Senior Payroll Analyst

Summary

Up to 6 months temporary assignment with HR Payroll team as a Senior Payroll Analyst working onsite 5 days a week (Mon-Fri 8AM-5PM EST) at 111 Sylvan Ave Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

The Senior Payroll Analyst is responsible for accurate, timely, and compliant multi-state payroll processing. This role serves as a primary owner and subject matter expert for complex payroll transactions, issue resolution, payroll tax matters, reconciliations, large-scale data audits, vendor escalations, and process improvement initiatives. The Senior Payroll Analyst is expected to resolve complex matters with limited supervision, assess payroll tax and accounting impacts, and drive issues from root cause analysis through documented closure.

The ideal candidate is analytical, systematic, and comfortable working with complex payroll data. This role requires independent judgment, advanced problem-solving, cross-functional coordination, and the ability to mentor or guide junior payroll team members on established processes, exception handling, and documentation standards.

Responsibilities

1. Payroll Processing, Complex Adjustments, and Compliance

• Process and review multi-state US payroll for salaried, hourly, and other employee populations.
• Own complex payroll activities, including reversals, voids, post-only transactions, retroactive payments, overpayments, repayments, manual checks, and off-cycle payrolls.
• Analyze and process current-quarter, prior-quarter, and prior-year adjustments with appropriate tax treatment, accounting impact, and audit documentation.
• Review payroll inputs, exception reports, and employee-level calculations before payroll is finalized, with emphasis on high-risk or unusual transactions.
• Serve as an escalation point for complex employee pay issues, tax setup discrepancies, prior-period corrections, and payroll calculation questions.
• Support federal, state, and local payroll tax compliance, including tax notices, amended filings, W-2s, and W-2Cs.
• Maintain clear documentation and appropriate controls for payroll adjustments, approvals, issue resolution, and audit support.

2. Reconciliation, Auditing, and Root Cause Analysis

• Perform gross-to-net, payroll tax, 401(k), benefits, deductions, garnishments, bank funding, and general ledger reconciliations.
• Lead investigation of payroll tax liabilities, deposits, filings, vendor reports, and reconciliation variances through resolution.
• Validate employee and employer 401(k) contributions against payroll records and retirement plan vendor files.
• Audit large volumes of payroll data, including company-wide employee populations, to identify errors, missing transactions, unusual activity, and data integrity issues.
• Perform root cause analysis for recurring payroll issues and recommend control or process changes to prevent recurrence.
• Support month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close and reconciliation processes by preparing analysis, resolving variances, and explaining payroll impacts to stakeholders.
• Prepare clear payroll reports and analyses for Payroll, Finance, Accounting, HR, leadership, auditors, and external partners as needed.

3. Vendor, Stakeholder, and Escalation Management

• Work directly with payroll, tax, retirement plan, banking, benefits, and system vendors to resolve operational, filing, and data-related issues.
• Own vendor cases and complex stakeholder issues until fully resolved, documented, and communicated to the appropriate parties.
• Partner with HR, Benefits, Finance, Accounting, Compensation, Legal, and managers on complex payroll matters requiring cross-functional coordination.
• Provide guidance to internal stakeholders on payroll data requirements, exception handling, control expectations, and documentation needs.
• Escalate high-risk, unresolved, or compliance-sensitive matters to payroll leadership with clear facts, recommended options, and potential payroll impacts.

4. Systems, Automation, Process Improvement, and Team Guidance

• Support payroll system maintenance, testing, integrations, upgrades, and implementation projects.
• Lead or co-lead payroll process improvement initiatives that streamline work, reduce manual effort, strengthen controls, and improve accuracy.
• Validate data between HR, timekeeping, benefits, retirement, tax, finance, and payroll systems, with focus on integration issues and downstream payroll impacts.
• Develop practical automation opportunities, reporting improvements, and responsible use cases for AI-enabled tools within payroll controls.
• Maintain payroll procedures, reconciliation files, checklists, control documentation, and knowledge-sharing materials.
• Mentor or guide Payroll Analysts on routine processing, reconciliation preparation, escalation standards, and documentation practices.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Human Resources, or a related field.
• 5-8+ years of US payroll experience, preferably in a high-volume, multi-state environment.
• Strong experience with complex adjustments, reversals, voids, post-only transactions, overpayment/repayment processing, and prior-period corrections.
• Hands-on experience with payroll tax, 401(k), gross-to-net, bank, benefits, and general ledger reconciliations.
• Strong problem-solving, critical-thinking, root-cause analysis, and organizational skills.
• Ability to audit and analyze large payroll data sets accurately and confidently.
• Intermediate-to-advanced Excel skills, including formulas, lookups, pivot tables, data validation, filtering, and large-data analysis.
• Ability to work independently, guide issue resolution, manage competing priorities, protect confidential information, and meet strict payroll deadlines.
• Experience working with payroll or HCM systems; hands-on experience with UKG Pro is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with ADP Smart Tax Compliance is preferred.
• Improvement-oriented mindset with demonstrated ability to identify control gaps, propose practical solutions, and support payroll automation or technology initiatives.
• This is an on-site position.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with payroll system integration, implementations, process redesign, or automation projects.
• Experience in a public company or Sarbanes-Oxley-controlled environment.
• Experience in resolving multi-state and local payroll tax notices and compliance issues.
• CPP certification preferred; FPC may be considered with strong relevant experience.
• Experience mentoring junior payroll team members or serving as an escalation point for complex payroll issues.

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Recruiting Range 90000 - 115000 USD