Payroll Manager

Roessel Joy; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Roessel Joy is seeking a seasoned Senior Payroll Manager to own end-to-end U.S. payroll operations from calendar management to post-payroll reconciliation.

You will ensure compliance with federal, state, and local requirements, resolve complex pay issues, and drive process improvements across payroll controls and systems. In this role, you will partner with Finance and HR, manage ADP and payroll tax service providers, and lead system enhancements and automation initiatives to improve efficiency

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, HR, or equivalent.
• CPP designation or equivalent certification is preferred.
• Minimum 8 years of progressive payroll experience with leadership experience.
• Experience with ADP Vantage, ADP Reporting, and other HRIS platforms.
• Strong knowledge of multi-state U.S. payroll, wage and hour rules, and payroll tax compliance.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end U.S. payroll operations and calendar management.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local payroll requirements.
• Resolve complex payroll inquiries and off-cycle payments.
• Strengthen payroll controls through audits, reconciliations, and documentation.
• Partner with Finance on GL activity and payroll reporting.
• Manage payroll vendor relationships (e.g., ADP) and system support.
• Lead payroll system enhancements and automation initiatives.
• Monitor payroll metrics to drive process improvements.

Skills

Leadership

Analytical skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Process improvement

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree or CPP designation

Tools

ADP Vantage

ADP Reporting

ADP Data Bridge

Oracle Fusion

HRIS / time and attendance

Job description

• Own end-to-end U.S. payroll operations, including payroll calendar management, pre-payroll validation, payroll approval, post-payroll reconciliation, and timely resolution of payroll issues.
• Oversee compliance with applicable federal, state, and local payroll requirements, including wage and hour rules, tax withholding, final pay, garnishments, unemployment, tax reciprocity, and payroll recordkeeping.
• Serve as the escalation point for complex payroll inquiries, sensitive employee pay issues, off-cycle payments, adjustments, overpayments, and payroll corrections.
• Strengthen payroll controls through routine audits, variance analysis, reconciliation reviews, approval workflows, documentation, and support for internal and external audit requests.
• Partner with Finance and Accounting on payroll-related general ledger activity, payroll reconciliations, accruals, funding, reporting, and issue resolution.
• Manage payroll vendor relationships, including ADP and payroll tax service providers, to ensure service levels, filings, funding, issue resolution, and system support are completed accurately and timely.
• Lead payroll system enhancement initiatives, testing, integrations, reporting improvements, and automation opportunities in partnership with HR Technology, Finance, and vendors.
• Monitor payroll metrics, trends, recurring issues, and root causes to drive process improvements and reduce operational risk.
• Assist with entry of payroll transactions (i.e., timesheets, vacation requests, direct deposits, tax changes etc.) into the payroll system.as necessary.
• Assist with preparing data to enable Vialto to prepare tax returns for US expatriates globally.
• Provide day-to-day leadership to the U.S. payroll team, including workload prioritization, coaching, mentoring, cross-training, goal setting, and performance feedback.
• Ensure payroll procedures, controls, calendars, and process documentation are current, accurate, and consistently followed.
• Work cross-functionally with business partners – regional HR, Benefits, Compensation, Accounting, and Internal Audit.
• Create strong collaborative team environment.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Human Resources, or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum of 8 years of progressive payroll experience, including experience leading or supervising payroll staff.
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) designation
• Experience with ADP Vantage, ADP Reporting, ADP Data Bridge, Oracle Fusion, time and attendance, or similar payroll/HRIS platforms.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. multi-state payroll, payroll tax, wage and hour compliance, garnishments, unemployment, tax reciprocity, year-end processing, and payroll recordkeeping.
• Experience supporting payroll audits, internal controls, reconciliations, and payroll-related compliance reviews.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to coach, develop, motivate, and hold a team accountable for accurate and timely payroll delivery.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to review payroll data, identify trends, resolve discrepancies, and recommend process improvements.
• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion, urgency, and sound judgment.
• Strong relationship-building skills with the ability to partner effectively with HR, Benefits, Compensation, Finance, Accounting, Legal, Internal Audit, vendors, and all levels of management.