Payroll Staff Accountant

Sift•,

4d•$100,000 - $140,000

About The Position

Sift is hiring a Staff Accountant to own end-to-end payroll operations for a multi-state and global employee population. This role sits within the Finance & Accounting organization and is designed for a detail-oriented payroll professional who can run bi-weekly and monthly payroll cycles with precision, maintain accounting accuracy through timely journal entries and reconciliations, and partner cross-functionally with Finance and HR to support a growing organization. The ideal candidate brings deep multi-state payroll experience, comfort with ADP, and a continuous improvement mindset — someone who's as focused on building better processes as they are on getting every cycle right.

Requirements

3–5 years of hands-on payroll processing experience, including bi-weekly payroll cycles
Multi-state payroll experience with a proven ability to research and apply changing payroll laws and regulations
Experience with ADP Workforce Now
Strong Excel skills, including lookups, pivot tables, and data validation
High attention to detail, strong sense of ownership, and a commitment to accuracy and confidentiality
Ability to manage competing priorities and meet payroll cutoff timelines
Collaborative, service-oriented communicator who can explain payroll topics clearly to non-payroll stakeholders
Continuous improvement mindset with comfort learning new tools and processes

Nice To Haves

ERP experience, Netsuite preferred
Expense Software experience (Navan, Expensify, Brex)

Responsibilities

Process bi-weekly payroll for a multi-state employee population and monthly payroll for a global employee population, including pay calculations, validations, audits, and finalization
Maintain payroll accuracy for earnings, deductions, garnishments, taxes, retro adjustments, leave pay, and off-cycle payments
Support year-end activities including W-2 preparation, audits, and payroll calendar planning
Post payroll-related journal entries to the General Ledger and perform payroll reconciliations, resolving variances in a timely manner
Partner with Finance on payroll reporting and balancing
Review, code, and approve employee expense reports and corporate card transactions; post related journal entries and perform reconciliations
Create and enhance payroll reports and dashboards to support operational needs, trend analysis, and leadership requests
Support system enhancements, testing, and implementations, including upgrades, configuration changes, process documentation, and user support
Maintain documentation, SOPs, and internal controls aligned with company policy and audit expectations
Assist with continuous improvement initiatives that streamline payroll workflows, strengthen controls, and improve the employee experience
Take on ad hoc projects and requests as assigned