Manager / Sr. Manager of Payroll and T&E

About the role

We're looking for an experienced and detail-oriented Payroll and Travel & Expense (T&E) Manager to oversee all aspects of payroll processing and employee expense management. This role is critical to ensuring accurate and timely compensation for our employees while maintaining compliance with applicable laws and internal policies.

Responsibilities

• Manage end-to-end payroll processing for a rapidly growing employee base across multiple states, ensuring accuracy and timeliness in line with our payroll cycle.
• Maintain payroll records and ensure compliance with federal, state, and local wage and hour laws, tax regulations, and reporting requirements.
• Oversee payroll tax filings, reconciliations, W-2 preparation, and year-end close activities.
• Partner with HR to manage changes related to new hires, terminations, leaves of absence, compensation adjustments, and benefits deductions.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for employee payroll inquiries, resolving issues with professionalism and discretion.
• Continuously evaluate and improve payroll processes, systems, and controls to enhance accuracy and efficiency.
• Administer the company's T&E program, including policy governance, expense report review and approval workflows, and reimbursement processing.
• Ensure employee expense submissions comply with company policy and IRS requirements, and identify and address policy exceptions and errors.
• Manage relationships with T&E platform vendors and corporate card program administrators (e.g., Ramp and Navan).
• Produce regular T&E reporting and analytics to provide visibility into spend trends and support budget management.
• Support system implementations, upgrades, and integrations related to payroll and expense platforms.
• Take ownership of the end-to-end experience, from system configuration to employee education to year-end close.

Qualifications

• Hold a high bar for accuracy and timeliness, recognizing that payroll errors land in employees' pockets and trust is built one cycle at a time.
• Bring deep functional expertise in payroll and T&E and apply it with a process-improvement mindset rather than running on autopilot.
• Handle confidential information with discretion and professionalism, especially when employees are looking to you to resolve sensitive issues.
• Partner effectively across HR, Finance, and the broader business, translating policy and compliance requirements into clear guidance for non-specialists.
• Stay organized under competing priorities and adapt quickly in an ambiguous, rapidly changing environment.
• Take ownership of the end-to-end experience, from system configuration to employee education to year-end close.

Basic Qualifications

• Hold a Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Have 5+ years of payroll experience in a fast-paced, high-growth environment, including multi-state payroll.
• Have a solid understanding of federal and state payroll tax laws and wage and hour regulations.
• Have experience administering a corporate T&E program.
• Be proficient with a major payroll system (e.g., ADP, Workday, Rippling) and Microsoft Excel.
• Be highly organized and detail-oriented, with a strong sense of discretion when handling confidential information.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Hold a Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) designation.
• Have experience with Rippling.
• Be familiar with expense management tools such as Ramp.
• Have experience partnering with HR and Finance on compensation planning, audits, or system implementations.
• Have exposure to multi-entity, multi-currency, or international payroll processing.
• Be comfortable working in ambiguous, rapidly changing environments with competing priorities.