Director of Payroll

Aspire Public Schools • Oakland, CA

6h

About The Position

Aspire NorCal is forming a unified Northern California region that will operate 22 schools serving approximately 10,000 scholars across the Bay Area and Central Valley. The organization is working to strengthen school support, improve consistency and accountability, and preserve its mission of post-secondary success and commitment to educational equity.

The Director of Payroll manages the payroll team and owns the success of the payroll function, including compliance, processing, reporting, and tax filings. This hands-on technical leader ensures payrolls and related deadlines are accurate and timely, provides proactive payroll education across the organization, and researches and implements ways to improve payroll processes and systems in alignment with applicable regulations and Aspire’s goals.

The role manages 2–3 direct reports and collaborates with HR, Employee Services, Employee Relations, Finance, and retirement stakeholders. Aspire NorCal expects to provide Finance, Accounting, Payroll, and Retirement services to Aspire LA under a multi-year service agreement; the department’s size and positions may be affected if the agreement is not finalized, renewed, or continues through its term. Employment with Aspire is at-will.

Requirements

• FPC or CPP designation required.
• At least 5 years of payroll experience.
• At least 3 years of direct management experience.
• Experience with UltiPro (UKG) required and ability to navigate HRIS systems.
• Knowledge of federal and California labor laws, including FLSA and wage-and-hour requirements.
• Deep payroll technical knowledge and willingness to stay current on changing regulations.
• Strong customer service orientation, communication, and relationship-building skills, along with professional integrity.
• High attention to detail, organization, and follow-up; ability to manage multiple projects concurrently.
• Excellent critical-thinking and problem-solving skills and good judgment.
• Advanced Excel and technology skills, including ability to work with large databases and provide meaningful analysis.
• Ability to handle highly sensitive information and influence and partner across HR, Finance, and Payroll.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Business.
• Working knowledge of accounting and benefit principles.
• Experience in or strong interest in K–12 public education.

Responsibilities

• Lead, build, and manage a high-performing payroll function and team to support internal teammates and external requirements.
• Manage 2–3 direct reports.
• Develop training materials and deliver live training on payroll compliance, industry updates, and best practices; maintain payroll tools and Q&A materials.
• Foster a customer-service culture, uphold service-level agreements and success metrics, and oversee the payroll service desk ticket system.
• Serve as the Payroll Service Level Agreement lead between Aspire NorCal and Aspire LA, participate in SLA review meetings, and deliver SLA performance reports.
• Collaborate with Employee Services and the Retirement Manager to resolve tax, benefit, and retirement questions, including retirement-related audits for 403(b), CalSTRS, and CalPERS.
• Develop, own, and communicate the payroll calendar; ensure timely payrolls, tax filings, retirement plan reporting and funding, and termination payments; own the payroll year-end process.
• Manage the full payroll cycle, including employee status changes, W-4 and direct deposit entries, leave processing, adjustments, retroactive payments, W-2 filings, off-cycle checks, garnishments, retirement deductions, fringe benefits, journal entries, and final-pay calculations.
• Understand benefit taxation and ACA requirements and support reporting with the Employee Services team.
• Manage internal payroll controls and develop audit reports, checks, and balances to ensure payroll accuracy and proactively mitigate errors.
• Document the payroll function, including maintaining a training manual and regularly filing pay-period adjustments electronically.
• Hire, develop, coach, and retain a customer-focused, cross-trained payroll team; set priorities and balance workload.
• Build collaborative partnerships with HR leadership, Employee Services, Employee Relations, the HRIS Manager, Business Managers, and the Retirement Manager.
• Act as liaison between internal managers and Aspire’s payroll provider, and lead payroll-related projects.
• Support Aspire Public Schools’ mission, vision, and values, including antiracism, and uphold confidentiality standards and the code of ethical behavior.
• Perform other related duties as required and assigned.

Benefits

• Eligible for Aspire health benefits.
• Retirement through CalSTRS or CalPERS, depending on the role’s credential requirements, with a 403(b) option.
• Paid time off.
• Additional teammate benefits to be determined under an updated employee value proposition, to be shared before an offer.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed