Manager, Payroll and HRIS

Fasken•Toronto, ON

21h•CA$120,000 - CA$140,000

About The Position

This role is responsible for leading end-to-end payroll operations for over 2000 employees across four provinces, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and timely delivery within a lawyer partnership business environment. The position also involves coordinating payroll with international operations in London and Johannesburg. A key aspect of the role is to serve as the functional owner of the HRIS (UKG) system, driving its optimization, configuration, and integration with other platforms. The manager will partner with IT and external vendors on system enhancements and stay updated on HRIS releases. The role emphasizes process evaluation for automation and efficiency, building connections between payroll, HRIS, finance, analytics, and workforce planning, and ensuring data integrity for future insights, including AI and advanced analytics. Additionally, the manager will lead, coach, and develop a team of payroll professionals, foster cross-functional collaboration, and deliver exceptional client service as a trusted advisor to internal clients, providing strategic guidance on payroll matters to senior leadership.

Requirements

Bilingual in English and French (spoken and written).
7+ years of progressive experience in payroll management, including multi-provincial Canadian payroll with Quebec expertise.
Hands-on experience with UKG (UKG Pro, UKG WFM, and UKG Payroll). You don’t just use the system. You understand it.
Advanced proficiency in MS Office applications, Excel
Demonstrated experience leading and developing payroll teams.
Deep knowledge of Canadian payroll legislation, statutory requirements, and compliance frameworks across multiple provinces.
PCP or PLP certification through the National Payroll Institute (or actively pursuing).

Nice To Haves

Worked with ADP is an asset

Responsibilities

Lead Payroll Operations End to End (2000 plus employees pay managed)
Own the full payroll cycle across four provinces (Quebec, Ontario, BC and Alberta), ensuring accuracy, compliance, and timely delivery for all employee groups in a Lawyer Partnership business environment.
Coordinate payroll with UKG for our operations in London. Provide support to our payroll operations in Johannesburg.
Coordinate with regional HR teams on timecards, data changes, and escalations — not as a ticket desk, but as a strategic partner who understands their operations and anticipates their needs.
Manage year-end processes, statutory remittances, ROEs, and regulatory filings across all jurisdictions.
Ensure compliance with federal, provincial, and Quebec-specific employment standards, tax legislation, and firm policies.
Own and Shape the HRIS (UKG)
Serve as the functional owner of UKG for Fasken. Owning isn’t controlling — it’s coordinating, connecting, and making sure the system serves the firm’s talent strategy, not the other way around.
Drive system optimization, configuration, and integration with other platforms. Identify gaps between how the system works today and how it should work to support the employee experience we’re building.
Partner with IT and external vendors (including UKG and implementation partners) on system enhancements, upgrades, and issue resolution.
Stay up to date with HRIS releases (UKG releases) and Inform stakeholders of that affects the Firm and communicate it to the business and impact groups.
Maintain data integrity, security protocols, and access management across the platform.
Think Integration, Automation, and Future
Continuously evaluate processes for automation and efficiency. Challenge how things are done today. Push for better.
Build and refine processes that connect payroll and HRIS data to finance, analytics, and workforce planning. Clean, structured, well-governed data is the foundation for everything we do next, including AI and advanced analytics.
Partner directly with People Analytics to ensure data architecture decisions made today enable the insights the firm will need tomorrow.
Stay current on payroll technology trends, legislative changes, and emerging practices. Bring ideas to the table, not just compliance.
Lead and Build a High-Performing Team
Lead, coach, and develop a team of payroll professionals.
Create an environment where the team thrives, own their work, raise issues early, and continuously improve.
Manage priorities, workload, and competing deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
Foster cross-functional collaboration with HR, Finance, IT, and regional teams. Build relationships, not just workflows.
Deliver Exceptional Client Service
Serve as a trusted advisor to internal clients — partners, lawyers, staff, and regional HR teams. The standard is responsiveness, clarity, and a genuine commitment to solving problems.
Provide strategic guidance on payroll-related matters to senior leadership, including tax implications, and policy interpretation.
Contribute to the continuous improvement of payroll processes and regulatory monitoring, in compliance with Fasken’s quality and compliance standards.
Manage escalations with professionalism and maintain discretion and confidentiality.