Payroll Director: Lead Multistate Compliance & Optimization

Vaco Recruiter Services; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Vaco Recruiter Services in New York, NY, seeks a Director of Payroll to lead end-to-end payroll operations for a large, multi-state workforce. This executive role requires hands-on leadership, deep tax expertise, and a proven track record in optimizing payroll structures and enterprise platforms.

The successful candidate will ensure payroll accuracy, regulatory compliance, and strong internal controls, while driving continuous improvement across the payroll team.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive, full-cycle payroll experience.
• Deep expertise in federal, NY State, and local payroll regulations.
• Experience preparing and reviewing payroll tax filings (941s, W-2s).
• Expert-level Excel skills with pivot tables, formulas, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP.

Responsibilities

• Oversee end-to-end multi-state payroll processing for a large workforce.
• Partner with HR and IT to optimize payroll and HRIS systems.
• Direct federal, NYS, and local payroll tax filings, reconciliations, and year-end reporting.
• Establish and enforce internal control frameworks over payroll processing.
• Lead, mentor, and build a high-performing payroll team with SOPs.

Skills

Payroll leadership

Multi-state payroll

Regulatory compliance

Payroll tax filings (941/W-2)

Advanced Excel

Tools

Paylocity

Workday

ADP

Paycom

Job description

Vaco Recruiter Services in New York, NY, seeks a Director of Payroll to lead end-to-end payroll operations for a large, multi-state workforce. This executive role requires hands-on leadership, deep tax expertise, and a proven track record in optimizing payroll structures and enterprise platforms.

The successful candidate will ensure payroll accuracy, regulatory compliance, and strong internal controls, while driving continuous improvement across the payroll team.