Payroll Analyst

Scale AI, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 122,000 - 152,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision

Retirement benefits

Learning & development stipend

Generous PTO

Commuter stipend

Job summary

Scale AI, Inc. is seeking an experienced US Payroll Specialist to manage end-to-end payroll for multiple states. You will ensure accurate, timely processing for a large exempt and non-exempt workforce while maintaining compliance with federal, state, and local tax laws.

Ideal candidates bring 5+ years' payroll experience, strong organizational skills, and expertise with ADP WorkforceNow and Workday. Base salary ranges and benefits are provided as part of an overall compensation package.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of payroll experience.
• Experience with U.S. federal, state, and local tax laws.

Responsibilities

• Oversee multi-state bi-weekly and semi-monthly payrolls for US-based employees.
• Ensure compliance with tax laws and FLSA regulations.
• Manage year-end payroll activities (W-2, W-2c).
• Collaborate with HR and Accounting on data flow and GL mapping.

Skills

Payroll processing

Attention to detail

Organizational skills

Confidentiality

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

ADP WorkforceNow

Workday

Job description

We are seeking an experienced and detail-oriented US Payroll Specialist to oversee our end-to-end multi-state payroll operations. In this role, you will ensure accurate, timely, and compliant payroll processing for all US-based employees while managing internal payroll initiatives. The ideal candidate is a strategic problem-solver with deep expertise in US labor laws, taxation, and ADP+Workday payroll systems.

You will:

• Full-Cycle Payroll Processing: Oversee the accurate and timely processing of multi-state bi-weekly and semi-monthly payrolls for over a thousand exempt and non-exempt employees across most of the USA.
• Compliance & Taxation: Ensure strict adherence to federal, state, and local tax laws, as well as FLSA regulations. Monitor regulatory changes and update internal systems accordingly.
• Year-End Processing: Manage year-end payroll activities, including W-2 and W-2c generation, fringe benefit reporting, and annual tax reconciliations.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with HR to ensure accurate data flow for onboarding, offboarding, benefits deductions, and compensation changes. Ability to work with Accounting to ensure accurate general ledger mapping, month-end close procedures, and payroll account reconciliations.
• System Administration & Optimization: Act as the primary subject matter expert for our payroll system (e.g., Workday, ADP). Identify bottlenecks, recommend process improvements, and lead system upgrades or implementations.
• Issue Resolution, Continuous Improvement & Auditing: Conduct regular audits of payroll data to identify and resolve discrepancies. Serve as the ultimate point of continuous improvement with AI and other methodologies to ensure Scale's payroll processes are best in class.

Ideally you’d have:

• 5+ years of payroll experience.
• Strong organizational skills; the ability to get all priority tasks completed by the end of each day.
• Confidentiality and integrity.
• Accuracy under pressure and extreme attention to detail.
• Experience with ADP WorkforceNow and Workday.
• Bachelor's degree.
• Technical proficiency.

Nice to haves:

• Advanced AI technical skills.
• Excellent communication skills.

Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval.

You will also receive benefits including, but not limited to: comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

• comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage
• retirement benefits
• a learning and development stipend
• generous PTO
• a commuter stipend

Base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is: $121,600 — $152,000 USD.

Our policy requires a 90‑day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.

About Us:

At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.

We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at [e-mail]. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.

We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision.

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