Senior Associate/ Manager Payroll & Benefits

About the Role:

We are seeking an experienced Senior Associate/ Manager Payroll & Benefits to join our team. In this role, you will own the end-to-end payroll cycle, administer comprehensive employee benefit programs, and serve as support for equity administration. You will support Finance, HR, and external advisors to ensure accuracy and full regulatory compliance. 

Who would love this job?

A professional who is passionate about payroll and benefits administration and eager to expand their expertise in equity administration. A curious individual looking for an opportunity with a growing company and a small, cross-functional G&A team. Someone who is detail-oriented, process-driven, and a proactive problem solver with a customer-service mindset. An ambitious self-starter who enjoys working independently but also thrives as part of a collaborative and supportive team.

Key Responsibilities:

Payroll Administration

• Process multi-state, full-cycle payroll (semi-monthly) with accuracy and timeliness for all employees.
• Reconcile payroll registers, general ledger entries, and payroll-related balance sheet accounts.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local wage and hour laws, tax regulations, and garnishment orders.
• Partner with accounting on payroll accruals, journal entries, month-end close activities, ad hoc reporting, and system integrations.

Benefits Administration

• Administer health, dental, vision, life, disability, FSA/HSA, and 401(k) plans including onboarding, open enrollment, qualifying life events, and day-to-day employee inquiries.
• Coordinate with HR, benefits brokers, and carriers on plan changes, renewals, billing reconciliation, and claims escalations.
• Manage COBRA administration, ACA reporting (1094-C/1095-C), annual non-discrimination testing, as well as other reporting as assigned. 
• Support leave of absence processes (FMLA, state leaves, personal leave).
• Develop, update, and communicate benefits and leave policies while serving as the primary resource for employee inquiries, issue resolution, and interpretation of plan and policy provisions.

HR Administration & Employee Records

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date employee records in the HRIS, including new hires, terminations, transfers, promotions, compensation changes, and personal data updates.
• Process employment verifications, unemployment claims, and HR-related correspondence.
• Support HR compliance activities including I-9 administration, E-Verify, EEO-1, and applicable state HR filings.
• Respond to employee inquiries regarding HR policies, procedures, and programs; escalate complex issues appropriately.
• Support the administration of compensation change workflows, and merit increase processing in the HRIS.

Onboarding & Offboarding

• Coordinate and facilitate the new hire onboarding record keeping, including pre-boarding paperwork, HRIS setup, benefits enrollment, and payroll activation.
• Administer offboarding processes including final pay calculations, benefits termination, equity notifications, equipment retrieval coordination, and exit interview scheduling.
• Maintain and continuously improve onboarding and offboarding checklists to reflect current policies, systems, and compliance requirements.

Systems, Reporting & Process Improvement

• Serve as a functional administrator for the HRIS and payroll platform; manage configuration, integrations, and audits.
• Generate and analyze standard and ad-hoc compensation, benefits, and headcount reports for leadership and Finance.
• Identify and implement process improvements to increase efficiency, reduce error risk, and strengthen internal controls.
• Train managers and employees on self-service tools, equity portals, and benefits platforms.

Equity Compensation 

Work with the current stock plan administrator to execute equity award programs, including ISOs/NQSOs. 

• Maintain equity data integrity between the equity management platform and the HRIS/payroll system .
• Support equity expense calculations, JEs, and Black-Scholes inputs 
• Calculate and withhold applicable taxes on equity events (vesting/exercises) and ensure accurate W-2 and supplemental income reporting.

Qualifications:

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field; or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Experience

• 5+ years of progressive payroll and benefits administration experience, with at least 2 years in a publicly traded company environment.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience administering equity compensation plans (ISOs, NQSOs, and/or RSUs) and processing related payroll tax withholding and reporting.
• Direct involvement in proxy statement preparation or review.
• Working knowledge of SOX internal controls as they apply to payroll and HR data/processes.

Certifications:

• CPP Certified Payroll Professional (APA) - Preferred and/or willing to attain
• CEP Certified Equity Professional - Preferred (desire to obtain preferred)

Skills & Competencies: 

Technical Skills (required)

• Proficiency with a major payroll/HRIS platform, Paylocity a plus.
• Experience with an equity management platform, Carta is a plus.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, data validation, etc).
• Familiarity with general ledger and ERP systems, NetSuite a plus.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Competencies & Attributes (required)

• Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy in deadline-driven environments.
• Strong understanding of confidentiality obligations and discretion with sensitive employee and executive compensation data.
• Ability to communicate complex payroll, tax, and equity concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Self-directed and organized, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent workstreams and deadlines.
• Collaborative partner for internal teams.
• Continuous improvement mindset, proactively identifies control gaps and proposes scalable solutions.
• Excellent customer service to support employees.