Payroll Administrator

We are seeking an experienced Payroll Specialist to manage full-cycle, high-volume payroll processing for a multi-state employee population. This role will be responsible for ensuring accurate and timely payroll processing, maintaining compliance with federal, state, and local regulations, and managing payroll-related reconciliations, deductions, garnishments, time-off administration, and journal entries.

The ideal candidate has strong hands-on experience with ADP Workforce Now (WFN) or Workday Payroll, excellent attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple payroll deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Process full-cycle, high-volume payroll from payroll preparation through final processing and funding.
• Manage payroll for employees across multiple states and jurisdictions, ensuring compliance with applicable federal, state, and local payroll regulations.
• Process weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or other scheduled payroll cycles as required.
• Review and validate timekeeping, hours worked, overtime, bonuses, commissions, adjustments, and other earnings prior to payroll processing.
• Manage employee deductions, including benefits, 401(k), taxes, voluntary deductions, and other payroll-related deductions.
• Administer and monitor wage garnishments, child support orders, levies, and other court-ordered deductions.
• Manage PTO/time-off balances, including accruals, adjustments, usage, and payroll impact.
• Process new hires, terminations, salary changes, promotions, bonuses, retroactive adjustments, and off-cycle/manual payrolls.
• Perform detailed pre- and post-payroll audits to identify discrepancies and ensure payroll accuracy.
• Prepare and perform payroll reconciliations, including payroll registers, deductions, taxes, benefits, bank activity, and payroll-related general ledger accounts.
• Prepare, review, and post payroll journal entries, ensuring payroll expenses, liabilities, and employer taxes are accurately recorded.
• Reconcile payroll journal entries to the general ledger and investigate and resolve variances.
• Partner with HR, Finance, Benefits, and Accounting to resolve payroll discrepancies and employee inquiries.
• Maintain accurate employee payroll records and ensure payroll data integrity within the HRIS/payroll system.
• Support payroll tax reporting, audits, year-end processing, W-2 preparation, and other regulatory requirements.
• Generate and analyze payroll reports to identify trends, discrepancies, and reconciliation issues.
• Maintain confidentiality of sensitive employee compensation and personal information.
• Identify opportunities to improve payroll processes, controls, and efficiencies.

Required Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of hands-on payroll processing experience, preferably in a high-volume environment.
• Proven experience processing full-cycle, multi-state U.S. payroll.
• Experience supporting payroll for 500+ employees; experience with 1,000+ employees is a plus.
• Strong understanding of federal, state, and local payroll regulations and tax requirements.
• Hands-on experience with ADP Workforce Now (WFN) OR Workday Payroll.
• Strong experience with garnishments, deductions, benefits, PTO/time-off, and payroll adjustments.
• Experience performing payroll reconciliations and preparing payroll journal entries.
• Strong understanding of payroll-to-GL processes and payroll accounting.
• Advanced Excel skills, including VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, formulas, and data reconciliation.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple payroll deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively with HR, Finance, Accounting, and employees.

Preferred Qualifications

• Payroll certification such as CPP or FPC.
• Experience supporting multiple legal entities, FEINs, or complex organizational structures.
• Experience with payroll tax audits and year-end W-2 processing.
• Experience with off-cycle payroll, manual checks, retro pay, bonuses, commissions, and termination payments.
• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Human Resources, or related field preferred.