Payroll Manager

National Church Residences•Dublin, OH

10d

About The Position

The Payroll Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for the organization’s payroll function, with end-to-end accountability for accurate, timely, and compliant payroll operations. The role oversees payroll processing, controls, compliance, reconciliation, reporting, issue resolution, team leadership, and continuous improvement. It partners with HR Operations, Finance, Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, HR Technology, and business leaders to strengthen payroll processes, controls, technology, service delivery, and the employee experience. The manager leads and develops the payroll team; establishes operating procedures, calendars, controls, service expectations, and performance measures; reviews payroll results and reconciliations; and manages complex escalations. The role also maintains documentation and business continuity plans, monitors regulatory changes, supports audits, and identifies and mitigates operational, financial, compliance, and employee-experience risks. As a functional leader for payroll technology, the manager partners with HR Technology and other stakeholders on system configuration, issue resolution, testing, enhancements, automation, and enterprise initiatives. The position works closely with Finance and Accounting on payroll accounting, funding, reconciliations, general ledger integration, period-end activities, reporting, and year-end employee tax documentation. It also ensures responsive employee support and effective integration of payroll with hiring, compensation, benefits, leave, timekeeping, employee changes, and termination processes. The role provides direct leadership and oversight to payroll team members, allocating work, setting priorities, coaching employees, providing performance feedback, and developing team capability and redundancy. Required qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in a related discipline or equivalent education and relevant experience, typically 7 or more years of progressively responsible payroll experience, and typically 3 or more years of people leadership or significant payroll team leadership experience.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
Typically 7 or more years of progressively responsible payroll experience, including experience leading complex payroll operations.
Typically 3 or more years of people leadership, supervisory, or significant payroll team leadership experience.
Demonstrated knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll requirements.
Experience with enterprise HRIS/payroll systems.
Demonstrated experience with payroll controls, reconciliation, reporting, audits, and process improvement.
Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with exceptional attention to detail.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and critical deadlines in a high-volume environment.
Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to partner effectively across HR, Finance, technology teams, and organizational leadership.
Ability to handle confidential employee and organizational information with a high degree of discretion.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Workday Payroll and/or Workday HCM is strongly preferred.
Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) certification preferred.
Experience supporting multi-state payroll operations.
Experience leading payroll process optimization, automation, system implementations, or major system enhancements.
Experience supporting payroll operations through organizational growth, acquisitions, divestitures, or restructuring.

Responsibilities

Provide end-to-end leadership and accountability for accurate and timely payroll operations across the organization.
Lead the payroll team in processing regular, supplemental, off-cycle, and special payrolls as required.
Establish payroll procedures, calendars, controls, service expectations, and accountability.
Review and approve payroll results, reconciliations, exception reporting, adjustments, and other critical payroll activities.
Resolve complex payroll issues and address root causes to prevent recurrence.
Maintain payroll documentation, standard operating procedures, process maps, and business continuity plans.
Establish and evaluate payroll performance indicators, including accuracy, timeliness, service levels, exceptions, and operational trends.
Maintain payroll controls to protect employee information, organizational assets, and payroll accuracy.
Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local wage and hour, taxation, garnishment, withholding, recordkeeping, and payroll requirements.
Monitor legislative and regulatory changes and coordinate necessary payroll process or system changes.
Establish and evaluate payroll approvals, audits, reconciliations, and segregation of duties.
Partner with Finance and HR leadership on internal and external audits and address identified gaps.
Identify payroll-related operational, financial, compliance, and employee-experience risks and develop mitigation strategies.
Lead, coach, and develop payroll team members; set performance, service, accountability, and professional growth expectations.
Build team capabilities through cross-training, documentation, succession planning, and ongoing development.
Evaluate workload and team capacity and recommend staffing, role design, or process improvements.
Serve as the escalation point for complex payroll situations and guide team members.
Lead payroll-related configuration, processes, and enhancements in Workday and other applicable payroll technologies.
Partner with HR Technology and stakeholders to evaluate functionality, resolve issues, test changes, and implement enhancements.
Identify opportunities to automate manual processes, strengthen controls, reduce payroll corrections, and improve efficiency.
Use payroll data and trends to identify root causes, improvement opportunities, and emerging risks.
Lead or participate in payroll projects, system implementations, integrations, acquisitions, divestitures, organizational changes, and other enterprise initiatives.
Promote standardized and scalable payroll processes that support organizational growth and change.
Partner with Finance and Accounting on payroll accounting, funding, reconciliations, general ledger integration, and period-end activities.
Ensure payroll-related accounts and transactions are reconciled and discrepancies are resolved promptly.
Provide payroll reporting, analysis, and insights to HR and Finance leadership.
Support year-end payroll activities and required reporting, including reconciliation and preparation of employee tax documentation.
Collaborate with Finance, HR, and external partners to resolve complex taxation, accounting, or payroll processing issues.
Ensure responsive, accurate, and professional payroll support for employees and leaders.
Establish service expectations and escalation protocols for payroll inquiries.
Analyze recurring employee questions and issues to improve communication, education, system functionality, or process design.
Partner with HR Operations and other HR teams to integrate payroll with hiring, compensation, benefits, leave, timekeeping, employee changes, and termination processes.
Communicate complex payroll information clearly to employees, leaders, and senior stakeholders.
Provide direct leadership and oversight to payroll team members, establish priorities, and allocate work based on payroll cycles, business needs, and organizational risk.
Coach employees, provide ongoing performance feedback and development, and build team depth and redundancy.
Create accountability for results while fostering a collaborative, service-oriented team culture.