Lead, Payroll

Success Academy Charter Schools•New York, NY

3h•$155,000 - $165,000

About The Position

As the Lead Payroll, you will hold primary day-to-day responsibility for the end-to-end payroll operations of a complex, 3,000+ employee organization. Reporting directly to the Leader of Finance Operations, you will manage a dedicated team of 1–2 specialists and serve as a strategic change agent, bridging the gap between routine processing and high-level financial transformation.

Requirements

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field required.
Certification: Active Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) designation is required.
Direct Experience: 8+ years of progressive payroll experience, with at least 2 years in a supervisory or lead capacity.
Software: Proficiency in ADP is required; experience with Workday is strongly preferred.
Excel Mastery: Advanced skills, including multi-function formulas, pivot tables, and sophisticated data formatting.
Regulatory Knowledge: Comprehensive understanding of Federal, State, and Local laws, including FLSA.
Change Management: Proven ability to act as a "change agent" , bringing transformation experience to an entrepreneurial, high-volume environment.
Communication: Refined emotional intelligence with the ability to influence stakeholders and negotiate buy-in across departments.
Critical Thinking: A hands-on problem solver who can balance granular detail with big- picture process improvement.

Responsibilities

Operational Leadership: Execute and oversee semi-monthly and bi-weekly payroll for 3,000+ employees, ensuring 100% accuracy and compliance.
Regulatory Expertise: Serve as the resident Subject Matter Expert (SME) for payroll regulations, specifically for New York State and multi-state US jurisdictions.
Deductions Management: Maintain deep technical knowledge of withholdings, including complex payroll taxes, medical elections, 403(b) contributions, garnishments, and diverse benefit deductions.
Systems & Integration: Lead the maintenance and optimization of integrations between the HRIS and payroll processing systems.
Compliance & Audit: Drive the issuance of annual W-2 statements and manage all internal/external audit inquiries.
Stakeholder Partnership: Act as a critical business partner to Benefits, HR, FP&A, and Accounting. You will manage external vendor relationships, including brokers and 403(b) financial advisors.
Transformation & Innovation: Identify opportunities to automate, optimize, and audit the payroll lifecycle to increase compliance and reduce manual overhead.