Payroll Analyst

lambda; United States; On-site; USD 95,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401k with company match

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Lambda is seeking a Payroll Analyst to own end-to-end payroll processing for a multi-state and remote workforce, with international payroll support. The role focuses on accuracy, compliance, and scalable processes as the company grows.

You will work with HRIS platforms (Workday, Rippling, ADP) and collaborate with People, Finance, AP, and IT teams. This is a hands-on, high-visibility position in a fast-growing startup environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years hands-on experience processing end-to-end payroll, including multi-state and international payroll (in-house and payroll partner vendors)
• Proficiency with modern HRIS/payroll platforms Workday, Rippling, ADP
• Strong understanding of payroll compliance requirements, tax calculation and reporting.
• Working knowledge of benefits deductions and tax administration
• Payroll accounting, including account reconciliations and month-end close
• Advanced proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets

Responsibilities

• Process end-to-end bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and high-volume off-cycle payroll for a multi-state, remote workforce, including pre and post payroll reconciliation
• Support international payroll, both in-house and through payroll partner vendors
• Maintain employee payroll records and audit time and attendance entries for accuracy, proactively monitoring missing time and approvals ahead of payroll cutoffs
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, local, and international payroll tax and wage and hour requirements, and monitor tax law changes
• Respond to tax agency notices and manage quarterly amendments and unemployment claims
• Perform monthly, quarterly, and year-end reconciliations of payroll-related accounts, including wages, taxes, benefits, 401(k), and other liability and expense accounts
• Validate payroll inputs from HR, time tracking, benefits, and equity systems; investigate and resolve discrepancies
• Maintain payroll controls and supporting documentation for SOX compliance and internal and external audits
• Partner closely with People, Finance, AP, and IT teams to resolve payroll questions and support month-end close
• Manage external vendor relationships (payroll partners, benefit administrators, auditors), driving issue resolution and deliverables and escalating risks as needed
• Resolve employee service cases in JIRA within established SLAs
• Collaborate on process improvement, automation, and system implementation

Skills

Payroll processing

Multi-state payroll

International payroll

Excel

Tools

Workday

Rippling

ADP

Job description

Company Overview

Lambda, The Superintelligence Cloud, is a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers. Our customers range from AI researchers to enterprises and hyperscalers. Lambda's mission is to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity and give everyone the power of superintelligence. One person, one GPU.

If you'd like to build the world's best AI cloud, join us.

*Note: This position requires presence in our San Francisco or San Jose office location 4 days per week; Lambda's designated work from home day is currently Tuesday.

Position Overview

As Payroll Analyst, you'll keep payroll accurate, compliant, and on time as Lambda's payroll operations grow. This is a hands-on role covering end-to-end payroll processing, tax reporting, equity transactions, internal controls, and employee inquiries. You'll help shape and modernize our payroll processes as we scale, and you'll work directly with cross-functional teams, gaining broad exposure across the business.

What You’ll Do

Payroll Processing and Operations

• Process end-to-end bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and high-volume off-cycle payroll for a multi-state, remote workforce, including pre and post payroll reconciliation
• Support international payroll, both in-house and through payroll partner vendors
• Maintain employee payroll records and audit time and attendance entries for accuracy, proactively monitoring missing time and approvals ahead of payroll cutoffs

Compliance and Controls

• Ensure compliance with federal, state, local, and international payroll tax and wage and hour requirements, and monitor tax law changes
• Respond to tax agency notices and manage quarterly amendments and unemployment claims
• Perform monthly, quarterly, and year-end reconciliations of payroll-related accounts, including wages, taxes, benefits, 401(k), and other liability and expense accounts
• Validate payroll inputs from HR, time tracking, benefits, and equity systems; investigate and resolve discrepancies
• Maintain payroll controls and supporting documentation for SOX compliance and internal and external audits

Partnership and Service

• Partner closely with People, Finance, AP, and IT teams to resolve payroll questions and support month-end close
• Manage external vendor relationships (payroll partners, benefit administrators, auditors), driving issue resolution and deliverables and escalating risks as needed
• Resolve employee service cases in JIRA within established SLAs
• Collaborate on process improvement, automation, and system implementation

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience – Hands-on experience processing end-to-end payroll, including multi-state and international payroll (in-house and payroll partner vendors)
• Proficiency with modern HRIS/payroll platforms Workday, Rippling, ADP
• Strong understanding of payroll compliance requirements, tax calculation and reporting.
• Working knowledge of benefits deductions and tax administration
• Payroll accounting, including account reconciliations and month-end close
• Advanced proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets

Nice to Have

• Exposure to equity and stock related transaction processing
• Start-up or high-growth environment background

Salary Range Information

The annual salary range for this position has been set based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.

About Lambda

Founded in 2012, with 500+ employees, and growing fast.

Our investors notably include TWG Global, US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), Andra Capital, SGW, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, In-Q-Tel (IQT), KHK & Partners, NVIDIA, Pegatron, Supermicro, Wistron, Wiwynn, Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, SVB, 1518, and Crescent Cove.

We have research papers accepted at top machine learning and graphics conferences, including NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG.

Benefits

• We offer generous cash & equity compensation
• Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents
• Wellness and commuter stipends for select roles
• 401k Plan with 2% company match (USA employees)
• Flexible paid time off plan that we all actually use

Our values are publicly available: https://lambda.ai/careers

Lambda is an Equal Opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other factors prohibited by local, state, or federal law.