Payroll Off-Cycle Specialist

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 4+ years payroll processing experience, with at least 2+ years focused on off-cycle runs
• 2+ years leading process-improvement or automation projects (RPA, workflow orchestration, SaaS payroll platforms)
• Proficiency with payroll systems - SAP Employee Central Payroll, SAP Employee Central
• Strong Excel/Power Query abilities
• Strong knowledge of US payroll tax rules and SOX control concepts
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills with data-driven decision making
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to convey complex issues to non-technical audiences
• Demonstrated knowledge of Payroll principles & processes

Desired skills

• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP)
• Strong SAP Employee Central systems experience
• Previous leadership experience
• Strong Advanced MS Excel skills with proficiencies in using Excel related capabilities to build and automate data.
• Demonstrated staff level accounting skills confirmed through related work experience.

Responsibilities

• Avoids delays in processing non-regular payroll runs such as bonus payments, terminations, retroactive adjustments, tax corrections, and special project payrolls
• Maintains compliance with federal, state, and local regulations and internal policies
• Leads a series of short-term, project-oriented initiatives aimed at streamlining and automating off-cycle payroll operations
• Evaluates, pilots, and deploys emerging technologies (RPA, workflow orchestration platforms, AI-assisted data validation) to reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, and shorten cycle times while maintaining full regulatory compliance
• Affirmatively assesses current off-cycle workflow, mapping end-to-end steps, data hand-offs, approvals and control points; produces a detailed as-is process map
• Identifies automation opportunities
• Measures and reports efficiency gains
• Documents control and compliance evidence
• Provides training and change management support to payroll, HR and Finance teams on new tools, updated processes and reporting procedures