Senior Payroll Director, Workday Automation & Compliance

Ace Hardware Corporation; Oak Brook (IL); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentive opportunities

Generous 401(k) with matching

Comprehensive health coverage

Vacation and holidays

Company car, phone and fuel card

Job summary

Ace Hardware Corporation in Oak Brook, IL, is seeking a senior payroll leader to own end-to-end in-house payroll operations in Workday across multiple cycles and entities. You will drive governance, processing, and systems strategy while ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local requirements.

You will oversee tax filings, reconciliations, and issue resolution, and lead payroll system integrations with retirement platforms and finance systems.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive payroll leadership experience in high-volume, multi-state and multi-entity environments.
• Experience with in-house Workday payroll configuration governance, change management and testing strategy.
• Deep knowledge of payroll operations, financial controls, payroll taxation and regulatory compliance.
• Strong analytical, communication and judgment skills, translating complex requirements into practical solutions.
• Proven success leading teams and improving processes through technology and automation.
• Strong commitment to audit readiness and data privacy.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end in-house payroll operations in Workday across weekly, biweekly and semi-monthly cycles and multiple legal entities.
• Set payroll governance, processing and systems strategy in alignment with enterprise objectives.
• Monitor and implement federal, state and local payroll, tax, wage-and-hour requirements.
• Own payroll tax filings, reconciliations and agency issue resolution across jurisdictions.
• Direct integrations among Workday payroll, retirement platforms and financial systems; identify automation and AI improvements.
• Lead the effort to integrate new business and acquisitions from a payroll perspective.
• Develop a high-performing team of 9 through coaching, performance management and succession planning.
• Support Ace sponsored benefit plans from a payroll perspective including deferral calculations and coordination with plan partners.

Skills

Payroll leadership

Workday payroll

Regulatory compliance

Analytics & communication

Automation & process improvement

Audit readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree in accounting, Finance, HR, Business

Tools

Workday

Job description

Ace Hardware Corporation in Oak Brook, IL, is seeking a senior payroll leader to own end-to-end in-house payroll operations in Workday across multiple cycles and entities. You will drive governance, processing, and systems strategy while ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local requirements.

You will oversee tax filings, reconciliations, and issue resolution, and lead payroll system integrations with retirement platforms and finance systems.