Senior Payroll Administrator

AAA Life Insurance Company•Livonia, MI

10d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Payroll Administrator is primarily responsible for end-to-end payroll administration and processing. This includes responding to inquiries from AAA Life associates, management, vendors, and external reporting agencies; developing and maintaining procedures, policies, guidelines, and forms; creating and maintaining necessary payroll and time/attendance reports to ensure compliance with state and federal legislation and in support of the organization. This role operates with a high degree of independence and serves as a key control point for payroll accuracy, compliance, and continuity in a regulated environment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
Minimum of 8 years of progressive payroll experience.
Proven experience independently managing end-to-end payroll in a regulated environment.
Elaborate working knowledge of federal, state, and multi-state payroll tax and wage and hour regulations.
Demonstrated understanding of payroll controls, compliance, and audit requirements.

Nice To Haves

Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) designation.
Experience supporting payroll audits and compliance reviews in highly regulated industries.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end payroll accuracy, timeliness, and delivery across all regular, off-cycle, and special payrolls.
Perform payroll reconciliations, variance analysis, and reporting to ensure data integrity.
Investigate and resolve payroll discrepancies and respond to associate and leadership inquiries.
Apply sound judgment in complex, high-volume, or time-sensitive payroll situations.
Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local wage and hour regulations.
Proactively identify and mitigate payroll, compliance, and audit risks.
Maintain and enforce payroll controls and support internal and external audits.
Prepare audit documentation and partner with leadership to remediate control gaps.
Serve as the primary payroll user and subject matter expert within the HCM/payroll system (e.g., Dayforce).
Partner closely with HRIS on system configuration, enhancements, and issue resolution.
Validate payroll system changes prior to processing.
Support payroll-related testing, upgrades, and implementation activities.
Document payroll calendars, processes, controls, and key dependencies.
Maintain procedures that ensure uninterrupted payroll operations.
Reduce single-point-of-failure risk through strong documentation and knowledge transfer.
Adhere to standardized processes while continuously improving efficiency and control.
Operate independently with minimal supervision as a senior-level individual contributor.
Demonstrate accountability, discretion, and confidentiality in handling sensitive payroll and compensation data.
Communicate payroll matters clearly and effectively to associates and leaders.
Identify root causes of issues and implement sustainable process, system, and control improvements.