Manager, Payroll

Cargojet; Mississauga; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Cargojet is seeking a Manager, Payroll to lead end-to-end Canadian payroll operations across all employee groups, with a focus on accuracy, timeliness, and compliance. You will own UKG Pro Payroll and UKG WFM configurations, troubleshoot issues, run reports, and drive continuous improvement in payroll processes while collaborating with HR, Finance, IT, and operations.

Ideal candidates have 12+ years of Canadian payroll experience, 5+ years in a supervisory role, and the PLP designation;

Qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive Canadian payroll experience, incl. 5+ years in a supervisory role.
• PLP designation required.
• Strong knowledge of Canadian payroll legislation, taxation, and compliance.
• Extensive hands-on UKG Pro Payroll experience.
• Hands-on UKG Workforce Management experience, incl. integrations & UAT.
• Leadership in end-to-end UKG implementations and process improvements.
• Experience in multi-province environments; union experience is a plus.
• Advanced Excel skills (PivotTables, XLOOKUP).
• Strong leadership and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end payroll processing bi-weekly for all employee groups.
• Supervise payroll team with guidance, coaching, and performance management.
• Review and validate payroll transactions and adjustments.
• Ensure deductions, benefits, pension contributions are remitted timely.
• Maintain UKG configurations, reporting, and data integrity.
• Collaborate with HR, IT, Finance, and vendors on system upgrades.
• Drive payroll transformation and automation through UKG functionality.
• Develop, maintain reports, and support management decision-making.

Skills

Payroll leadership

UKG Pro Payroll

UKG Workforce Management

Canada payroll legislation

Multi-province payroll

Data analysis

Excel (PivotTables, XLOOKUP)

Vendor management

UAT testing

Compliance & audits

Education

Payroll Leadership Professional (PLP)

Tools

UKG Pro

UKG Workforce Management

Excel (advanced)

Job description

Accelerate your career with the most awarded Air Cargo Airline in Canada!

Cargojet is Canada's leading provider of time-sensitive overnight air cargo services and carries over 1,300,000 pounds of cargo each business night. Cargojet operates its network across North America each business night, utilizing a fleet of all-cargo aircraft Cargojet has been awarded one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies as well as being awarded the Shipper’s Choice Award for the best Air Cargo Carrier in Canada for the past number of years.

Being part of Cargojet will allow you to become a part of a diverse and vibrant family at the leading edge of the air cargo industry both domestically and internationally. Cargojet team members are dedicated, hardworking, and have a strong sense of leadership and commitment.

Job Summary

The Manager, Payroll is responsible for leading end-to-end payroll operations and ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant payroll processing across all employee groups. This role requires strong hands-on expertise in UKG Pro and UKG Workforce Management (WFM), with responsibility for payroll system configuration, troubleshooting, reporting, integrations, process optimization, and data integrity.

The Manager provides leadership to the payroll team, ensures compliance with federal and provincial legislation and collective agreements, and oversees year-end, audit, remittance, and reconciliation activities. Working closely with HR, Finance, IT, and operational stakeholders, the role also leads continuous improvement initiatives and supports enhancements to payroll processes, controls, and UKG functionality.

Job Duties

• Manage end-to-end payroll processing on a bi-weekly basis across all employee groups, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, compliance, and appropriate payroll controls.
• Lead and supervise the payroll team, providing guidance, training, coaching, workload management, and performance management to maintain high standards of accuracy and service.
• Review and validate payroll transactions, including new hires, terminations, salary and wage changes, bonuses, retroactive payments, leaves, taxable benefits, and other payroll adjustments.
• Ensure statutory deductions, benefits, pension and RRSP contributions, garnishments, and other payroll deductions are accurately processed, reconciled, and remitted within required timelines.
• Ensure payroll practices, processes, and system configurations comply with applicable federal and provincial legislation, CRA requirements, the Canada Labour Code, employment standards legislation, company policies, and collective agreements; proactively identify compliance risks and implement corrective actions.
• Lead and support payroll audits, reconciliations, year-end activities, and statutory reporting, including T4s, T4As, RL-1s, taxable benefits, and other required filings, while maintaining appropriate documentation and internal controls.
• Maintain current knowledge of legislative, taxation, and regulatory changes and ensure applicable payroll processes and system configurations are updated accordingly.
• Serve as the payroll subject matter expert for UKG, with hands-on responsibility for payroll processing, configuration, troubleshooting, reporting, controls, testing, and continuous system optimization.
• Maintain and optimize payroll-related functionality and integrations within UKG, including earnings and deduction codes, taxation, pay rules, employee data, workflows, timekeeping/WFM, Finance, and other related systems.
• Partner with HR, IT, Finance, UKG, and other vendors to troubleshoot system and data issues and support system upgrades, enhancements, implementations, integrations, configuration changes, and user acceptance testing (UAT).
• Lead and drive payroll transformation and continuous improvement initiatives by leveraging UKG functionality to streamline processes, increase automation, strengthen controls and data integrity, and improve payroll accuracy and operational efficiency.
• Develop, maintain, and analyse payroll reports, audits, queries, and reconciliation tools to support payroll validation, labour cost analysis, tax remittances, headcount reporting, financial reconciliation, and management decision-making.
• Maintain payroll procedures, system documentation, configuration records, and process controls to support consistency, compliance, audit requirements, and business continuity.
• Respond to payroll-related inquiries and escalations from employees, management, auditors, government agencies, and other stakeholders in a timely and professional manner.
• Collaborate with HR, Finance, IT, and other stakeholders on compensation changes, budgeting and forecasting, employee data management, organizational changes, policy changes, process standardization, and other payroll-related projects.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Job Requirements

• Minimum 12 years of progressive Canadian payroll experience, including at least 5 years in a supervisory or managerial role.
• Payroll Leadership Professional (PLP) designation required;
• Strong knowledge of Canadian payroll legislation, taxation, statutory deductions, year-end requirements, and payroll compliance.
• Extensive hands-on experience with UKG Pro Payroll is required, including payroll processing, configuration, troubleshooting, reporting, testing, and system optimization.
• Strong hands-on experience with UKG Workforce Management (WFM) is required, including payroll/timekeeping integrations, system implementations and upgrades, configuration changes, troubleshooting, and user acceptance testing (UAT).
• Proven experience leading or playing a key leadership role in an end-to-end UKG implementation is required, including requirements gathering, system configuration, integrations, testing/UAT, data validation, go-live, and post-implementation support.
• Demonstrated experience in payroll process improvement, automation, system controls, reconciliations, and data integrity.
• Experience managing payroll in a multi-province and/or federally regulated environment is strongly preferred; experience working with unionized employee groups is an asset.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to investigate complex payroll and system issues and identify effective solutions.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including PivotTables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, complex formulas, data analysis, and reconciliations.
• Strong leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with HR, Finance, IT, operations, and external vendors.
• High level of accuracy, attention to detail, discretion, and confidentiality, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet strict payroll deadlines.

Important To Know

• Cargojet is an equal-opportunity employer. We thank you for your interest. Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
• We are committed to providing accommodations for persons with disabilities. If you require accommodation, we will work with you to meet your needs.
• At Cargojet, we make safety the highest priority. Because of this priority and as we operate in a safety-sensitive environment, we require all employees to abstain from consuming Cannabis, in and outside of the workplace. This is a critical element of our drug and alcohol policy that all employees must comply with at all times.