Manager, Payroll

University of Waterloo; Southwestern Ontario; On-site; CAD 96,000 - 119,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Waterloo seeks a Manager, Payroll to oversee compensation delivery for domestic and international staff, ensuring timely processing in line with government legislation and university policy.

As a Payroll Manager, you will lead the payroll team, refine processes, coordinate year-end reconciliations, and provide expert guidance to stakeholders while supporting audits and system optimization in Workday.

Qualifications

• 7–10 years of progressive payroll and management experience.
• 2–3 years of experience in the Higher Education sector preferred.
• Canadian Payroll Association CPM certification required.
• Strong knowledge of Canadian federal tax provisions, CPP, EI, provincial healthcare and employment standards.
• Experience with Workday or other payroll systems; proficient in MS Office.

Responsibilities

• Oversee payroll delivery for domestic and international staff, ensuring on-time processing.
• Ensure compliance with laws, regulations, and university policies.
• Lead payroll team; provide guidance and training; develop and improve payroll processes.
• Coordinate year-end reconciliations of government remittances and related filings; support audits.

Skills

Payroll knowledge

Management skills

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Analytical skills

Education

Three-year post-secondary education in Commerce/HR

CPM certification

Tools

Workday

Microsoft Office

Job description

Job Requisition ID & Information

Job Requisition ID: 2026-02560 Time Type: Full time Employee Group: Staff Job Category: Human Resources Operations Employment Type: Permanent Department: Human Resources - Total Rewards Hiring Range: $95,538.29 - $119,422.87 Posting Information: This posting is for an existing vacancy. The internal posting deadline for this position is Thursday, September 3rd at 11:59PM.

Primary Purpose

The Manager, Payroll oversees all functions related to the delivery of compensation (domestic and international) and corresponding payroll services in adherence with strict deadlines and in accordance with government legislation and University policy and procedures. In collaboration with Director, Total Rewards participates in special projects to ensure effective, efficient, and compliant payroll practices are developed and maintained; contributes to the achievement of Human Resources’ departmental goals and professional services delivery.

Key Accountabilities

• Remain Current and Conversant with Compliance Requirements, Trends, and Best Practices
• Maintain awareness of legislation, regulations, and standards related to payroll to ensure compliance within area of responsibility
• Maintain awareness of best practices and emerging issues related to payroll
• Participate in professional development to aid in ongoing knowledge and skills acquisition
• Provides senior level payroll expertise, advice and guidance to all University stakeholders (Employee, Management, Leadership, Committee) in complex and sensitive matters and policy interpretation related to payroll
• Support the creation of, and give feedback on, policies and guidelines affecting payroll, ensuring compliance with government legislation
• Manages the Effective and Accurate Execution of Payroll
• Oversee the administration and processing of all aspects of payroll for the University, ensuring payroll is delivered accurately and on-time through monthly and biweekly standard cycles, with off cycle payments as required
• Provide final sign-off to monthly and year-end processing and filing, ensuring completeness and compliance with strict deadlines; oversee the coordination of year-end reconciliation of government remittances (i.e. CPP, EI, Income Tax, WSIB, EHT) with HR Financial Officer
• Develop and maintain all payroll processes/procedures and documentation, focusing on best practice, compliance and continuous quality improvement
• Coordinate training of payroll team to ensure consistent application of University policies and standard operating procedures and compliance with legislative requirements
• Manage the payroll team, providing guidance and direction when higher level issues arise, and ensuring standard procedures are followed and service standards are achieved
• Ensure all complex, unique, and sensitive issues are investigated and resolved, working with external entities (i.e. CRA, Service Canada, auditors, consultants, etc.) and campus partners or other HR colleagues as required
• Participate in audits, providing support to the Assistant Payroll Manager and HR Financial Officer and acting as primary contact when necessary; design and implement internal controls to meet audit requirements; coordinate with Human Resources Data Analytics (HRDA) team to design and obtain audit reports in Workday as required to support the payroll function
• Continuously leads the analysis, measurement, review, development, and implementation of effective and efficient processes, practices and system capabilities to govern all payroll activities to ensure quality and consistency and delivery against defined targets
• Support the Effectiveness of the HR/Payroll System Application

