Process Operations Manager - Payroll

Acuity Inc.; Athens (GA); On-site; USD 104,000 - 226,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care

Dental coverage

Vision plans

401K benefits

Incentives

Job summary

Acuity Inc. is seeking a Payroll Process Operations Manager to lead payroll operations, implement disciplined calendars, and ensure compliance across federal, state, and local regulations.

You will drive process improvements, support M&A payroll integration, and partner with HR Technology, Finance, and IT to align rules and data flows. The role emphasizes analytics, dashboards, and effective escalation management, with travel as needed across the U.S.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required.
• 9+ years of relevant payroll experience.
• Deep knowledge of payroll cycles, cutoffs, and funding.
• Strong calendar management and deadline discipline.
• Experience leading payroll projects and system upgrades.
• Working knowledge of HRIS and time & attendance platforms.
• Ability to drive policy changes and process improvements.
• Excellent cross-functional communication and escalation skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead payroll process operations and ensure on-time, accurate pay delivery.
• Manage payroll calendars, cutoffs, workflows, and escalation paths.
• Lead system implementations, upgrades, and configuration changes.
• Oversee ticket governance, SLAs, and case management.
• Ensure compliance with wage-hour, tax, and regulatory requirements.
• Govern pay-impacting rules and partner across HR, Finance, IT.
• Develop dashboards and analytics to monitor payroll performance.

Skills

Payroll processing

Data analytics

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Policy & controls

Education

Bachelor’s Degree or Equivalent

Tools

SF/ECP

Workforce

HRIS

Time & Attendance

Job description

Acuity Inc. (NYSE: AYI) is a market-leading industrial technology company. We use technology to solve problems in spaces, light and more things to come. Through our two business segments, Acuity Brands Lighting (ABL) and Acuity Intelligent Spaces (AIS), we design, manufacture, and bring to market products and services that make a valuable difference in people’s lives. We achieve growth through the development of innovative new products and services, including lighting, lighting controls, building management solutions, and an audio, video and control platform. We focus on customer outcomes and drive growth and productivity to increase market share and deliver superior returns. We look to aggressively deploy capital to grow the business and to enter attractive new verticals. Acuity Inc. is based in Atlanta, Georgia, with operations across North America, Europe and Asia. The Company is powered by approximately 13,000 dedicated and talented associates. Visit us at Work location

• This position may be based anywhere in the United States and includes travel as part of the responsibilities. Job Summary The Payroll Process Operations Manager is responsible for leading payroll process operations and driving discipline around payroll policies, controls, and time management standards. This role serves as a key operational leader, leveraging data analytics to improve payroll performance, reduce risk, and enable informed decision-making. The role will also support mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities, including payroll integration, process harmonization, and compliance alignment across newly acquired entities. The position also serves as a key liaison across HR Technology, Finance, and HR Operations to lead cross-process and system changes, govern pay-impacting rules, and provide operational analytics that strengthen payroll accuracy and service performance. The role can be based anywhere in the U.S.A. Key Tasks & Responsibilities (Essential Functions)
• Payroll Process Operations: Lead payroll process operations by ensuring disciplined execution of payroll calendars, cutoffs, and workflow standards. Serve as the primary escalation point for payroll issues and operational risks, driving timely resolution and on-time, accurate pay delivery. Act as the HR Operations expert on wage and hour compliance, payroll policies, and timekeeping processes, overseeing workforce management systems to ensure adherence to federal, state, and local labor laws. Establish and maintain strong internal controls that safeguard payroll accuracy, regulatory compliance, and financial integrity. Drive continuous process improvement through standardization, automation, and audit-ready documentation while supporting payroll transformation, M&A integration activities, and system and policy enhancements that improve scalability and operational effectiveness.
• Project Management & System / Implementation Leadership: Lead payroll workstreams for system implementations, upgrades, and configuration changes. Partner with HR Technology, Finance, and IT to assess cross-process impacts, coordinate testing and readiness activities, and manage timelines, risks, and stakeholder communication.
• Service Delivery, Ticket Governance & Case Management: Oversee payroll inquiry queues, ticket volumes, and escalation pathways even when direct ticket closure is delegated. Establish SLAs, monitor resolution performance, and drive case‑deflection strategies through knowledge resources and process clarity.
• Compliance, Controls & Reconciliation: Ensure adherence to payroll tax, statutory, and wage‑hour regulations through reconciliations, audits, and validation checks. Maintain documented procedures, segregation of duties, and audit readiness while supporting responses to tax notices or compliance inquiries.
• Foundational Pay-Impacting Process Governance: Govern operational rules and standards for upstream workforce processes that directly affect pay outcomes, including time capture, compensation updates, terminations, leave status, and pay codes. Monitor exception trends and partner with HR/HRIS to reduce downstream payroll errors.
• Analytics, Dashboards & Reporting: Develop and maintain dashboards and scorecards related to payroll accuracy, ticket volumes, overpayments, and time‑and‑pay exceptions. Analyze trends and provide actionable insights to leadership and cross‑functional partners. Skills and Minimum Experience Required
• Bachelor’s Degree or Equivalent
• 9+ years relevant experience
• Deep knowledge of payroll processing (cycles, cutoffs, funding, off‑cycles, final pay)
• Strong payroll calendar and deadline management discipline
• Experience leading payroll projects, system upgrades, and implementations
• Working knowledge of payroll systems, HRIS, and Time & Attendance platforms/integrations
• Ownership of workforce time rules and standards (pay codes, overtime rules, shift premiums, accrual logic, union/CBA rules where applicable)
• Ability to drive time & attendance change management (policy updates, system rule changes, stakeholder communication, training)
• Troubleshooting expertise for time capture issues (missed punches, scheduling conflicts, accrual errors, integration defects)
• Vendor and SLA management experience
• Ticket queue and case management oversight skills
• Payroll tax, statutory, and wage‑hour compliance knowledge
• Reconciliation, audit, and internal controls experience
• Understanding of upstream pay‑impacting processes (time capture, comp changes, terminations, pay codes)
• Ability to build and interpret payroll dashboards and metrics
• Strong cross‑functional collaboration (Finance, HRIS, IT, Benefits, Vendors)
• Clear executive communication and escalation management
• Risk identification and structured problem‑solving ability
• Occassional travel for business Preferred Experience
• CPP or equivalent certification
• Experience in outsourced model
• Experience with SF/ECP / Workforce The range for this position is $104,200.00 to 225,500.00 . Placement within this range may vary, depending on the applicant’s experience and geographic location. Acuity offers generous benefits including health care, dental coverage, vision plans, 401K benefits, and commissions/incentive compensation depending on the role. We value diversity and are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regards to race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity or national origin, disability, pregnancy, religion, covered veteran status, protected genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. E-Verify Participation Poster e-verify.gov eeoc.gov