Payroll Specialist

North American Millwright•Baltimore, MD

About The Position

The Payroll Specialist is responsible for supporting and executing the full-cycle, weekly payroll process through comprehensive cross-training across all payroll-related functions. This role works closely with the Payroll Manager and accounting team to ensure employee time records, job costing data, and payroll information are accurate, complete, and processed in compliance with company policies and applicable regulations. The Payroll Specialist plays a critical role in maintaining payroll accuracy, supporting audits and reconciliations, and providing operational coverage to ensure continuity of payroll processing. This position reports directly to the Controller.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent required; associate degree or coursework in accounting, business, or a related field preferred.
Minimum 2–4 years of payroll, timekeeping, or accounting experience, preferably in a construction, trades services, or project-based environment.
Working knowledge of weekly payroll processing for both field and office employees, including time review, pay rate validation, and payroll deductions.
Experience supporting or maintaining timekeeping systems (e.g., ExakTime or similar field-based platforms) and payroll software.
Familiarity with job costing concepts, including labor allocation to jobs, phases, and cost codes, is strongly preferred.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, for payroll review, reconciliation, and reporting.
Strong attention to detail with the ability to review, validate, and reconcile payroll and timekeeping data accurately.
Ability to manage multiple deadlines and prioritize tasks in a fast-paced, weekly payroll environment.
Effective verbal and written communication skills for interaction with field employees, supervisors, vendors, and accounting personnel.
Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive payroll, compensation, and retirement plan information with discretion and confidentiality.
Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with payroll, accounting, and operations teams.
High school diploma or equivalent required; associate degree in accounting, business, or related field preferred.
Minimum 2 years of payroll support, accounting support, or timekeeping administration experience preferred.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel).
Strong attention to detail and accuracy in data entry.
Ability to prioritize tasks and manage multiple deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
Strong verbal and written communication skills for interaction with field employees, supervisors, and accounting staff.
Ability to handle sensitive payroll and employee information with discretion and confidentiality.
Ability to work independently while effectively supporting the accounting and operations teams.

Responsibilities

Partner with the Payroll Manager to support and execute all phases of the weekly, full-cycle payroll process for a trades services / construction workforce.
Collect, review, and validate field and office employee time records, ensuring accurate reporting of hours worked, job assignments, and applicable labor classifications.
Verify job numbers, phases, cost codes, pay rates, and labor classifications prior to payroll submission to ensure accuracy and compliance.
Support accurate job costing by ensuring labor hours are correctly coded to the appropriate jobs, phases, and cost categories in accordance with internal controls.
Serve as the primary administrator for ExakTime, including employee setup, job and cost code configuration, system maintenance, and first-level troubleshooting for field timekeeping.
Assist with payroll-related onboarding and offboarding activities, including timekeeping access, pay profile setup, union or non-union status updates (if applicable), and employee status changes.
Support retirement plan administration by maintaining employee contribution elections, processing ongoing payroll-related updates, coordinating changes with plan providers, and assisting with periodic audits and reporting.
Respond to routine payroll and timekeeping inquiries from field and office employees, including questions related to time entry, pay rates, payroll deductions, and retirement plan contributions.
Support the preparation and distribution of pay statements and ensure payroll documentation is complete and properly maintained.
Maintain accurate, organized, and confidential payroll, timekeeping, and job-costing records in compliance with company policies and internal control standards.
Assist with payroll reconciliations, job-costing reviews, internal and external audits, certified payroll reporting if applicable), and special projects as assigned.