Payroll Governance and Controls Analyst

HUB International•Oakbrook Terrace, IL

1d•$100,000 - $125,000•Remote

About The Position

The Governance & Controls Analyst plays a critical role in strengthening the integrity, compliance, and risk posture of payroll operations across Canada and the United States. This role is responsible for owning the end-to-end Net Pay and Payroll Tax Reconciliation process for both countries, identifying control gaps, assessing risk, driving remediation through to closure, maintaining control documentation, and supporting audit readiness across internal and external reviews. Serving as a cross-functional partner between Payroll, Benefits, Finance, and HR Operations, this role ensures that controls are well-designed, consistently applied, and fully documented — with no gaps across team boundaries. As the organization's governance framework continues to mature, this role will expand to support broader HR Operations governance and transformation initiatives, including, but not limited to, Workday Scheduling and Time & Attendance.

Requirements

5+ years of payroll experience with exposure to both Canadian and US payroll operations, including multi-state/multi-jurisdiction environments.
Demonstrated experience supporting payroll governance, reconciliations, internal controls, and compliance functions.
Experience with SOX compliance or payroll tax governance is strongly preferred.
Strong analytical and technical skills with demonstrated experience identifying, evaluating, and driving process improvements and control enhancements.
Familiarity with Workday payroll, time & attendance, and reporting modules is a strong asset; experience with HCM/ERP system configuration and pay code or benefit plan setup is a plus.
Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including formulas, VLOOKUP, and pivot tables.
Solid understanding of federal, state, and provincial payroll legislation across North America.
Ability to communicate clearly and concisely at a professional level, both orally and in writing, with stakeholders across Payroll, Finance, Benefits, Legal, and HR.
Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively across internal teams, agency representatives, and external vendors.
Excellent time management and organizational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities across recurring and ad hoc deliverables.
Comfortable working independently in a remote environment while staying connected to a broader team.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field preferred.
FPC (Fundamental Payroll Certification) or CPP (Certified Payroll Professional) designation strongly preferred.
Experience in a public company or pre-IPO environment, with familiarity with the controls and compliance standards required for public reporting, is strongly preferred.
Experience supporting payroll governance, internal controls, or compliance functions within insurance, financial services, or professional services is a plus.

Responsibilities

Own and execute Net Pay and Payroll Tax Reconciliations for Canada and the US on a monthly and quarterly basis, with a goal of evolving the process to a bi-weekly cadence as controls mature.
Own governance and ongoing monitoring of key payroll controls, ensuring they remain effective, up to date, and aligned with organizational risk tolerance.
Identify control gaps and weaknesses across payroll and related functions, assess associated risk, and drive remediation tracking through to closure.
Partner with Payroll Managers and Payroll Tax to analyze reconciliation variances, providing clear root cause analysis and recommendations to leadership.
Synthesize data from multiple systems and sources to identify trends, surface anomalies, and support data-driven decision-making across payroll operations.
Develop and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), control documentation, and job aids to support a strong and auditable governance framework.
Support SOX and internal/external audit readiness by ensuring payroll controls are designed, documented, tested, and audit-ready at all times.
Maintain a risk and control matrix for payroll operations, tracking control effectiveness and remediation status across Canada and the US.
Support IPO readiness efforts by ensuring the payroll control environment meets the standards required for a public company.
Collaborate with Finance, Internal Audit, and external auditors as needed to facilitate reviews and respond to audit inquiries.
Support the annual year-end process by following up on reconciling items and ensuring timely resolution in partnership with Payroll Managers.
Conduct an annual pay code review to ensure all pay codes are set up accurately, consistently, and in compliance with regulatory and organizational requirements across Canada and the US.
Identify and escalate discrepancies or systemic issues surfaced during year-end activities, supporting root cause analysis and remediation.
Support payroll governance and compliance activities related to M&A integrations, including oversight of new employee data loads into Workday to ensure data integrity, consistency, and compliance with established standards.
Collaborate with Payroll Managers to ensure a consistent and compliant process is followed for employee data imports, system configurations, and reporting requirements associated with acquired entities.
Partner with cross-functional teams to assess and address compliance and controls gaps introduced through M&A activity, including year-end reporting obligations for newly integrated employee populations.
Lead cross-functional compliance and controls work, including, but not limited to, configurations that span Payroll, Benefits, Finance, and HR Operations (e.g., private plan setups, state and provincial code alignments), ensuring no gaps exist and processes are built and documented.
Partner with Benefits and Payroll Tax teams on pay code cleanup initiatives, ensuring data integrity across systems.
Identify and implement continuous improvement opportunities within payroll governance and controls processes, applying analytical expertise to assess control effectiveness and recommend enhancements that reduce risk and increase operational efficiency.
Influence and drive adoption of new controls, processes, and governance standards across cross-functional teams, effectively managing change and building alignment without direct authority.
Collaborate with Payroll, Benefits, Finance, and HR Operations to ensure seamless, compliant payroll operations across North America.
Support broader HR Operations governance and transformation initiatives including, but not limited to, Workday Scheduling and Time & Attendance implementations as the organization's governance framework continues to mature.
Assist with process improvements, system enhancement testing, and documentation of job aids as required.