Senior Payroll Specialist

Job Purpose and Impact

The Senior Payroll Specialist job leads complex payroll processing and compliance activities while serving as a trusted payroll subject-matter expert and partner to cross-functional stakeholders.

This role ensures accurate payroll execution, regulatory compliance, and high data integrity, while also supporting cross-functional projects, system or process changes, and vendor interactions that impact payroll delivery.

This position plays a key role in establishing standards, advising internal partners, resolving complex employee inquiries, and contributing to continuous improvement initiatives that enhance payroll effectiveness, compliance, and employee experience.

PAYROLL COMPLIANCE EXECUTION

Proposes and implements payroll process adjustments based on new regulations to ensure payroll processes meet legal and fiscal requirements and that payroll records are aligned to guidelines.

PAYROLL RECORDS MAINTENANCE & DATA QUALITY ASSURANCE

Verifies payroll data, ensuring the accuracy of data for essential payroll variables such as employee salaries, bank accounts, and addresses for new hires and terminations, and that payroll variable elements are aligned with the organization's policies.

STAKEHOLDER & EMPLOYEE PARTNERSHIP

Serves as a trusted advisor to internal stakeholders and employees by proactively communicating payroll topics, translating complex information into clear guidance, and anticipating impacts of changes.

Builds strong, credibility-based relationships through approachable communication, sound judgment, and collaborative problem solving, while influencing outcomes and driving resolution of complex issues.

PAYROLL ADMINISTRATION

• Executes various complex payroll process tasks, including coordinating the submission of required reports, running post payroll reports for third party companies, preparing and distributing paychecks or direct deposits, generating payroll reports, ensuring reconciliation of payroll records, tax filing and reconciliation, and responding to employee inquiries regarding their pay.

PAYROLL COMPLIANCE

Led complex internal and external research of payroll related laws and regulations to help monitor compliance of the organization's payroll process, identify impact and provide suggestions on improvements.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Proactively identifies and champions opportunities to enhance payroll processes, controls, and employee experience. Drives implementation of improvements, influences adoption across stakeholders, and informally coaches team members to strengthen overall payroll capability and consistency.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL PROJECT & VENDOR MANAGEMENT

• Leads and contributes to cross-functional payroll initiatives and projects by partnering with HR, Finance, Tax, Legal, Time & Labor, and external vendors.
• Serves as the payroll subject-matter expert to assess impacts, define requirements, coordinate testing activities, manage vendor interactions, and support the successful implementation of process, system, or regulatory changes.