Payroll Tax Manager (North America)

Manulife/John Hancock; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 92,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

Paid time off & holidays

Job summary

Manulife/John Hancock seeks a Payroll Tax Manager to lead U.S. payroll tax compliance in a high-volume, multi-state environment. You will own filings, registrations, agency issues, and vendor oversight while partnering with the Payroll Operations team.

You will drive quarter-end and year-end tax activities, monitor law changes, and ensure accurate deductions, payments, and tax forms across multiple entities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Accounting/Finance/Business.
• 7+ years of payroll tax experience in a multi-state, multi-entity environment.
• Deep knowledge of US payroll tax withholding, filings, registrations and agency resolution.
• Ownership of quarter-end and year-end payroll tax reconciliations, filings, notices, and amendments.
• Ability to independently research complex tax issues and drive outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead US payroll tax compliance across federal, state, and local jurisdictions including filings and registrations.
• Manage quarter-end and year-end tax activities and related GL entries.
• Research tax requirements, monitor law changes, and document governance and controls.
• Collaborate with agencies and internal partners to resolve account setup issues and filing discrepancies.
• Oversee payroll tax vendors, ensuring timely investigation and root-cause analysis.
• Analyze payroll tax data across systems to identify errors, risks, and control gaps.
• Develop reconciliations, dashboards, and control procedures to improve accuracy.

Skills

Excel proficiency

Data analysis

Documentation

Project management

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting/Finance or related field

Tools

Workday

ADP GlobalView

ADP SmartCompliance

SAP Payroll

Job description

The Payroll Tax Manager independently leads U.S. payroll tax compliance for a complex, high-volume, multi-state, and multi-entity payroll environment, with growing support for North America payroll tax needs. This role owns tax filings, reconciliations, registrations, agency matters, vendor oversight, controls, research, and issue resolution from discovery through closure while partnering with the Payroll Operations team.

Position Responsibilities

Payroll Tax Compliance, Registrations, and Agency Management

Own U.S. payroll tax compliance across federal, state, and local jurisdictions, including filings, remittances, reconciliations, registrations, notices, amendments, and agency account maintenance.

Lead quarter-end and year-end tax activities, ensuring taxable wages, deposits, general ledger activity, vendor data, agency records, and employee tax forms are accurate and supported.

Research tax requirements, monitor law changes, determine operational impacts, and maintain clear governance, controls, documentation, and audit evidence.

Work directly with agencies and internal partners to resolve account setup issues, missing filings, payment discrepancies, tax rates, notices, and other compliance concerns.

Vendor Oversight, Systems, and Issue Resolution

Own payroll tax matters involving payroll and tax filing vendors, including filing results, exceptions, amendments, account setup, notices, open items, and service performance.

Hold vendors accountable for timely investigation, clear root-cause analysis, corrective action, and documented closure; challenge incomplete responses and elevate recurring or high-risk issues.

Analyze payroll tax data across payroll, human resources, finance, tax filing, vendor, and agency systems to identify errors, risks, trends, and control gaps.

Build reconciliations, exception reports, dashboards, testing evidence, and control procedures that improve accuracy, visibility, and sustainability.

Judgment, Communication, and Process Improvement

Interpret complex payroll tax requirements, form a clear recommendation, and explain the facts, risk, options, and business impact in plain language.

Coordinate across Payroll, Tax, Legal, Finance, Technology, vendors, and agencies to drive decisions, resolve issues, and confirm outcomes.

Provide concise leadership updates on material risks, decisions required, corrective actions, and resolution status.

Convert lessons learned from notices, corrections, amendments, and agency issues into stronger processes, controls, training, and documentation.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Tax, or a related field, or equivalent relevant professional experience.

Seven or more years of progressively responsible payroll tax experience in a complex, multi-state, multi-entity environment.

Deep knowledge of U.S. federal, state, and local payroll tax withholding, reporting, depositing, filings, registrations, and agency resolution.

Demonstrated ownership of quarter-end and year-end payroll tax reconciliations, filings, W-2/W-2c processes, notices, amendments, and tax vendor management.

Ability to independently research complex tax issues, make recommendations, and drive outcomes when no documented process exists.

Strong Excel, data analysis, documentation, control, project management, and communication skills.

Preferred

Certified Payroll Professional designation (CPP); experience with Workday, ADP GlobalView or another enterprise payroll platform, ADP SmartCompliance or another tax filing platform, SAP payroll or payroll accounting data, and financial services or another highly regulated industry.

Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions, new entities, reorganizations, new jurisdictions, Canadian payroll tax matters, artificial intelligence-assisted research, automation, or reconciliation tools.

What Helps You Succeed

Make timely decisions using facts and considering risk and business impact.

Work well when the path is not clear.

Identify what is known, what still needs to be learned, and what decision needs to be made.

Work independently within your responsibilities and involve leaders when needed.

Take ownership of your work and follow through on commitments.

Balance priorities by considering deadlines and the impact on the business and employees.

Explain complex topics in clear, simple language and adapt your communication to your audience.

Build trust by being open, reliable, and collaborative.

Ask thoughtful questions when information is incomplete and suggest practical improvements.

Stay calm in urgent situations and help clarify next steps.

Learn from experience and use those lessons to improve future decisions and ways of working.

When you join our team

#LI-Hybrid #LI-JH

We’ll empower you to learn and grow the career you want. We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well‑being and inclusion are more than just words. As part of our global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see.

The role being advertised is an existing vacancy.

About Manulife and John Hancock

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html.

Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law. It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact [e-mail].

Salary & Benefits

Referenced Salary Location Boston, Massachusetts Working Arrangement Hybrid Salary range is expected to be between $92,475.00 USD - $160,290.00 USD Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance. The actual salary will vary depending on local market conditions, geography and relevant job‑related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training. If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact [e-mail] for the salary range for your location.

• Manulife/John Hancock offers eligible employees a wide array of customizable benefits, including health, dental, mental health, vision, short- and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, and employee/family assistance plans.
• Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.
• Our generous paid time off program in the U.S. includes up to 11 paid holidays, 3 personal days, 150 hours of vacation, and 40 hours of sick time (or more where required by law) each year, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence.
• We also offer eligible employees various retirement savings plans (including pension/401(k) savings plans and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources.

We’re proud of our accomplishments and recognition. Recent awards include: 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winner Manulife Named one of Forbes World’s Best Employers 2025 Financial Times World’s Best Employers Asia‑Pacific 2026 We’ve been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers 2026 #1 Life Insurer for AI Maturity by Evident 2026 To receive our latest job opportunities directly to your inbox, create an account or sign in and navigate to the ‘Job Alerts’ section located in the top right corner of the page. From there, you can sign up to receive job alerts. Our ambition is to be the number one choice for customers. Learn more at https://www.manulife.com/.