, I sometimes thought being capable meant already knowing what to do. Over time, I have realised that growth often begins with being honest about what you do not yet know, asking better questions, and being willing to learn through action. In Payroll, judgement, controls, compliance, and accountability still matter, so curiosity has to be paired with responsibility.
That mindset has quietly shaped how I lead. I try to create room for the team to ask questions, test ideas, and occasionally get things wrong on the way to getting them right, because that is often where the best improvements come from. My role is to act as the guardrails, creating a safe space to explore and learn before anything reaches the people who depend on us.
Be curious enough to begin and humble enough to keep learning.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Most of my time outside work revolves around family life with my wife and our three sons. I love taking them out to explore Scotland, whether that means visiting castles, heading into the countryside, trying to spot Highland cows, or simply finding somewhere new together.
Scotland is still new to all of us, and exploring it together has become one of the best parts of making a home here. A castle becomes somewhere to imagine battles and stories, a walk becomes an expedition, and spotting a Highland cow can become the highlight of the entire day.
With three boys, there is never a shortage of energy, competition, or imagination, so many of our best moments are simply playing sports and games together, getting outdoors, or sharing a laugh. I am also naturally curious, so I enjoy experimenting with technology and turning an idea into something tangible.
Mostly, though, family keeps me grounded. Payroll can be complex, global, and fast-moving, but time with the people who matter most reminds me that behind every employee, every customer, and every entrepreneur is a real person with a life and people who depend on them. That perspective influences how I approach my work just as much as any professional experience.
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