Director, Payroll Applications & Technology

the Company•Culver City, CA

23h•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking an experienced Director, Payroll Applications & Technology to lead the strategy, reliability, modernization, and support of the technology ecosystem supporting North American payroll. This position combines strategic technology leadership with hands-on payroll systems expertise. The Director will own the technical roadmap for payroll and workforce management applications, lead technical teams and vendor partners, oversee complex implementations and enhancements, and provide senior-level leadership during critical payroll production issues. The ideal candidate brings extensive experience with enterprise payroll and workforce management systems, strong knowledge of end-to-end payroll processes, and the technical depth to troubleshoot complex application, integration, data, and configuration issues.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive experience in payroll systems, HRIS, workforce management, payroll technology, or related enterprise applications.
Demonstrated experience leading business-critical payroll technology environments and technical teams.
Hands-on experience configuring, administering, implementing, or troubleshooting enterprise payroll or workforce management platforms.
Strong understanding of end-to-end payroll processes.

Responsibilities

Own the technology strategy, technical health, operating model, and multiyear roadmap for payroll and workforce management applications, including Infor WFM and UKG Payroll.
Lead modernization initiatives focused on improving system reliability, automation, scalability, controls, analytics, and the overall payroll user experience.
Establish and maintain technical standards across system configuration, integrations, reporting, automation, security, and controls.
Oversee integrations and data flows between payroll systems and enterprise platforms including Workday, SAP Finance, banking, tax, and time & attendance systems.
Provide senior technical leadership for complex payroll production issues involving applications, integrations, calculations, timekeeping, access, data, and financial postings.
Lead root-cause analysis and permanent resolution of critical incidents through data analysis, configuration and log reviews, interface tracing, testing, and business validation. Ensure temporary workarounds are controlled and replaced with sustainable long-term solutions.
Provide leadership during critical payroll cycles, system releases, implementations, cutovers, go-lives, and stabilization periods.
Lead, mentor, and develop payroll technology resources while establishing strong standards around ownership, responsiveness, documentation, and technical rigor.
Build internal capabilities through coaching, cross-training, support playbooks, diagnostic standards, knowledge management, and succession planning.
Manage technology vendors, contractors, managed service providers, budgets, contracts, statements of work, service levels, and overall vendor performance.
Partner closely with Payroll Operations, HR Technology, Finance, Information Security, Audit, integration teams, and other key stakeholders.
Provide clear executive-level communication regarding system health, incidents, priorities, project progress, risks, dependencies, and required decisions.
Maintain current technical documentation, testing evidence, change controls, runbooks, support procedures, and audit-ready materials.
Ensure payroll technology solutions comply with payroll and tax requirements, collective bargaining agreements, SOX, information security, data privacy, and audit controls.