Manager, Global Payroll

Verra Mobility•Mesa, AZ

About The Position

The Payroll Manager leads the payroll team and is responsible for accurate, timely, end-to-end payroll operations across multiple pay groups in the United States and Canada, including union and prevailing wage employees. The role manages, develops, and coaches payroll team members and serves as a subject matter expert in payroll processing, compliance, and systems. It ensures adherence to applicable U.S. federal, state, and local regulations; Canadian federal and provincial requirements; collective bargaining agreements; and prevailing wage laws. The manager partners with HR, Finance, and IT to improve process efficiency, maintain internal controls, and provide a high-quality employee experience. The position oversees payroll operations, compliance, Workday systems support, reporting and reconciliation, governance and controls, and cross-functional issue resolution. It supports U.S. and Canadian year-end activities, audits, payroll integrations, and continuous process improvement.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
At least 6 years of payroll experience, including full-cycle processing in multi-state U.S. and multi-province Canadian environments.
At least 3 years of hands-on Workday Payroll experience, including payroll processing, configuration, testing, and reporting.
1–3 years of people leadership experience, including managing, coaching, and developing payroll team members.
Strong knowledge of U.S. federal, state, and local, and Canadian federal and provincial payroll laws and regulations.
Proven ability to manage complex payroll scenarios with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
Experience supporting payroll in a SOX-controlled environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience processing payroll for union populations.
Experience with prevailing wage requirements and compliance.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop payroll professionals supporting U.S. and Canadian operations; set priorities, balance workloads, manage performance and development, and participate in hiring, onboarding, and training.
Oversee full-cycle payroll processing for U.S. and Canadian employee populations across multiple pay groups, including union and prevailing wage employees.
Maintain payroll calendars, deadlines, and funding processes; review and validate earnings, deductions, taxes, and garnishments before submission; process off-cycle payments, adjustments, and corrections.
Ensure compliance with U.S. and Canadian payroll and employment requirements, including statutory deductions and remittances, Records of Employment, collective bargaining agreement rules, prevailing wage requirements, union remittances, and certified payroll reporting.
Maintain audit readiness through documentation, internal controls, and adherence to internal audit and SOX requirements; stay current on regulatory changes and assess their impact.
Serve as a Workday subject matter expert, providing configuration support, testing, and issue resolution.
Identify opportunities for process improvement and automation, and develop, document, and maintain payroll procedures and standard operating processes.
Perform payroll reconciliations, variance analysis, and general ledger activities; generate and analyze payroll reports to identify discrepancies, trends, and risks.
Support U.S. and Canadian year-end activities, including W-2, T4, and RL-1 processing, tax filings, and audit requirements.
Collaborate with HR, HRIS, Finance, and IT on system integrations, data integrity, and process efficiency.
Act as an escalation point for complex payroll issues, resolve discrepancies accurately and responsively, and communicate payroll updates and impacts to employees and stakeholders.
Execute and monitor payroll controls, including approvals, audit trails, and segregation of duties; support internal and external audits by providing documentation and responding to requests.
Identify and mitigate payroll risks, maintain payroll-related business processes and security roles, and monitor inbound and outbound integrations for data accuracy and system stability.