Payroll Manager

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Inc.; Iowa; On-site; USD 100,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Retirement plans

Time off

Wellness programs

Job summary

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is seeking a Payroll Operations Leader to manage end-to-end payroll in Workday, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and regulatory compliance.

You will own Workday configuration, lead payroll staff, and drive process automation while partnering with HR, Finance, and Grants to ensure data integrity. This role is based at a world-class biomedical research center in New York.

Qualifications

• End-to-end payroll processing in Workday with audits for accuracy and compliance.
• Ownership of Workday configuration, testing, and system enhancements.
• Supervise, train and develop payroll staff to ensure accuracy and service.

Responsibilities

• Payroll Operations: End-to-end multi-cycle payroll processing in Workday with audits.
• Workday System Ownership: configuration, testing, troubleshooting, and improvements.
• Team Leadership: supervise, train and develop payroll staff.
• Process Improvement: identify automation opportunities and reduce manual steps.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: partner with HR, Finance, and Grants for data integrity.
• Financial Analysis & Reporting: analyze payroll data and provide actionable insights.
• Compliance: ensure federal, state, local regulations and internal controls.
• Foreign National Tax Withholding: oversee tax withholding and treaty applications.
• Year-End Tax Reporting: lead W-2 and 1042-S processing.
• Payroll Costing: allocate salaries and benefits to grants and cost centers.

Skills

Payroll operations

Workday

Team leadership

Process improvement

Cross-functional collaboration

Financial analysis

Regulatory compliance

Foreign tax withholding

Year-end tax reporting

Payroll costing

Tools

Workday

Job description

Position Responsibilities

• Payroll Operations: Hands-on processing of end-to-end, multi-cycle payroll within Workday, including calculating and reviewing earnings, deductions, and taxes, and performing detailed audits of each payroll run to ensure accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with all applicable regulations.
• Workday System Ownership: Serve as the payroll subject matter expert within Workday, including configuration, testing of updates and releases, troubleshooting, and partnering with HRIS and IT on system enhancements.
• Team Leadership: Supervise, train, and develop payroll staff; establish clear roles and responsibilities and foster a culture of accuracy, service, and continuous improvement.
• Process Improvement: Identify and implement opportunities for payroll process automation and efficiency within Workday, minimizing manual intervention and reducing errors.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Develop strong partnerships with Human Resources, Finance and Accounting, Office of Sponsored Programs, and other Laboratory teams to ensure payroll data integrity and alignment across systems.
• Financial Analysis & Reporting: Analyze payroll-related financial data, prepare reports, and provide insights to support decision-making, budgeting, and cost control.
• Compliance: Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local payroll regulations and company policies; manage payroll audits and internal controls, and stay current on evolving payroll legislation.
• Foreign National Tax Withholding: Oversee foreign tax withholding requirements for foreign employees, instructors, and lecturers, ensuring accurate application of tax treaties and withholding rates.
• Year-End Tax Reporting: Lead year-end processing and filing of Forms W-2 and 1042-S, ensuring accuracy and timely delivery in accordance with IRS requirements.
• Payroll Costing: Manage payroll costing and labor distribution within Workday, ensuring salaries, wages, and fringe benefits are accurately allocated to the correct grants, cost centers, and funding sources, and partner with Grants Management and Finance to resolve costing errors and support audit readiness.

Compensation and Benefits

Our employees are compensated in many ways for their contributions to our mission, including competitive pay, exceptional health benefits, retirement plans, time off, and a range of recognition and wellness programs.

The salary range for this role is $100,000.00 - $115,000.00. The salary range and/or hourly rate listed is a good faith determination of potential base compensation that may be offered to a successful applicant for this position at the time of this job advertisement and may be modified in the future. When determining a base salary and/or rate, several factors may be considered as applicable (e.g., years of relevant experience, education, credentials, and internal equity).

Environment

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a world-renowned biomedical research institution in New York. It has shaped contemporary biomedical research and is the home of eight Nobel Prize laureates. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory provides a highly dynamic and interactive research environment and also a unique opportunity of timely exposure to advances in various biomedical research fields and of interaction with a broad range of researchers from all over the world through its renowned Meetings and Courses program. We believe that science is for everyone and our researchers have a wide variety of backgrounds. CSHL is an EO Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or protected veteran status. VEVRAA Federal Contractor For more information about CSHL, please visit us at www.cshl.edu.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a community of more than 1,100 scientific, academic, administrative and support staff hailing from more than sixty different countries throughout the world, working together to advance research and education in the biological and biomedical sciences. It’s a stimulating and dynamic place to work, with cutting-edge research programs and science education and training at all career levels. From secondary education and enrichment programs run through the DNA Learning Center to the laboratories of our faculty and principal investigators, CSHL thrives by assembling a rich mix of people who are provided the resources and creative freedom to develop new ideas, solve problems, and advance knowledge.