Support the Effectiveness of the HR/Payroll System Application

As the Subject Matter Expert for the payroll and time tracking modules in the HR/Payroll system (Workday), work with Information Systems Technology (IST) Teams to: Define requirements in accordance with the University policies and legislative requirements; Test configuration changes to ensure achievement of requirements; Evaluate and test the system and ongoing releases/updates on an ongoing basis to ensure functionality achieves requirements; Ensure appropriate controls are in place to maintain system security; and, Request that access be granted or restricted, as needed. As the Payroll Manager, work with HRDA, IST, and all HR users of Workday, to ensure the system’s configuration allows for accurate and compliant payroll processing; identify issues that are impacting the effectiveness, efficiency, or accuracy: Identify upstream issues that are impacting payroll processing (e.g. pending events, missing information, timeliness of approvals, etc.); Provide suggestions (data, coding, processing, configuration) suggestions that might be viable solutions to address and resolve the production issues; Support the testing of such configuration changes to ensure achievement of requirements; Support the Assistant Payroll Manager with working with departments on campus to resolve integration and data issues (e.g. Finance, Student Accounts, Alumni, Plant Operations, Food Service, etc.); Train and educate the Payroll team on processes within the Workday application on an ongoing basis; cooperate with other teams to ensure understanding of payroll requirements.

Communication of Payroll Processes to all Stakeholders

Ensure all communication material is current, accurate, and understandable by stakeholders. With assistance from the payroll team, prepares and presents information at sessions. As necessary, meets or corresponds with employees who have complex payroll questions and answers all their questions. Assist HR Partners as needed in preparing severance packages and meet or correspond with terminated employees who have been given severance packages to explain payroll implications. Oversee preparation of reports, as well as past trends and special analysis to University stakeholders. Develops and implements appropriate and effective communication processes and approaches to meet and exceed the needs of various stakeholders. Ensure Effective Utilization, Deployment, and Development of Staff. Define and communicate internally set payroll standards and procedures to ensure quality and consistency of services delivered. Deploy staff to most productively meet department goals and objectives in area of responsibility. Coach, train and develop employees to assure growth and development of those individuals. Conduct annual performance appraisal and conduct regular reviews with direct reports; ensure adherence to annual process within the payroll team. Approve and control the hiring, staffing, promotion, discipline and termination of payroll employees. Monitor and schedule vacations, overtime and other absences for the payroll team and redistribute work as necessary to ensure customer service levels are maintained. Other duties as required. Participates in HR cross functional review of processes and procedures to provide payroll impacts, especially Workday configuration considerations. Resource to University committees and provides consultative assistance to HR teams and campus managers on payroll related matters.

Required Qualifications

Education

Three-year Post-secondary education (university degree preferred) in Commerce, Human Resources, or similar course of study

Canadian Payroll Association Certified Payroll Manager (CPM) certification required

Experience

7-10 years of progressive payroll and management experience in a large-scale, fast-paced environment with a proven track record of achievement and success within the payroll field

2-3 years of experience in the Higher Education sector preferred

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

Strong knowledge of Canadian federal tax provisions, provincial/federal programs including CPP, EI, provincial healthcare, workers compensation, etc., and provincial employment standards

Proven management skills and strong customer service focus

Accuracy and attention to detail in work, proven analytical and problem-solving skills

Strong oral and written communication skills, including process documentation development and delivery

Ability to multi-task and prioritize work, at times with conflicting priorities

Experience with Workday or other in-house payroll system

Intermediate skills in Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook)

Equity Statement

The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is coordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations. The University values the diverse and intersectional identities of its students, faculty, and staff. The University regards equity and diversity as an integral part of academic excellence and is committed to accessibility for all employees. The University of Waterloo seeks applicants who embrace our values of equity, anti-racism and inclusion. As such, we encourage applications from candidates who have been historically disadvantaged and marginalized, including applicants who identify as First Nations, Métis and/or Inuk (Inuit), Black, racialized, a person with a disability, women and/or 2SLGBTQ+. Positions are open to qualified candidates who are legally entitled to work in Canada. The University of Waterloo is committed to accessibility for persons with disabilities. If you have any application, interview, or workplace accommodation requests, please contact Human Resources at [e-mail] or 519-888-4567, ext. 45935.

About Our Culture

At the University of Waterloo, we think differently, we act with purpose, and we work together. We advance learning and knowledge through teaching, research, and scholarship, nationally and internationally, in an environment of free expression and enquiry. We are a leading global research-intensive university, renowned for entrepreneurship and innovation, providing co‑op and work-integrated learning at scale with impact.

Internal Recruitment Policy

Internal candidates are reviewed first before external applicants are considered. Due to the volume of applications, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.