Payroll & Benefits Manager

Phoenix3 Collective•Waltham, MA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Payroll & Benefits Manager leads accurate, timely, and compliant payroll and employee-benefits administration for a fast-paced, multi-state hospitality organization with more than 800 employees. The role oversees complex, high-volume payroll operations involving frequent hiring, separations, role changes, variable schedules, overtime, tips, and multiple pay policies. The manager partners with People Operations, Finance, Operations, and location leaders to ensure employees are paid correctly, benefits are administered effectively, and the company complies with federal, state, and local requirements. The position oversees end-to-end payroll processing, UKG Ready administration, benefits administration, compliance, and process improvement. It also maintains payroll and benefits records, reconciles payroll and vendor data, supports reporting and audits, and handles sensitive employee information with discretion. The role requires working in the office five days a week, with flexibility to support payroll deadlines, open enrollment, year-end processing, and urgent employee or operational needs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
Five or more years of progressive payroll experience, including responsibility for multi-state payroll.
Experience supporting a workforce of 800 or more employees.
At least two years of current or recent hands-on experience using UKG Ready, including payroll and timekeeping administration.
Experience in a high-volume, high-turnover environment.
Demonstrated knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll laws, wage-and-hour requirements, payroll tax practices, garnishments, and final-pay rules.
Experience administering employee benefits and working with brokers, carriers, retirement-plan vendors, and COBRA/leave administrators.
Strong proficiency with Excel, including reconciliations, formulas, pivot tables, reporting, and data analysis.
Ability to manage confidential information, meet recurring deadlines, and maintain exceptional accuracy under pressure.
Ability to work in-office five days a week, with flexibility to support payroll deadlines, open enrollment, year-end processing, and urgent employee or operational needs.

Nice To Haves

Experience in hospitality, food and dining, contract services, retail, healthcare, staffing, or a similarly complex hourly-workforce environment.
CPP, FPC, CEBS, PHR, SHRM-CP, or comparable professional certification.
Experience with multi-entity payroll structures, labor-cost allocation, and general ledger integrations.
Experience leading payroll or benefits-supporting system implementations or process-improvement initiatives.
Familiarity with ACA reporting, ERISA, COBRA, FMLA, state leave programs, and retirement-plan administration.

Responsibilities

Oversee end-to-end multi-state payroll processing for more than 800 hourly and salaried employees across multiple hospitality locations.
Process regular and off-cycle payrolls, final paychecks, bonuses, commissions, reimbursements, retroactive adjustments, and other special payments accurately and on time.
Manage payroll requirements involving variable hours, overtime, multiple pay rates, shift differentials, tipped employees, tip credits, service charges, deductions, garnishments, and paid leave programs, as applicable.
Review and validate timekeeping, attendance, PTO, wage changes, new-hire data, terminations, and payroll exceptions before each payroll cycle.
Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local wage-and-hour laws and payroll requirements.
Maintain accurate payroll records, audit trails, employee files, and supporting documentation in accordance with company policy and legal retention requirements.
Reconcile payroll registers, payroll funding, taxes, deductions, benefit premiums, general ledger files, and third-party vendor invoices.
Coordinate tax filings, payroll tax registrations, unemployment accounts, wage verifications, audits, year-end processing, and distribution of W-2 forms.
Research and resolve payroll discrepancies, employee questions, and escalated issues promptly, professionally, and confidentially.
Serve as primary administrator and subject-matter expert for UKG Ready payroll, timekeeping, scheduling, reporting, PTO, and benefits-related functions, as applicable.
Maintain UKG Ready configuration, pay rules, earning and deduction codes, organizational structures, employee data, workflows, security roles, and reporting requirements.
Monitor interfaces between UKG Ready and benefit carriers, retirement-plan vendors, accounting systems, time clocks, and other third-party platforms.
Partner with People Operations, Finance, IT, and UKG support to troubleshoot issues, test updates, implement enhancements, and improve workflows.
Develop standard operating procedures, system documentation, user guides, and training for managers and internal stakeholders.
Build and maintain payroll, headcount, labor-cost, turnover, overtime, benefit-enrollment, and audit reports for leadership.
Administer employee benefit programs, including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, retirement plans, flexible spending accounts, wellness programs, and leave-related benefits, as applicable.
Manage benefit eligibility, enrollments, qualifying life events, terminations, deductions, carrier feeds, invoices, and reconciliations.
Coordinate annual open enrollment, including project planning, employee communications, system configuration, vendor coordination, enrollment support, and post-enrollment reconciliation.
Partner with benefit brokers, carriers, retirement-plan administrators, and internal stakeholders to resolve employee issues and ensure accurate plan administration.
Support benefits compliance, including ACA reporting, COBRA administration, ERISA documentation, plan audits, eligibility tracking, and required employee notices.
Maintain accurate benefit records and protect confidential personal and health-related information.
Establish payroll and benefits service standards to support a high-volume, high-turnover workforce and positive employee experience.
Identify opportunities to streamline processes, strengthen controls, reduce errors, and improve use of UKG Ready and related systems.
Maintain current knowledge of payroll tax, employment law, benefits regulations, and hospitality-industry pay practices.
Participate in cross-functional People Operations, finance, operational, and system-implementation projects.
Handle sensitive employee, payroll, and benefits information with professionalism, discretion, and integrity.