Manager, Payroll

Alkami Technology•Bentonville, AR

6d•Remote

About The Position

Alkami is a leading cloud-based digital banking solutions provider for financial institutions in the United States that helps clients to transform through retail and business banking, digital account opening and loan origination, payment fraud prevention, and data analytics and engagement solutions. Alkami’s Mobile App Platform has been certified by J.D. Power for providing clients with “An Outstanding Mobile Banking Platform Experience.” Founded in 2009, we continue to be recognized for our intentional culture and tremendous growth (Best Place to Work in Fintech; Best & Brightest to Work For Nationally; and Comparably’s Best Company Culture, Best Career Growth, Best Engineering Team, and Best Places to Work in Dallas, among others). Through our bold investments in technology and people, we empower our clients to grow confidently, adapt quickly, and build thriving digital banking communities through tailored experiences for over 19.5M users. As a remote-first company, most of our positions can be remote in the US, except for key roles, which will be indicated in the Job Title. Follow us on Glassdoor and Linkedin! The Manager, Payroll is responsible for the leadership, oversight, and execution of payroll operations supporting a workforce of 1,000+ salaried and hourly employees across multiple states. This role ensures the accurate, timely, and compliant processing of payroll while maintaining strong internal controls and driving continuous process improvement. This position serves as the subject matter expert for Workday Payroll, overseeing payroll processing, payroll tax compliance, reporting, and system optimization. The Senior Manager will partner closely with HR, Total Rewards, Finance, HRIS, and external payroll vendors to ensure seamless payroll operations and regulatory compliance. The ideal candidate brings extensive experience managing complex, multi-state payroll environments, with deep hands-on expertise in Workday payroll processing and administration.

Requirements

8+ years of progressive payroll experience, including leadership or senior-level payroll operations responsibilities.
Proven experience managing payroll for 1,000+ employees in a multi-state environment, including both salaried and hourly workforces.
Extensive hands-on experience processing payroll in Workday Payroll and ADP SmartCompliance.
Strong knowledge of payroll tax regulations, multi-state payroll compliance, and wage and hour laws.
Experience managing payroll tax vendors and responding to tax agency inquiries and audit requests.
Strong analytical, reconciliation, and reporting skills with experience supporting payroll accounting and general ledger integration.
Advanced Excel skills including Pivot Tables, VLOOKUPs, and payroll data analysis.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Payroll and Payroll Tax

Nice To Haves

Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) designation is a plus.
Experience supporting or leading Workday Payroll optimization and system enhancements required.
Experience managing payroll in high-growth or complex organizational environments.
Strong project management and process improvement capabilities.
Ability to collaborate effectively across HR, Finance, and operational teams.
Strong attention to detail, organizational skills, and ability to manage multiple priorities in a deadline-driven environment.

Responsibilities

Lead the end-to-end processing of on-cycle and off-cycle payrolls for a workforce of 1,000+ employees, including salaried (semimonthly) and hourly (biweekly) populations across multiple states.
Serve as the Workday Payroll subject matter expert, ensuring accurate payroll configuration, processing, reconciliation, and reporting.
Oversee payroll schedules, validation procedures, and payroll audits to ensure accurate and timely payroll processing.
Review and validate payroll data including timesheets, earnings, deductions, bonuses, taxable fringe benefits and adjustments and process time sensitive 401(k) and HSA funding.
Manage payroll tax processes in partnership with the organization’s tax filing vendor, ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local payroll tax regulations.
Lead payroll month-end, quarter-end, and year-end processes, including payroll reconciliations and coordination with Accounting to ensure accurate payroll postings to the general ledger.
Oversee year-end payroll reporting, including W-2 and W-2C reconciliation and preparation.
Support organizational compliance and reporting requirements including SOX controls, internal audit controls and payroll-related audits such as 401(k) and workers’ compensation.
Identify and implement payroll system enhancements and process improvements, particularly within Workday Payroll.
Partner cross-functionally with HR, HRIS, Finance, Total Rewards, and external payroll vendors to ensure alignment across payroll-related programs and processes.
Work closely with the stock compensation team to process payrolls related to ISO, RSU, ESPP, ESPP DD and ISO DD.
Develop and maintain payroll documentation, internal controls, and operational procedures.
Provide leadership and support for payroll operations, serving as a key escalation point for complex payroll issues.
Other duties as assigned