Payroll Manager

ESHYFT; New Jersey; Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Weekly Pay

Paid Holidays

Paid Time Off

Health Insurance

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

Pet Insurance

Voluntary Benefits

HRA and FSA Accounts

401k with 10% Employer Match

Job summary

ESHYFT in Howell, NJ is seeking a Payroll and Workforce Operations Manager to lead high-volume payroll, clinician payments, timekeeping, and workforce-operations for about 4,000 independent contractors and 500 W-2 clinicians. The role focuses on accuracy, funding readiness, compliance, and a thorough cycle-close handoff to Accounting.

This is a hybrid position with 1 day per week remote and 4 days per week in-office, located in Howell, NJ near NYC and Philadelphia.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in payroll or high-volume financial operations, including team leadership.
• Multi-state W-2 payroll and 1099 contractor payments experience; healthcare staffing preferred.
• Strong knowledge of payroll taxes, wage-and-hour, and year-end reporting.
• Experience with payroll/timekeeping platforms, payroll processors, ERP systems, and Excel.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred; CPP designation a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end multi-state W-2 payroll and 1099 contractor payments.
• Own timekeeping queues and resolve missed punches and pay discrepancies.
• Forecast payroll funding, monitor balances, and ensure segregation of duties.
• Deliver cycle-close packages to Accounting within three business days.
• Ensure wage-and-hour compliance and support audits and regulatory inquiries.
• Partner across Billing and Finance to streamline operations and backups.
• Own payroll systems requirements, UAT, and automation with Tech/Data teams.
• Lead onshore and offshore teams with SLAs and coaching.
• Monitor metrics and provide early risk warnings to CFO.

Skills

Payroll operations

Timekeeping

Multi-state payroll

Excel

Leadership

ERP systems

Regulatory compliance

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Certified Payroll Professional (CPP)

Tools

Payroll platforms

Timekeeping platforms

ERP systems

Advanced Excel

Job description

The Payroll and Workforce Operations Manager leads ESHYFT’s high-volume payroll, clinician-payment, timekeeping, and workforce-operations function supporting approximately 4,000 independent-contractor clinicians and 500 W-2 clinicians. This role is accountable for accurate and timely execution, funding readiness, exception resolution, operational compliance, team performance, and a complete cycle-close handoff to Accounting.

This is a hybrid position with 1 day per week remote and 4 days per week in-office.

Our office is located in Howell, NJ, approximately 70 miles south of NYC and 60 miles east of Philadelphia.

Job Responsibilities

Payroll & 1099 Operations: Lead end-to-end multi-state W-2 payroll and 1099 contractor payments, managing master calendars, funding deadlines, cutoffs, pre-payroll input controls, Instant Pay, and settlement closeouts.

Timekeeping & Exception Management: Own queues and resolution protocols for missed punches, disputed timecards, pay discrepancies, unapproved rates, and billing-related payroll exceptions to preserve audit trails.

Funding & Controls: Forecast daily and weekly payroll funding, monitor processor balances, maintain segregation of duties for banking transactions, and immediately escape cash shortfalls or anomalies.

Accounting Close & Reporting: Deliver complete cycle-close packages—including registers, funding approvals, settlement support, and exception logs—to Accounting within three business days.

Compliance & Audit: Ensure operational compliance with wage-and-hour laws, tax withholdings, garnishments, state programs, disability, workers' comp, and year-end reporting while supporting audits and regulatory inquiries

Cross-Functional & Backup Coverage: Partner across Billing and Finance to streamline operations, maintaining documented continuity, and provide designated backup support for credit/collections.

Systems & Process Automation: Own functional requirements, UAT, and adoption for payroll, ERP, and payment platforms, collaborating with Tech/Data teams to automate workflows and reduce manual adjustments.

Team Leadership & Operating Discipline: Lead onshore and offshore teams with SOPs, daily expectations, service level agreements (SLAs), quality reviews, cross-training, and continuous performance coaching.

Risk Management & Reporting: Monitor operational metrics via dashboards/Excel, conduct post-incident/vendor reviews, and provide the CFO with early warnings on material risk, potential fraud, or funding threats.

Qualifications

• 7 or more years of payroll, workforce-payment, or comparable high-volume financial-operations experience, including at least three years leading teams.
• Demonstrated ownership of multi-state W-2 payroll and 1099 contractor-payment operations; experience in healthcare staffing, workforce marketplaces, or another high-volume, time-sensitive environment is strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of payroll taxes, wage and hour requirements, overtime, deductions, garnishments, unemployment, paid leave, year-end reporting, and payroll audit support.
• Experience with payroll and timekeeping platforms, instant-pay or payment processors, banking interfaces, ERP systems, implementations, and advanced Excel
• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business, human resources, or a related field is preferred; Certified Payroll Professional designation is a plus.
• Ownership and urgency: Closes loops, protects pay deadlines, and escalates material risk early.
• Control judgment: Balances speed with validation, documented approvals, security, and segregation of duties.
• Data fluency: Uses evidence, trend analysis, and measurable service levels to manage performance.
• People leadership: Sets clear expectations, coaches directly, and builds accountable teams with reliable coverage.
• Cross-functional leadership: Establishes facts quickly, communicates clearly, and drives coordinated resolution and prevention.

Salary Range

$100-130k commensurate with experience

• Weekly Pay
• Paid Holidays
• Paid Time Off
• Health Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Pet Insurance
• Voluntary Benefits – Accident, Hospital, Cancer Care
• HRA and FSA Accounts
• 401k with 10% Employer Match (Match is 10% of the employee’s contribution in the calendar year)