PeopleSoft Payroll - Technical Application Manager

IBM; Edmonton; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Canada Consulting seeks a Technical Application Manager to lead Payroll application support for PeopleSoft Payroll within AMS. You will own incidents end-to-end, ensure pay cycles run accurately, and partner with payroll analysts and architects to resolve issues.

The role requires 7–10+ years with PeopleSoft HCM, strong leadership, and in-depth payroll processing knowledge. You will drive changes, testing, and governance to align with regulatory and tax requirements.

Qualifications

• Must reside in Canada and be eligible to obtain a Government of Canada security clearance (Reliability).
• 7–10+ years of progressive experience with PeopleSoft HCM, especially Payroll, plus GL/Time and Labor.
• Demonstrated technical or functional leadership experience supporting payroll applications, ideally within an AMS environment.
• Strong understanding of payroll processing cycles, retroactive processing, and payroll-to-GL integration.
• Strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities.
• Experience managing and supporting escalation calls, including acting as primary point of contact for payroll application incidents.
• Proven ability to coordinate and support payroll-related application changes, patches, migrations, and ongoing maintenance activities.
• Strong collaboration skills, working closely with payroll functional analysts, business stakeholders, and solution architects.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for PeopleSoft Payroll application incidents, managing and supporting escalation calls through to resolution.
• Coordinate and support payroll application changes, patches, migrations, and maintenance activities, including regression testing to prevent disruption to active pay runs.
• Oversee support for core payroll processing functions, including pay calculation, confirm cycles, retroactive processing, and related GL and Time and Labor integrations.
• Collaborate closely with payroll functional analysts, business stakeholders, and technical architects to resolve escalations and ensure timely, accurate issue resolution.
• Provide technical and functional leadership to the payroll application support team, driving consistent service quality within an AMS delivery model.
• Apply strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills to diagnose complex payroll calculation, GL interface, and Time and Labor issues.
• Support governance and reporting on payroll incident trends, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ensure payroll application changes align with regulatory, tax, and compliance requirements.

Skills

PeopleSoft HCM expertise

Payroll processing knowledge

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Leadership experience

Communication skills

Job description

Introduction

A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You’ll work with leading companies across industries, helping them shape their hybrid cloud and AI journeys. With support from our strategic partners, robust IBM technology, and Red Hat, you’ll have the tools to drive meaningful change and accelerate client impact. At IBM Consulting, curiosity fuels success. You’ll be encouraged to challenge the norm, explore new ideas, and create innovative solutions that deliver real results. Our culture of growth and empathy focuses on your long-term career development while valuing your unique skills and experiences.

Your role and responsibilities

We are seeking a Technical Application Manager to lead the ongoing support, stability, and enhancement of PeopleSoft Payroll and related HCM applications within an Application Managed Services (AMS) environment. This role owns payroll application incidents and escalations end-to-end — ensuring pay cycles run accurately and on time, payroll‑impacting changes are managed with rigor, and business stakeholders have a trusted technical partner for all payroll system issues. The ideal candidate brings deep, hands‑on PeopleSoft Payroll experience, a strong grasp of payroll processing cycles and compliance sensitivities, and proven leadership in high‑availability, mission‑critical support environments.

Key responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for PeopleSoft Payroll application incidents, managing and supporting escalation calls through to resolution — with particular attention to time‑sensitive, pay‑cycle‑critical issues
• Coordinate and support payroll application changes, patches, migrations, and maintenance activities, including regression testing to prevent disruption to active pay runs
• Oversee support for core payroll processing functions, including pay calculation, confirm cycles, retroactive processing, and related General Ledger and Time and Labor integrations
• Collaborate closely with payroll functional analysts, business stakeholders, and technical architects to resolve escalations and ensure timely, accurate issue resolution
• Provide technical and functional leadership to the payroll application support team, driving consistent service quality within an AMS delivery model
• Apply strong critical thinking and problem‑solving skills to diagnose complex payroll calculation, GL interface, and Time and Labor issues
• Support governance and reporting on payroll incident trends, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives
• Ensure payroll application changes align with regulatory, tax, and compliance requirements

Preferred education

None

Required qualifications

Required technical and professional expertise

• Must reside in Canada and be eligible to obtain a Government of Canada security clearance (minimum: Reliability Clearance)
• 7–10+ years of progressive experience with PeopleSoft HCM applications, with strong hands‑on expertise specifically in Payroll, plus working knowledge of General Ledger, Time and Labor, and related modules
• Demonstrated technical or functional leadership experience supporting payroll applications, ideally within an AMS environment
• Strong understanding of payroll processing cycles, retroactive processing, and payroll‑to‑GL integration
• Strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem‑solving abilities
• Experience managing and supporting escalation calls, including acting as primary point of contact for payroll application incidents
• Proven ability to coordinate and support payroll‑related application changes, patches, migrations, and ongoing maintenance activities
• Strong collaboration skills, working closely with payroll functional analysts, business stakeholders, and solution architects

Nice to have

• Experience with Canadian payroll implementations and regulatory requirements
• Track record across multiple completed software development lifecycles (SDLC)
• Project management experience