Senior Payroll Director — Multi-State Compliance & Systems

Vaco by Highspring; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Vaco by Highspring seeks an experienced Director of Payroll in New York to lead end-to-end, multi-state payroll operations for a large workforce. The role combines hands-on regulatory expertise with strategic optimization of payroll processes, codes, and cross-functional collaboration with HR and IT.

The ideal candidate has 7+ years of progressive payroll leadership, deep NYS and federal tax knowledge, and proficiency with major payroll platforms such as Paylocity, Workday, ADP, or Paycom.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive, full-cycle payroll experience with direct leadership responsibilities.
• Deep technical expertise in federal, NYS, and local payroll regulations, wage-and-hour laws, and multi-state withholding.
• Hands-on experience preparing and reviewing payroll tax filings (Form 941s, W-2s) and state/local returns.
• Expert-level Excel skills (pivot tables, complex formulas, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, large data sets).

Responsibilities

• Oversee end-to-end multi-state payroll processing for a large, complex workforce.
• Partner with HR and IT to optimize payroll and HRIS systems (Paylocity, Workday, ADP, Paycom).
• Direct federal, NYS, and local payroll tax filings, reconciliations, and year-end reporting.
• Perform pre-processing audits and ensure accurate payroll outputs.
• Establish and enforce robust internal controls over payroll processing.
• Lead and mentor a high-performing payroll team and SOP development.

Skills

Payroll regulations (federal NYS & NY)

Multi-state tax withholding

Payroll tax filings (941s, W-2s)

Leadership / team management

Microsoft Excel (advanced)

Education

CPP or CPA designation (preferred)

Tools

Paylocity

Workday

ADP

Paycom

Job description

Vaco by Highspring seeks an experienced Director of Payroll in New York to lead end-to-end, multi-state payroll operations for a large workforce. The role combines hands-on regulatory expertise with strategic optimization of payroll processes, codes, and cross-functional collaboration with HR and IT.

The ideal candidate has 7+ years of progressive payroll leadership, deep NYS and federal tax knowledge, and proficiency with major payroll platforms such as Paylocity, Workday, ADP, or Paycom.