Payroll Specialist-1

Sanderson Farms, Inc.; Oakwood (GA); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayne-Sanderson Farms is seeking a Payroll Specialist to join our Corporate Payroll team, supporting a large, multi-state workforce. You’ll help ensure employees are paid accurately and on time while gaining hands-on experience with payroll processing, reconciliations, compliance, garnishments, reporting, and payroll systems.

This role is ideal for someone with payroll, HR, or accounting experience who enjoys working with numbers, solving problems, and collaborating with a team dedicated to

Qualifications

• 2+ years in payroll processing or payroll administration.
• Experience working with payroll or HR systems, ideally Workday and ADP.
• Experience processing payroll transactions, maintaining employee records, or performing reconciliations is preferred.
• Multi-state payroll, payroll deduction, garnishment, or timekeeping experience is a plus.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
• Comfortable working in Microsoft Excel, including formulas, filtering, and basic data analysis.
• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage recurring deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication and customer service skills with the ability to handle confidential information appropriately.

Responsibilities

• Assist with weekly and biweekly payroll processing.
• Review earnings, deductions, retroactive payments, and employee payroll information for accuracy.
• Process payroll adjustments, manual checks, special payments, and off-cycle transactions.
• Assist with direct deposit reversals, stop payments, voids, rejected payments, and pay card administration.
• Maintain accurate employee payroll records and support employee status changes.
• Reconcile payroll transactions, benefit deductions, and payroll reports.
• Identify discrepancies and partner with the payroll team to resolve issues.
• Maintain payroll documentation and records for reporting and audit needs.
• Support payroll funding reconciliations and requests from Finance and Treasury.
• Process garnishment setups, changes, releases, and required agency or court responses within established deadlines.
• Help employees and HR partners with routine payroll questions and issues.
• Support payroll activities in accordance with federal, state, and local requirements and company policies.
• Assist with payroll tax administration, wage withholding, garnishments, and year-end activities, including W-2 processing.
• Protect confidential employee and payroll information.
• Work with Workday, ADP, timekeeping applications, and other payroll systems.
• Help identify and troubleshoot payroll system and data issues.
• Assist with system testing and validation when payroll processes or systems change.
• Maintain payroll procedures and contribute to process improvement projects.

Skills

Payroll processing

Excel data analysis

Attention to detail

Organization

Customer service

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Business/HR/Accounting degree preferred

FPC/CPP certification a plus

Tools

Workday

ADP

Job description

Payroll Specialist Build your payroll expertise while supporting a large, multi-state workforce. Wayne-Sanderson Farms is looking for a detail-oriented Payroll Specialist to join our Corporate Payroll team. In this role, you’ll help ensure employees are paid accurately and on time while gaining hands‑on experience with payroll processing, reconciliations, compliance, garnishments, reporting, and payroll systems. This is a great opportunity for someone with payroll, HR, or accounting experience who enjoys working with numbers, solving problems, helping employees, and being part of a collaborative team.

What You’ll Do

Payroll Processing

• Support weekly and biweekly payroll for hourly and salaried employees.
• Review earnings, deductions, retroactive payments, and employee payroll information for accuracy.
• Process payroll adjustments, manual checks, special payments, and off‑cycle transactions.
• Assist with direct deposit reversals, stop payments, voids, rejected payments, and pay card administration.
• Maintain accurate employee payroll records and support employee status changes.

Reconciliation & Reporting

• Reconcile payroll transactions, benefit deductions, and payroll reports.
• Identify discrepancies and partner with the payroll team to resolve issues.
• Maintain payroll documentation and records for reporting and audit needs.
• Support payroll funding reconciliations and requests from Finance and Treasury.
• Process garnishment setups, changes, releases, and required agency or court responses within established deadlines.

Employee Support & Compliance

• Help employees and HR partners with routine payroll questions and issues.
• Support payroll activities in accordance with federal, state, and local requirements and company policies.
• Assist with payroll tax administration, wage withholding, garnishments, and year‑end activities, including W‑2 processing.
• Protect confidential employee and payroll information.

Systems & Process Improvement

• Work with Workday, ADP, timekeeping applications, and other payroll systems.
• Help identify and troubleshoot payroll system and data issues.
• Assist with system testing and validation when payroll processes or systems change.
• Maintain payroll procedures and contribute to process improvement projects.

What We’re Looking For

• 2+ years of experience in payroll processing, payroll administration, Human Resources, accounting, or a related field.
• Experience working with payroll or HR systems, ideally Workday and ADP.
• Experience processing payroll transactions, maintaining employee records, or performing reconciliations is preferred.
• Multi‑state payroll, payroll deduction, garnishment, or timekeeping experience is a plus.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
• Comfortable working in Microsoft Excel, including formulas, filtering, and basic data analysis.
• Strong organizational and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to manage recurring deadlines in a fast‑paced environment.
• Strong communication and customer service skills with the ability to handle confidential information appropriately.

Education & Certifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Accounting, or a related field is preferred.
• Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) or Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) certification is a plus.

Why This Role?

If you’re looking to continue building your payroll career, this position provides exposure to the full payroll process within a large, multi‑state organization. You’ll have the opportunity to expand your knowledge of payroll systems, compliance, reporting, garnishments, and process improvement while partnering with an experienced Corporate Payroll team.

Ready to take the next step in your payroll career? We’d love to hear from you.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Wayne‑Sanderson Farms is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

A career that makes an amazing difference starts at Wayne‑Sanderson Farms. Formed from two leading poultry companies with humble roots in farm supply and feed manufacturing, Wayne‑Sanderson Farms is built on over a century’s worth of industry expertise and excellence in operation. Our family at Wayne‑Sanderson Farms is now more than 26,000 team members and over 2,000 family farmers strong, and still growing as the nation’s third largest poultry producer. By starting your career with a leader in the industry, you can develop your skills in a wide variety of operations while enjoying unique benefits such as our professional development opportunities.