Senior Payroll and HR Systems Specialist

Responsibilities

• Process accurate and timely semi-monthly multi-state payroll using UKG.
• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, provincial, and local payroll laws and regulations.
• Audit payroll transactions including earnings, deductions, taxes, PTO, garnishments, bonuses, commissions, and benefit deductions.
• Research and resolve payroll discrepancies and employee inquiries in a timely manner.
• Coordinate payroll activities with Finance and external payroll providers.
• Support payroll reconciliations, year-end processing, W-2s, payroll audits, 401k audits, and tax reporting.
• Monitor legislative changes impacting payroll compliance and recommend process updates.
• Maintain payroll records, procedures, and internal controls.
• Establish and maintain HR data governance standards, processes, and controls to ensure data quality, consistency, and integrity.
• Assist with HR compliance reporting, including EEO-1, ACA, OSHA, VETS-4212, and other regulatory requirements.
• Provide support for the compensation process, including salary benchmarking, merit planning, promotional increases, pay analysis, and compensation reporting.
• Serve as primary administrator for UKG HRIS, Payroll, Recruiting, Timekeeping, Performance Management, and Learning modules.
• Manage HR systems workflows, including personal details, contact information, employment history, job titles, and compensation in UKG.
• Support system administration for onboarding, offboarding, promotions, transfers, and organizational changes.
• Ensure data integrity and accuracy by conducting regular audits and data reconciliation.
• Maintain employee master data ensuring integrity, confidentiality, and accuracy.
• Configure workflows, security roles, business rules, and system updates.
• Lead testing, upgrades, implementations, enhancements, and integrations, partnering and troubleshooting with vendors and IT.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for HRIS, Payroll, and timekeeping inquiries and support requests.
• Provide training, guidance, and ongoing support to HR and other end-users to maximize system functionality.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues and coordinate with system support as needed.
• Manage all HR UKG cases and service requests.
• Develop and maintain user guides, process documentation, and training materials to support system adoption and standardization.
• Generate, maintain, and analyze HR reports and dashboards to support HR decision-making and compliance.
• Collaborate with HR and business stakeholders to create ad-hoc reports and analyze HR data trends.
• Prepare monthly reporting requests for parent company, and headcount management/planning.
• Ensure the accuracy of workforce data used for reporting, analytics, and strategic planning initiatives.
• Work closely with HR team members to identify opportunities for process automation and system enhancements.
• Develop and implement system workflows, integrations, and customizations to optimize HR processes.
• Continuously evaluate and recommend improvements to enhance system functionality and user experience.
• Develop and maintain process documentation, standard operating procedures, and system best practices to promote consistency and operational excellence.
• Manage relationships with HR system vendors and service providers, ensuring contract compliance and service quality.
• Participate in the selection and evaluation of new HR technologies as needed.
• Assist with specialty and general HR responsibilities within the team, including recruitment and onboarding, employee relations, employee benefits, KPI management, and monthly required reporting.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in human resources, business administration, information technology, or a related field preferred.
• 5+ years of progressively responsible experience in payroll administration, HRIS administration, and HR operations.
• Experience processing multi-state payroll required.
• Experience supporting payroll compliance, audits, and reporting.
• Experience in a manufacturing or consumer products environment preferred.

Skills

• UKG Pro, UKG Ready, or other UKG platform experience strongly preferred.
• Experience with enterprise HRIS and payroll systems.
• Strong knowledge of payroll tax regulations, wage and hour laws, and payroll compliance.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel (Pivot Tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, complex formulas, Power Query preferred).
• Experience developing and maintaining HR reports, workforce analytics, dashboards, and key performance metrics to support business decision-making and compliance reporting.
• Strong understanding of HR compliance and employment practices.
• Proven ability to analyze complex data, identify trends, troubleshoot system and payroll issues, and recommend effective solutions.
• Experience supporting HRIS implementations, upgrades, integrations, testing, and process automation initiatives.
• Excellent attention to detail, organizational skills, and commitment to maintaining data accuracy, confidentiality, and system security.
• Builds Strategic Working Relationships – Develops and uses collaborative relationships to facilitate the accomplishment of work goals.
• Continuous Learning – Actively identifies new areas for learning; regularly creates and takes advantage of learning opportunities; uses newly gained knowledge and skill on the job and learns through their application.
• Decision Making – Identifies and understands issues, problems, and opportunities; compares data from different sources to draw conclusions; uses effective approaches for choosing a course of action or developing appropriate solutions; takes action that is consistent with available facts, constraints, and probable consequences.
• Innovation – Generates innovative solutions in work situations; tries different and novel ways to deal with work problems and opportunities.
• Manages Work – Effectively manages one’s time and resources to ensure that work is completed efficiently.
• Work Standards – Sets high standards of performance for self and others; assumes responsibility and accountability for successfully completing assignments or tasks; self imposes standards of excellence rather than having standards imposed.