Manager, Payroll Operations

Cook Group; Bloomington (IN); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The Manager, Payroll Operations at Cook Group leads the Payroll Shared Services team to ensure accurate and on-time payroll processing across markets, integrating data governance and automation with HR, Finance and IT partners.

Responsibilities include direct payroll operations, process improvements, global expansion, and mentoring the team to build capability, while maintaining data integrity and compliance in a fast-paced, international environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, HR or a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years in progressive payroll positions.
• Hands-on expertise with HCM/payroll platforms.
• Payroll certifications such as CPP or IPASS preferred.
• Experience leading global payroll operations and managing teams.

Responsibilities

• Direct day-to-day payroll operations for the Payroll Shared Services team with timely, accurate payroll processing.
• Identify and lead process improvements and automation initiatives, including AI and Power BI adoption.
• Collaborate with HRIS, HR, Benefits and Finance to ensure data integrity and governance across platforms.
• Mentor and develop team members; manage workload, succession planning and roadmap visibility.
• Ensure compliance with payroll tax laws and regulatory requirements across jurisdictions.

Skills

Payroll operations

Process improvement

Data governance

Cross-functional collaboration

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, HR or related field

Tools

HCM/payroll platform

Job description

Overview

The Manager, Payroll Operations leads Cook Medical's Payroll Shared Services (PSS) team, ensuring accurate, compliant and on-time payroll processing for designated markets. This role owns the integrity of payroll data within Cook’s payroll platform (as determined by Cook’s Corporate leadership), drives process improvement and automation, partners closely with HR, HRIS, Benefits, Finance and other cross-functional stakeholders and builds team capability through mentoring, delegation and succession planning.

Responsibilities

Payroll Operations & Service Delivery

• Direct day-to-day payroll operations for the Payroll Shared Services team, holding the team accountable for consistently meeting all payroll deadlines with minimal errors and establishing metrics to track and demonstrate team performance.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for payroll; including platform configuration, troubleshooting and data integrity within the system and act as the primary point of escalation for complex payroll issues.
• Reconcile and post payroll-related activity to the general ledger, partnering with Finance as needed.
• Serve as an escalation point for employee payroll inquiries, ensuring timely and accurate resolution.

Process Improvement, Data Governance & Global Expansion

• Identify and lead process improvement and automation initiatives, including the evaluation and adoption of AI and other tools e.g. Power BI to reduce manual, repetitive payroll and audit tasks.
• Support global payroll expansion efforts, including planning, execution and onboarding of additional international entities as the business grows.
• Collaborate with HRIS to maintain and improve payroll data integrity across all platforms, including cleanup of legacy organizational-structure data, standardization of fields (e.g., work status, bonus codes) and support global data governance practices.
• Influence and guide local HR and Finance teams in the management of payroll operations for markets not directly supported by a regional payroll shared services team.
• Consolidate payroll reference materials and document management (e.g., CRT results, payroll vendor lists, global pay dates, records retention) into a single, reliable, well-governed repository in place of fragmented repositories.
• Represent regional payroll to ensure its interests and requirements are reflected in enterprise data decisions.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner cross-functionally with HR, HRIS, Benefits, Finance and Communications to support and execute payroll-impacting initiatives (e.g., benefit and PTO/sick time policy changes, tax and regulatory changes), ensuring all affected stakeholders are engaged early and with adequate lead time.
• Support mergers, acquisitions and divestitures from a payroll perspective, ensuring smooth transitions and documenting lessons learned for future transactions.

Team Leadership & Workforce Planning

• Mentor and develop the team members, building self-sufficiency and problem-solving capabilities.
• Foster an inclusive team environment where all team members can contribute to their full potential in pursuit of shared goals.
• Lead staff evaluation, workload and skills alignment, delegation and succession planning to ensure the team is appropriately and sustainably staffed for both ongoing operations and project work.
• Develop and maintain a forward-looking roadmap and visible timeline of payroll tasks and projects (owners, deadlines, dependencies) to support planning, workload balance and transparency with leadership.

Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable payroll tax laws and requirements in relevant jurisdictions, coordinating appropriately with tax, legal and HR.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources or a related field is required.
• Minimum of 10 years prior relevant experience is required, ideally in progressive Payroll positions.
• Hands-on expertise with HCM/payroll platform strongly preferred.
• Continued certification in Payroll (region specific) is preferred such as CPP, IPASS etc.
• Significant experience in payroll operations and an understanding of global payroll processing; supervisory or management experience preferred.
• This role requires fluency in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data concepts, including the ability to critically evaluate AI outputs, improve workflows using approved tools, identify and mitigate bias or inaccuracies, and communicate AI-driven insights clearly and responsibly to peers and managers.
• Demonstrated experience driving AI solutions, process improvement, data cleanup/governance and adoption of automation within payroll operations.
• Demonstrated experience with implementing new systems globally is advantageous.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management skills.
• High degree of integrity and discretion in handling confidential compensation and employee data.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to balance daily operational deadlines against longer-term initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor, delegate, and develop talent, including succession planning.
• Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally as required by business needs.
• This role requires fluency in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data concepts, including the ability to critically evaluate AI outputs, improve workflows using approved tools, identify and mitigate bias or inaccuracies, and communicate AI-driven insights clearly and responsibly to peers and managers.
• Qualified candidates must be legally authorized to be employed in the United States. Cook does not intend to provide sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H-1B or TN status) for this employment position.