Director, Global Payroll

Alamo Group Inc.•New Braunfels, TX

8h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Payroll leads payroll strategy, operations, compliance, accounting, technology, and service delivery across North America, and provides governance and oversight for payroll activities in other global locations. Reporting to the Vice President, Corporate Controller & CAO, the role oversees multiple legal entities and pay frequencies and supervises four direct reports in the United States. It partners with Human Resources, Finance, Accounting, Tax, Legal, Internal Audit, IT, and business leaders to support a geographically dispersed employee population across manufacturing, distribution, and corporate locations. The Director establishes a scalable payroll operating model that balances centralized governance with local legal, operational, and employee-service requirements. The Director is accountable for accurate and timely payroll, effective controls, vendor oversight, acquisition and system-change support, and continuous improvement. The company currently uses ADP Vantage as its HRIS and payroll platform. Hands-on Workday Payroll experience is required to support evaluation, design, testing, and implementation of future payroll technology and operating models. This hybrid role is based in Seguin, Texas, during the initial transition period and in New Braunfels, Texas, beginning in November. It requires at least three days per week on site, with additional on-site presence as business needs require. Work is primarily performed in an office environment, with occasional walking in and around a manufacturing plant. Occasional domestic and international travel may be required, including overnight travel by automobile or commercial air carrier. Additional or nonstandard hours may be required during payroll deadlines, quarter-end, year-end, system implementations, audits, or other peak periods.

Requirements

Advanced knowledge of U.S. multi-state payroll operations, payroll accounting, internal controls, and federal, state, and local payroll tax requirements.
Hands-on experience administering ADP payroll products, including payroll processing, reporting, configuration, integrations, data validation, and vendor issue resolution.
Experience leading payroll in a complex, multi-entity environment.
Public-company experience and familiarity with SOX controls.
Strong people-leadership skills, with demonstrated success coaching payroll professionals, setting priorities, managing performance, and building collaborative teams.
Demonstrated success building and scaling payroll organizations and operating models by simplifying and standardizing processes, leveraging automation, and reducing manual work where system or process changes are warranted.
Ability to translate payroll requirements into clear processes, system specifications, test plans, controls, and stakeholder communications.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, proficiency in Microsoft Excel, and experience using payroll reports, reconciliations, metrics, and data to drive decisions.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to build trusted relationships across Human Resources, Finance, Accounting, Tax, Legal, Audit, IT, business operations, and external partners.
Proven ability to lead complex projects, manage organizational change, and deliver accurate results under firm deadlines.
Ability to work additional or nonstandard hours during payroll deadlines, quarter-end, year-end, system implementations, audits, or other peak periods.
Demonstrated ability to exhibit and model Alamo Group’s Core Leadership Competencies, including leading change, leading people, communication, business acumen, and results orientation.
Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Human Resources, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
At least 12 years of progressively responsible payroll experience, including significant leadership responsibility for complex, multi-state payroll operations in a multi-entity organization.
At least eight years of demonstrated experience supervising and developing payroll professionals, including leadership of an on-site or geographically dispersed team.
ADP payroll processing or administration experience.
Hands-on Workday Payroll experience, including payroll processing, configuration support, testing, data validation, integrations, reporting, issue resolution, or implementation activities.
Certified Payroll Professional certification.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of Canadian payroll operations and requirements.
Experience leading payroll resources or providers across multiple countries.
Experience with ADP Vantage, the company’s current HRIS and payroll platform.
Equivalent Canadian or international payroll credentials for candidates with broader geographic responsibility.

Responsibilities

Lead accurate, timely, and compliant payroll processing across U.S. and Canadian legal entities and pay cycles.
Establish payroll calendars, service standards, controls, reconciliations, and approval processes; resolve exceptions and maintain appropriate segregation of duties.
Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, local, and Canadian payroll, wage-and-hour, tax, garnishment, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements.
Direct quarterly and year-end activities, including Forms 940, 941, W-2, W-3, Canadian T4 reporting, tax filings, amendments, and agency notices.
Administer payroll impacts for executive compensation, nonqualified deferred compensation, supplemental retirement plans, equity awards, profit-sharing programs, bonuses, and taxable fringe benefits.
Oversee time and attendance processes, paid-time-off balances, payroll deductions, garnishments, and year-end accrual adjustments for U.S. operations.
Manage state and local tax and unemployment registrations, agency correspondence, and compliance activities for new and existing jurisdictions.
Oversee payroll accounting, including funding, general ledger entries, accruals, reconciliations, variance analysis, and period-end reporting.
Review and approve payroll funding, vendor invoices, tax payments, relocation payments, and other payroll-related disbursements within delegated authority.
Serve as the primary payroll contact for internal and external auditors and coordinate timely, accurate responses to audit and control inquiries.
Maintain payroll policies, procedures, process maps, controls, and business-continuity documentation; keep materials current and audit-ready.
Develop, test, and maintain payroll business-continuity and disaster-recovery procedures, including backup processing, funding contingencies, critical-system outages, and escalation of events that could affect employee pay.
Protect confidential employee and payroll data by following privacy, cybersecurity, access-control, and records-retention requirements.
Lead the investigation and resolution of material payroll errors, overpayments, underpayments, tax failures, and control breakdowns; determine root causes, communicate impacts, and implement sustainable corrective actions.
Own payroll configuration, testing, issue resolution, data integrity, security coordination, and process governance within ADP Vantage.
Apply Workday Payroll experience to evaluate future-state processes, support integrations and testing, and contribute to system transformation initiatives.
Lead payroll-related integrations, acquisitions, divestitures, implementations, upgrades, and other cross-functional projects from requirements through stabilization.
Develop dashboards and operating metrics that provide leadership with insight into payroll accuracy, timeliness, controls, compliance, service levels, and continuous-improvement priorities.
Establish and maintain a global payroll governance framework, including minimum control standards, defined ownership, compliance monitoring, vendor oversight, and consistent reporting across countries.
Coordinate with local Human Resources, Finance, and third-party payroll providers to identify risks, resolve escalated issues, and improve payroll delivery outside North America.
Manage payroll vendors and third-party service providers, monitor service levels, resolve escalated issues, and identify opportunities to improve quality, efficiency, and cost.
Partner with benefits and retirement-plan vendors on payroll interfaces, funding, reconciliations, testing, and compliance matters, including 401(k) administration.
Supervise, coach, and develop direct and indirect reports; establish clear goals, balance workloads, build team capability, and promote accountability and succession readiness.
Define and monitor payroll service-delivery standards, including inquiry response times, case aging, first-contact resolution, recurring issue trends, and employee experience; use results to improve service quality and stakeholder confidence.
Act as an escalation point for complex payroll matters and communicate clearly with employees, leaders, Human Resources, Finance, and external providers.
Perform other duties as assigned.