Payroll & HRIS Analyst

Main Purpose of Role

Reporting to the Head of Human Resources, the Payroll & HRIS Analyst is a hands‑on HR operations role responsible for accurate payroll processing, payroll tax support, HRIS data integrity, reporting, system troubleshooting, and payroll‑related financial reconciliation. This position serves as a key technical and analytical resource between Human Resources, Finance, Accounting, IT, Dayforce, and external vendors. The successful candidate will be comfortable investigating discrepancies, tracing data across systems, identifying root causes, and driving issues through resolution with limited supervision. This is not a traditional HR Generalist or Benefits Administration role. While a separate Benefits Specialist manages routine benefits transactions and employee inquiries, this position is responsible for understanding how benefits and retirement‑plan data should flow through Dayforce and vendor systems, validating that data, and troubleshooting issues involving deductions, eligibility, interfaces, and record reconciliation.

Key Responsibilities

• Payroll & Payroll Tax: Process and support accurate and timely payroll, including regular payroll, bonuses, adjustments, deductions, garnishments, retroactive payments, and other employee payments; review payroll reports, exception reports, and control totals to identify discrepancies prior to payroll finalization; perform payroll reconciliations and investigate pay, deduction, tax, and employee data discrepancies; support federal, state, and local payroll tax compliance, including researching and resolving tax notices, agency inquiries, and filing discrepancies; work with Dayforce, payroll tax vendors, and government agencies to resolve payroll tax setup, registration, remittance, and reporting issues; support quarter‑end and year‑end payroll processes, including tax reconciliations, Forms 941, W‑2/W‑2C reporting, and applicable state and local filings; maintain payroll documentation, audit support materials, and internal controls to ensure accurate and compliant payroll processing.
• HRIS, Integrations & Data Integrity: Support the administration and ongoing use of Dayforce and other HR technology platforms, including employee data maintenance, system testing, reporting, troubleshooting, and documentation; monitor inbound and outbound integrations between Dayforce and third‑party vendors (retirement, medical, dental, vision, HSA/FSA, life insurance, and other payroll‑related systems); understand vendor feed structures, timing, and expected data to identify missing, rejected, duplicated, or inaccurate records; investigate discrepancies between Dayforce, payroll records, benefit elections, retirement‑plan data, vendor files, and downstream systems; determine root cause of issues involving employee data, HRIS configuration, payroll setup, file mapping, eligibility rules, vendor processing, or system timing; review interface results, exception reports, error logs, and reconciliation reports and drive issues through resolution; support testing of new vendor feeds, HRIS enhancements, file‑layout changes, and system updates; perform recurring audits and reconciliations to identify issues before they become payroll, benefit, or compliance concerns; maintain documentation related to vendor feeds, interface schedules, file specifications, reconciliation procedures, and issue‑resolution processes.
• Payroll Accounting & Finance Support: Partner with Finance and Accounting to reconcile payroll activity and payroll‑related liabilities; prepare, review, or support payroll journal entries and related accounting information; reconcile wages, taxes, deductions, benefit premiums, retirement contributions, and payroll liabilities to payroll reports and general ledger activity; research and resolve discrepancies between payroll records, vendor data, and accounting records; prepare payroll variance analyses and explain significant period‑over‑period changes; support month‑end, quarter‑end, year‑end, internal audit, and external audit activities; provide payroll and HR data for budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, and business analysis.
• HR Analytics & Reporting: Prepare recurring payroll, headcount, compensation, workforce, and HR reports for Human Resources, Finance, and business leaders; analyze HR and payroll data to identify trends, anomalies, data‑quality concerns, and process improvement opportunities; develop and maintain Excel‑based reports, audits, reconciliations,