Payroll Specialist

• Deliver accurate, reliable, and timely payroll services while adhering to established payroll calendars, processing deadlines, and compliance requirements.

• Perform daily employee maintenance updates and ensure payroll records remain accurate and up to date.

• Respond to employee payroll inquiries with professionalism, discretion, sound judgment, and clear communication.

• Manage payroll workflows to ensure accurate and timely processing of payroll transactions, including proactive follow-up on outstanding items and potential issues.

• Reconcile payroll prior to transmission, validate confirmed reports, and escalate discrepancies with recommended solutions when appropriate.

• Process garnishments and ensure compliance with applicable regulations and requirements.

• Manage accurate and timely year-end reporting activities, including W-2 and W-2c preparation and distribution.

• Load, import, review, and validate files received from HR and other internal partners across all companies, ensuring data accuracy and timely processing.

• Research file-related issues, identify root causes, communicate findings to relevant stakeholders, and recommend process improvements to reduce recurring errors.

• Partner with HR, Commissions, Accounting, and other cross-functional teams on payroll-related matters, including employee data changes, commission payments, manual check processing, ACH rejections, and tax jurisdiction setup.

• Support international payroll activities as needed, including coordination, documentation, and follow-up with internal and external partners.

• Contribute ideas and solutions that improve payroll processes, strengthen controls, increase efficiency, and enhance collaboration across teams.

• Professionalism and Resilience: Maintains composure, discretion, and sound judgment in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment, including when handling sensitive or challenging employee inquiries.

• Collaboration: Builds strong partnerships with HR, Commissions, Accounting, and business stakeholders while sharing information clearly and following through on commitments.

• Discretion: Exercises sound judgment and maintains confidentiality when handling sensitive employee and payroll information.

• Communication: Effectively communicates complex information and adapts communication styles to meet the needs of diverse audiences.

• Decision-Making: Evaluates options, considers potential outcomes, and makes informed decisions with an understanding of business impact.

• Problem-Solving and Continuous Improvement: Identifies issues, analyzes root causes, proposes practical solutions, and proactively seeks opportunities to improve processes.

• Analytical Thinking: Applies critical thinking to analyze payroll data, identify patterns, and draw accurate conclusions.

• Organization and Dependability: Effectively prioritizes daily and recurring payroll responsibilities, tracks deliverables, meets deadlines, and demonstrates strong follow-through.

• Multi-Tasking: Successfully manages competing priorities across payroll cycles, employee inquiries, file imports, reconciliations, and cross-functional requests while maintaining accuracy and responsiveness.

• Detail Orientation: Identifies errors or inconsistencies and takes appropriate corrective action to ensure accuracy.

• Prioritization: Determines critical tasks, organizes work effectively, and executes responsibilities with minimal supervision.

• Proficient in Microsoft Excel for payroll reporting and data analysis, including formulas, functions, pivot tables, reconciliations, and data validation techniques. (Intermediate)

• Working knowledge of payroll accounting concepts and payroll controls, with the ability to partner with Accounting on reconciliations, manual checks, ACH rejections, and tax-related setup activities.

• Experience using payroll systems such as Vantage and ADP for payroll processing, employee data maintenance, reporting, and issue resolution.

• Ability to identify payroll process gaps, recommend efficiency improvements, document procedures, and collaborate with stakeholders to strengthen scalable and repeatable payroll practices. (Intermediate)

Preferred Requirements

• Experience supporting multi-state payroll, complex payroll cycles, and/or high-volume payroll environments preferred.

• Exposure to international payroll processes, global payroll coordination, or payroll vendor management is a plus.

• Prior experience improving payroll processes, creating documentation, or partnering across HR, Commissions, and Accounting functions preferred.

• Bachelor's degree required or an equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience.

• 2-4 years of payroll experience preferred, ideally in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

• Demonstrated reliability, accountability, and ability to meet scheduled payroll deadlines with minimal supervision.

• Ability to maintain professionalism and composure when handling time-sensitive issues, escalations, and challenging conversations.

• Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC), Certified Payroll Professional (CPP), or similar payroll certification preferred.