Payroll Consultant

Vaco by Highspring; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Retirement plan

Job summary

Vaco by Highspring in Durham, NC, seeks a Payroll & HR Operations Manager to oversee end-to-end payroll processing, payroll accounting support, benefits administration, and HR operational processes across the organization.

This role ensures compliant payroll, supports audits and reporting, partners with Finance, HR, and external vendors, and drives process improvements through system changes and workflow enhancements.

Qualifications

• Experience managing end-to-end payroll processing and related financial controls.
• Strong knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll regulations.
• Ability to liaise between HR, Finance and external vendors.

Responsibilities

• Manage full-cycle payroll processing, including regular and off-cycle payrolls.
• Maintain payroll accuracy through audits, reconciliations and quality controls.
• Administer employee benefits programs and vendor management.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local payroll regulations.

Skills

Payroll processing

Regulatory compliance

Vendor management

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

The Payroll & HR Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing end-to-end payroll administration, payroll accounting support, benefits administration, and HR operational processes. This role ensures accurate and compliant payroll processing, supports financial reporting and audits, administers employee benefits programs, and serves as a key liaison between Human Resources, Finance, and external vendors.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Administration

• Manage full-cycle payroll processing, including regular and off-cycle payrolls, incentive payments, and employee separations.
• Maintain payroll accuracy through audits, reconciliations, and established quality control procedures.
• Process employee data changes including new hires, terminations, compensation updates, tax elections, garnishments, and benefit deductions.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local payroll regulations across multiple jurisdictions.
• Respond to employee payroll inquiries and resolve payroll-related issues in a timely and professional manner.
• Partner with payroll system providers to support reporting, configuration changes, upgrades, and process improvements.
• Prepare payroll reconciliations and support month-end and year-end close activities.
• Review and resolve payroll-related variances and collaborate with accounting teams to ensure accurate financial reporting.
• Partner with finance stakeholders on headcount reporting, labor forecasting, accruals, and workforce planning initiatives.
• Support internal and external audits, regulatory reporting, retirement plan compliance, and year-end tax reporting requirements.
• Administer HR-related vendor payments and assist with budget monitoring and expense tracking.

Benefits & HR Operations

• Administer employee benefit programs, including enrollments, changes, terminations, reconciliations, and vendor management.
• Manage retirement plan administration, employee contributions, employer matching, and census reporting.
• Coordinate annual open enrollment activities and employee communications.
• Administer leave of absence programs and paid time off tracking in compliance with applicable regulations.
• Maintain employee records and HRIS data integrity while generating reports and workforce analytics as needed.
• Support onboarding, employee relations inquiries, compliance initiatives, compensation cycles, and other departmental projects.

Equal Opportunity Notice

Highspring LLC (d/b/a Vaco by Highspring) and its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries ("we," "our," or "Vaco by Highspring") are committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race (including but not limited to traits historically associated with race such as hair texture and hair style), color, sex (includes pregnancy or related conditions), religion or creed, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, status as a veteran, union membership, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, political affiliation, or any other protected characteristics as required by applicable law. The company is also committed to ensuring that persons who need them are provided with reasonable accommodations; if an accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact [e-mail] .

Vaco by Highspring also wants all applicants to know their rights that workplace discrimination is illegal.

For residents of Ontario, Canada only: to the extent the position for employment is not with Highspring or not otherwise noted as vacant above, candidate should be informed that this role is to replace a presently employed person at Vaco by Highspring's client.

Privacy Notice

Vaco by Highspring respects your privacy and are committed to providing transparent notice of our policies.

• California residents may access Vaco by Highspring HR Notice at Collection for California Applicants and Employees here.
• Virginia residents may access our state specific policies here.
• Residents of all other states may access our policies here.
• Canadian residents may access our policies in English here and in French here.
• Residents of countries governed by GDPR and UK GDPR may access our policies here.

Additionally, submissions to this position are subject to the use of AI to perform preliminary candidate screenings, focused on ensuring minimum job requirements noted in the position are satisfied. More details about Vaco by Highspring's use of AI can be found here https://www.highspring.com/ai-use-notices/. Further assessment of candidates beyond this initial phase will be conducted by recruiters and hiring managers. Vaco by Highspring does not know and cannot opine on if its client's use of AI products in hiring.

Pay Transparency Notice

Determining compensation for this role (and others) at Vaco by Highspring depends upon a wide array of factors including but not limited to:

the individual's skill sets, experience and training;

licensure and certification requirements;

office location and other geographic considerations; and

other business and organizational needs.

With that said, as required by local law, Vaco by Highspring believes that the following salary range referenced above reasonably estimates the base compensation for an individual hired into this position in geographies that require salary range disclosure. The individual may also be eligible for discretionary bonuses and/or participation in medical, dental, and vision benefits as well as the company's retirement plan (or similar retirement benefits).