Payroll Manager, US

American Tower

13d

About The Position

The Payroll Manager, US is responsible for leading U.S. payroll operations and ensuring employees are paid accurately, timely, and in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local requirements. This role oversees the day-to-day execution of the U.S. payroll cycle, payroll controls, reconciliations, tax funding coordination, year-end activities, and payroll-related reporting. The Payroll Manager serves as a key leader within the Payroll function, providing direction and development to the U.S. payroll team while partnering closely with HR, Benefits, Compensation, Finance, Accounting, Legal, Internal Audit, and external payroll/tax vendors. This role is also responsible for identifying process improvements, strengthening controls, supporting system enhancements, and ensuring payroll practices remain scalable, compliant, and aligned with business needs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Human Resources, or equivalent work experience.
Minimum of 8 years of progressive payroll experience, including experience leading or supervising payroll staff.
Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) designation
Experience with ADP Vantage, ADP Reporting, ADP Data Bridge, Oracle Fusion, time and attendance, or similar payroll/HRIS platforms.
Strong knowledge of U.S. multi-state payroll, payroll tax, wage and hour compliance, garnishments, unemployment, tax reciprocity, year-end processing, and payroll recordkeeping.
Experience supporting payroll audits, internal controls, reconciliations, and payroll-related compliance reviews.
Strong leadership skills with the ability to coach, develop, motivate, and hold a team accountable for accurate and timely payroll delivery.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to review payroll data, identify trends, resolve discrepancies, and recommend process improvements.
Ability to handle confidential information with discretion, urgency, and sound judgment.
Strong relationship-building skills with the ability to partner effectively with HR, Benefits, Compensation, Finance, Accounting, Legal, Internal Audit, vendors, and all levels of management.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end U.S. payroll operations, including payroll calendar management, pre-payroll validation, payroll approval, post-payroll reconciliation, and timely resolution of payroll issues.
Oversee compliance with applicable federal, state, and local payroll requirements, including wage and hour rules, tax withholding, final pay, garnishments, unemployment, tax reciprocity, and payroll recordkeeping.
Serve as the escalation point for complex payroll inquiries, sensitive employee pay issues, off-cycle payments, adjustments, overpayments, and payroll corrections.
Strengthen payroll controls through routine audits, variance analysis, reconciliation reviews, approval workflows, documentation, and support for internal and external audit requests.
Partner with Finance and Accounting on payroll-related general ledger activity, payroll reconciliations, accruals, funding, reporting, and issue resolution.
Manage payroll vendor relationships, including ADP and payroll tax service providers, to ensure service levels, filings, funding, issue resolution, and system support are completed accurately and timely.
Lead payroll system enhancement initiatives, testing, integrations, reporting improvements, and automation opportunities in partnership with HR Technology, Finance, and vendors.
Monitor payroll metrics, trends, recurring issues, and root causes to drive process improvements and reduce operational risk.
Assist with entry of payroll transactions (i.e., timesheets, vacation requests, direct deposits, tax changes etc.) into the payroll system.as necessary.
Assist with preparing data to enable Vialto to prepare tax returns for US expatriates globally.
Provide day-to-day leadership to the U.S. payroll team, including workload prioritization, coaching, mentoring, cross-training, goal setting, and performance feedback.
Ensure payroll procedures, controls, calendars, and process documentation are current, accurate, and consistently followed.
Work cross-functionally with business partners – regional HR, Benefits, Compensation, Accounting, and Internal Audit.
Create strong collaborative team environment.
Other duties as assigned.