Manager, Payroll & Accounts Payable

Bertelsmann; Morrisville (NC); Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k match

Flexible PTO

Parental leave

Health insurance

Job summary

Relias in Morrisville, NC, is hiring a Manager of Payroll & Accounts Payable in a hybrid role. The position leads payroll, accounts payable, and master data, ensuring accurate and timely payments and strong internal controls.

You will manage a team, coordinate with HR, Tax, Legal, external providers, and drive process improvements with a focus on compliance and risk reduction in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in payroll, accounts payable, accounting operations, or a related field.
• 2+ years of direct people-management experience (formal or informal).
• Experience managing multi-state payroll and at least one adjacent operating area such as accounts payable, vendor master data, expenses, or close support.
• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Lead Payroll and MDM Specialists and Accounts Payable Specialists by setting priorities, allocating work, reviewing quality, coaching performance, building capability, and maintaining coverage for critical deadlines.
• Oversee payroll processing, inputs, deductions, taxes, and final payroll controls.
• Oversee invoice validation, coding, approvals, posting, and payment scheduling to ensure timely disbursement.
• Manage vendor master-data controls, tax documentation, sanctions screening, and data retention.
• Coordinate payroll, payables, expense, and master-data issue resolution with owners and external providers.
• Drive continuous improvement in processes, reporting, and automation while maintaining controls.

Skills

Team leadership

Payroll processing

Accounts payable

Vendor master data

Compliance

Process improvement

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting/Finance

Tools

UKG

NetSuite

SAP

Coupa/Concur

Job description

hybrid

USD 70,000 - 110,000 (Yearly)

Company Description

Are you looking for a high energy, strategic, and fast-paced position with an impactful and mission-driven company? Join Relias, the company changing lives throughout the world by helping healthcare organizations improve their clinical and financial outcomes!

For 11,000+ health care and human service organizations, Relias helps clients deliver better clinical and financial outcomes by elevating the performance of teams. We help organizations across the continuum of care get better at maintaining compliance, developing staff and promoting consistent, high-quality care. Our platform employs assessments to reveal specific gaps in skills and addresses them with personalized and engaging learning, choosing from 7,000+ online courses that meet accrediting board, state and federal requirements. We are passionate about our products and our clients; what we deliver and the impact we have on the world is truly something you can be proud to represent. Join us and make a difference.

WHAT CAN RELIAS OFFER YOU?

• Fantastic health and wellness benefits package, including an outstanding 401k match, a flexible PTO program, and a generous and inclusive parental leave policy. Additionally, Relias pays for the employee portion of the monthly healthcare premium!
• Flexible work environment with onsite and work from home options – you choose when you want to come into the office!
• Active Employee Resource Groups open to all employees!
• Comprehensive onboarding program – a great introduction to our company, customers and culture!
• Growth and career advancement opportunities!
  • Promotes internal mobility and career growth aligned with evolving business needs
  • Multiple development program options – leadership development, professional development curriculums, and Nanodegree options in both technology and data science
  • Professional development gained from conference attendance and participation in organizations like NC Tech
  • Onsite 321 Coffee Shop providing free coffee and pastries to employees

Job Description

The Manager, Payroll & Accounts Payable leads payroll, accounts payable, vendor master-data review, and travel-and-expense operations to ensure accurate, timely, controlled payments and reliable accounting records. The role sets operating priorities, manages and develops the team, owns escalations and control execution, and drives continuous improvement across recurring, deadline-sensitive processes. The Manager partners with Human Resources, Accounting, Legal, Tax, business stakeholders, and external providers to maintain compliance, safeguard confidential data, and reduce operational and fraud risk.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING:

TEAM LEADERSHIP & OPERATING MANAGEMENT

Lead Payroll and MDM Specialists and Accounts Payable Specialists by setting priorities, allocating work, reviewing quality, coaching performance, building capability, and maintaining coverage for critical deadlines.

Establish clear service expectations, escalation paths, process ownership, and operating routines across payroll, accounts payable, master data, travel and expense, and payments.

