Payroll & Benefits Manager

The Payroll & Benefits Manager is a hands-on, working leader responsible for leading day-to-day payroll and benefits execution while also driving improvements, governance, preparation and readiness for Workday payroll migration to the global tenant. This role balances operational delivery (run the payroll/benefits shop) with leadership, partnership, and change execution. This is a true player–coach role: executing core operational work while leading discovery, configuration, testing, data integrity, and adoption activities to ensure Canada transitions successfully into a single Workday tenant.

The incumbent will plan, direct, and execute multi-business-unit, multi-region payroll and benefits activities with a focus on accuracy, compliance, service quality, and continuous improvement, while coaching and developing a high-performing team.
 

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Operations & Service Delivery

• Complete and/or directly support critical payroll and benefits activities across multiple business units and regions, ensuring high accuracy and thoroughness in all work (e.g., audits, issue resolution, complex terminations, reconciliations, reporting, vendor escalations)

• Serves as the “go-to” subject matter expert for complex payroll/benefits matters and downstream impacts

• Oversee end-to-end payroll processing, including audits/analysis, corrections, and compliance activities

• Identify, analyze, and resolve complex, multifaceted payroll issues; lead troubleshooting and root-cause resolution

• Own payroll controls and compliance activities, including audit/SOX-aligned practices and month/year-end reporting requirements

• Ensure accurate processing and reporting related to vacation, overtime, and other labour reporting needs

• Lead termination processing and ensure accuracy of final pay elements and required payroll actions

Benefits Administration & Vendor / Plan Management

• Lead benefits administration and related programming/analytics, ensuring service quality and compliant administration practices

• Conduct analysis such as cost projections for annual group benefit rate renewals, plan design analysis, and insurer proposals; provide recommendations and decision support

• Manage vendor relationships and escalations; improve service delivery, issue turnaround time, and employee experience

• Management of annual filings, compliance, audit and pension committee admin for both a DC and DB pension plan

Workday Payroll Migration to Global Tenant

• Maintain the data structure and integrity of the HR Payroll technology platform (Workday) and ensure payroll/benefits processes and data are accurate, complete, and audit-ready

• Act as the payroll/benefits operational lead in the Workday tenant transition, partnering with HRIS/HR Technology and cross-functional/cross border stakeholders to prepare for and execute migration activities

• Contribute to the program plan and deliverables aligned to the Workday tenant transition including:

• Supporting scope and objective definition; participating in governance and stakeholder alignment

• Conducting inventory of payroll/benefits assets, integrations, and process dependencies

• Measuring current data quality; leading/owning payroll and benefits data cleansing and remediation planning

• Supporting controls/security review and audit reporting/documentation readiness

• Supporting testing strategy (unit, parallel, UAT) and cutover/go-live readiness, including hyper care support and issue triage

• Support one tenant ways of working through collaboration with global team and HRIS partners, shared learning, and joint project execution as part of building and operating in a global tenant model

• Align payroll migration direction with broader tenant consolidation commitments and implementation approach being negotiated/planned at the enterprise level

Continuous Process Improvement

• Streamline processes and remove duplication; drive cycle-time improvements and service quality enhancements across payroll and benefits workflows

Salary Range: $120,000 – $125,000 (Total Compensation: $144,000 – $150,000)

Please note: Compensation is determined based on the overall candidate profile, with flexibility to ensure the right pay for the right level of experience and expertise.

Please note:The total compensation range posted for this role represents the total compensation opportunity, which may include base wage, bonuses, commissions, and/or other monetary components, if applicable. Placement in the range will be based on factors such as market conditions, internal equity, candidate experience, skills and qualifications relevant to the role.