Payroll Operations Leader — Hybrid, Growth & Compliance

Lactalis USA; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Insurance coverage

Retirement contributions

Paid Time Off from day one

Education Reimbursement

Job summary

Lactalis USA in Buffalo, NY is hiring a Payroll Manager to lead the U.S. payroll function, ensuring accurate and timely processing across all entities, strong controls, and regulatory compliance.

This leader will drive governance, system integration, and continuous improvement of time and attendance processes while partnering with Finance, HR, and Compliance. The role requires 5+ years of payroll experience, supervisory responsibility, and proficiency with Paylocity or UKG, Excel, and Word.

Qualifications

• Associate's degree or equivalent experience required; business or accounting degree preferred.
• 5+ years of payroll experience required.
• 2+ years of supervisory or management experience preferred.
• CPP or FCP certification preferred.
• Proficiency with Paylocity or UKG and strong Excel/Word skills.

Responsibilities

• Establish, maintain, and continuously improve payroll and time/attendance policies, processes, controls across all US entities for compliance and scalability.
• Oversee payroll and time/attendance vendor relationships, service performance, and system configurations.
• Monitor changes in federal, state, and local payroll regulations and lead timely compliance implementations.
• Oversee weekly and biweekly payroll processing with strong internal controls.
• Define data controls and governance standards for payroll integrations with core software.
• Lead payroll-driven initiatives with timelines, risks, and cross-functional resources.
• Ensure executive and expatriate payroll components are accurately processed.
• Oversee quarterly and annual reconciliations for tax withholdings and garnishments; coordinate audits.
• Partner with Compensation, HRIS, Benefits, Finance, and Accounting for end-to-end workflows.
• Provide ad-hoc HR and payroll analytics and budget reports as needed.

Skills

Payroll governance

Internal controls

Multi-state tax knowledge

Process improvement

Project management

Executive & global payroll knowledge

Regulatory compliance

Analytical thinking

Collaboration with cross-functional_?

Education

Associate's degree or equivalent experience

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Accounting, or related field preferred

Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamentals of Payroll Certification (FCP) preferred

Tools

Paylocity

UKG

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Job description

Lactalis USA in Buffalo, NY is hiring a Payroll Manager to lead the U.S. payroll function, ensuring accurate and timely processing across all entities, strong controls, and regulatory compliance.

This leader will drive governance, system integration, and continuous improvement of time and attendance processes while partnering with Finance, HR, and Compliance. The role requires 5+ years of payroll experience, supervisory responsibility, and proficiency with Paylocity or UKG, Excel, and Word.