PAYROLL GOVERNANCE & COMPLIANCE

Oversee scheduled and off-cycle payroll processing, including inputs, earnings, deductions, taxes, adjustments, funding, approvals, and final payroll controls.

Review payroll registers, variances, exceptions, reconciliations, funding needs, and required approvals; document review results and resolve or elevate material issues.

Own payroll compliance operations, tax notices, records, audit support, year-end reporting including W2s, and escalated employee matters in coordination with HR, Tax, Legal, and external providers.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, EXPENSE & PAYMENT OPERATIONS

Oversee invoice validation, coding, approvals, posting, payment scheduling, refunds, employee reimbursements, aging, exceptions, and supplier inquiries to support accurate and timely disbursement.

Oversee payment runs, validate payment details and required approvals, coordinate funding, and resolve returned, voided, or exception payments.

Manage 1099 activities, unclaimed-property support, period-end requirements, and audit-ready documentation.

MASTER DATA, CONTROLS & RISK MANAGEMENT

Oversee vendor master-data controls, including setup and change reviews, tax documentation, sanctions screening, duplicate detection, banking verification and record retention.

Maintain effective controls across processing, review, approvals, master data, expenses, and payments, including segregation of duties, data protection, confidentiality, fraud prevention, documentation, and business continuity; identify control gaps and implement corrective action.

PERFORMANCE, SYSTEMS & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Monitor service levels, backlogs, errors, deadlines, reconciliations, and team capacity; use data to identify root causes and prioritize corrective action.

Coordinate payroll, payables, expense, and master-data issue resolution and testing with process owners, technical support, and external providers.

Improve processes, reporting, documentation, automation, and use of approved AI-enabled productivity tools while maintaining human validation, access controls, and protection of confidential information.

Qualifications

YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES IF YOU HAVE:

5+ years of progressive experience in payroll, accounts payable, accounting operations, or a related field, including substantial hands‑on payroll processing and review of registers, payments, reconciliations, controls, and documentation.

2+ years of direct people‑management experience (formal or informal), including responsibility for work allocation, quality review, coaching, performance expectations, and deadline coverage.

Experience managing multi-state payroll and at least one adjacent operating area such as accounts payable, vendor master data, employee expenses, payment operations, or accounting close support.

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, Human Resources, or a related field.

IT WOULD ALSO BE GREAT IF YOU HAD:

Experience leading payroll and accounts-payable operations in a multi-state, multi-entity, or regulated environment.

Experience with UKG or a comparable payroll/timekeeping platform; a major ERP such as Intacct, NetSuite, or SAP; and procure-to-pay or expense platforms such as Coupa or Concur.

Experience with payroll taxes, wage and hour requirements, incentive compensation, vendor and payment controls, 1099s, unclaimed property, audits, and year-end reporting.

Certified Payroll Professional (CPP); Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) may be considered with demonstrated management scope.

Additional Information

IN OFFICE REQUIREMENT:

Relias values collaboration and wants to ensure that our team members have opportunities to work with their teams regularly for professional development opportunities. Our flexible hybrid work environment requires that you live in the state of North Carolina, within a commutable distance to our office (~1-hour commute). You would be expected to work in our Morrisville, NC Headquarters (close to the Raleigh/Durham airport) approximately 30 days/quarter.

Relias is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a Drug-Free workplace. Relias welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities and is happy to make reasonable accommodations in all aspects of the selection process. If you are an individual with a disability and require reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the job application process, please visit our career page for instructions.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Disclosure requirements pertaining to the collection of your personal data:

Responsible for processing the information provided in your application is the company specified in the job advertisement, with its registered office as indicated. The company processes your data for the purpose of establishing an employment relationship on the basis of Art. 6 (1) b GDPR / Section 26 (1) sentence 1 BDSG.

The retention period for your data is determined by the statutory time limits applicable in the respective country, beginning upon completion of the recruitment process. You can find these here .

You can contact the company’s Data Protection Officer at the above-mentioned postal address.

Further information on data protection and your rights can be found here .