Payroll Processing Specialist - Temp

Vanderbilt University•Nashville, TN

About The Position

The Payroll Processing Specialist works within Vanderbilt University’s People, Culture, and Belonging Division, which focuses on enriching the employee experience and advancing learning and talent development. The position processes payroll transactions and supports employees with payroll questions and issues while ensuring accuracy, timely service, confidentiality, and compliance with applicable payroll policies and procedures. The role reports administratively and functionally to the Assistant Director of Payroll and has no supervisory responsibility. The position is temporary. It requires a high school diploma or equivalent; an associate’s degree in a related field is preferred. One to three years of payroll experience is preferred, along with experience in payroll processing, payroll administration, customer service, or human resources support. Strong attention to detail, communication and issue-resolution skills, the ability to handle confidential information, and proficiency with Microsoft Office—particularly Excel—are needed.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent required.
Experience in payroll processing, payroll administration, customer service, or human resources support.
Strong attention to detail and ability to manage confidential information.
Ability to research and resolve payroll-related issues independently.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel.

Nice To Haves

Associate’s degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Human Resources, Finance, or a related field.
One to three years of payroll experience.
An equivalent combination of education and relevant payroll or human resources experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.

Responsibilities

Process off-cycle payroll batches, special payments, adjustments, and corrections accurately and by established deadlines.
Respond to payroll-related help desk tickets about paychecks, timecards, tax withholding, direct deposit, W-2s, deductions, and payroll processes.
Research and resolve employee payroll issues.
Monitor and manage payroll ticket queues to meet service-level expectations for responses and issue resolution.
Assist employees with direct deposit setup and updates, ensuring documentation is received, reviewed, and processed accurately.
Review payroll transactions for completeness and accuracy and identify discrepancies requiring correction.
Research payroll earnings, deductions, taxes, benefits, garnishments, and other employee payroll concerns.
Assist with payroll adjustments, overpayments, retroactive payments, and manual check requests.
Maintain confidentiality of employee personal, employment, and payroll information.
Help identify and correct out-of-balance conditions and payroll transaction errors.
Support payroll record maintenance, document retention, and audit requests as needed.
Help locate and resolve uncashed payroll checks and employee payment inquiries.
Ensure compliance with federal, state, and institutional payroll policies and procedures.
Maintain current knowledge of payroll regulations, tax requirements, and payroll system processes.