Payroll Operations Manager

Cognition; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognition in San Francisco is seeking a Payroll Operations Manager to own and scale our global payroll function. You’ll guarantee accurate, compliant, and timely payments to employees, contractors, and commission recipients across jurisdictions we operate in.

You will lead end-to-end payroll operations, tax compliance, and vendor management while partnering with Finance, People Ops, Tax, and Legal to build scalable, compliant processes for our next growth phase.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in payroll, accounting operations, or finance operations.
• Deep domestic and international payroll experience with cross-border matters.
• Strong US payroll tax compliance knowledge (federal, state, local).
• Knowledge of international payroll concepts and EORs.
• Fluency with enterprise payroll platforms and vendor management.

Responsibilities

• Own global payroll end-to-end across the U.S. and international jurisdictions.
• Ensure accurate, compliant, and on-time payments for employees, contractors and commissions.
• Design scalable systems, automation, controls and documentation for growth.
• Manage payroll providers, EORs and benefits administrators.
• Coordinate payroll tax registrations, withholding, filings, and notices.
• Oversee 401(k) contributions and other payroll-related programs.
• Collaborate with Finance, People Ops, Tax and Legal to keep data clean and compliant.

Tools

ADP

Workday

Rippling

Job description

We are an applied AI lab building end-to-end software agents.

We're the makers of Devin, the first AI software engineer.

Our team is extremely talent-dense. Among our founding team, we have world-class competitive programmers, former founders, and leaders from companies at the cutting edge of AI including Scale AI, Palantir, Cursor, Waymo, Tesla, Lunchclub, Modal, Google DeepMind, and Nuro.

Building Devin is just the first step—our hardest challenges still lie ahead. If you’re excited to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and build AI that can reason on real-world tasks, apply to join us.

About the role

We're looking for a Payroll Operations Manager to own and scale our global payroll function while helping build the operational foundation that supports our next stage of growth.

You’ll be responsible for ensuring employees, contractors, and commission recipients are paid accurately, compliantly, and on time across the countries in which we operate . You’ll oversee payroll operations end-to-end, including domestic and international payroll tax compliance and tax withholding for cash and equity compensation, manage key workforce-related programs such as 401(k) administration, and partner closely with Finance, Accounting, People Operations, Tax, and Legal to build processes that scale.

In this role you will:

• Own global payroll end-to-end. Run payroll across the U.S. and international jurisdictions for employees, contractors, and commission recipients—accurate, compliant, and on time, every cycle.

• Build for scale. Design and improve the systems, automation, controls, and documentation that let payroll handle 2x, 5x, 10x the volume without proportional effort.

• Manage vendors and partners. Own relationships with payroll providers, EORs, and benefits administrators, holding them to a high bar on accuracy, compliance, and service.

• Own payroll tax compliance. Coordinate domestic and international payroll tax registrations, withholding, deposits, filings, reconciliations, and tax notice resolution; partner with providers and advisors on local requirements and cross-border employee scenarios.

• Manage complex and variable compensation. Ensure the accurate payroll treatment of commissions, bonuses, taxable benefits, relocation payments, and other cash and non-cash compensation.

• Administer key programs. Run 401(k) contributions, payroll deductions, contractor payments, garnishments, benefits inputs , and other payments where administered through payroll systems.

• Partner cross-functionally. Work closely with Finance, Accounting, People Ops, Tax, and Legal to keep data clean, stay compliant, and give employees a seamless experience.

Requirements for the role:

• 5+ years in payroll, accounting operations, or finance operations, including ownership of complex payroll in a high-growth environment.

• Deep domestic and international payroll experience, with meaningful exposure to international payroll, EORs, global payroll providers, and cross-border employee matters.

• Strong command of US payroll tax compliance, including federal, state, and local withholding, deposits, filings, reconciliations, tax notices, and quarter- and year-end reporting.

• International payroll tax knowledge. Working knowledge of international payroll tax and withholding concepts, with the judgment to identify issues and coordinate with local payroll providers, Tax, Legal, and external advisors.

• Fluency with enterprise payroll platforms (ADP, Workday, Rippling, or similar), including configuration, process improvement, and vendor management.

• Based in San Francisco and willing to work from the office 5 days per week.

Equal Opportunity

Cognition is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities throughout the hiring process - please let us know if you need any.