Senior Payroll Operations & Compliance Lead

MSD Malaysia; Rahway (NJ); Hybrid; USD 87,000 - 137,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck & Co. seeks a Payroll Senior Specialist to own end-to-end U.S. and Puerto Rico payroll operations, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and regulatory compliance.

You will collaborate with HR, Finance, Tax, Legal, Internal Audit, and ADP to drive automation, governance, and process improvement across payroll functions. The role emphasizes SOX controls, year-end activities, and payroll accounting support, with a focus on complex compensation, garnishments, and regulatory changes.

Qualifications

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in a related field or equivalent experience.
• Experience supporting U.S. payroll operations and an outsourced payroll environment.
• Strong knowledge of federal, state, local, and Puerto Rico payroll regulations and tax compliance.

Responsibilities

• Manage U.S. and Puerto Rico payroll operations ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
• Oversee payroll production schedules and critical processing activities.
• Maintain SOX controls, documentation, audits, and governance for payroll processes.
• Partner with ADP to ensure SLAs, governance, and issue resolution.
• Drive payroll transformation initiatives including automation and AI anomaly tooling.
• Support year-end processing, tax filings, garnishments, and reporting.

Skills

Adaptability

Certified Payroll

Credit Management

Credit Risk Assessment

Financial Accounting Controls

Payroll Analysis

Payroll Management

Payroll Processing

Payroll Reports

Payroll Tax Compliance

People Management

Preparation of Financial Reports

Process Improvement Engineering

Team Coordination

Vendor Coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Merck & Co. seeks a Payroll Senior Specialist to own end-to-end U.S. and Puerto Rico payroll operations, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and regulatory compliance.

You will collaborate with HR, Finance, Tax, Legal, Internal Audit, and ADP to drive automation, governance, and process improvement across payroll functions. The role emphasizes SOX controls, year-end activities, and payroll accounting support, with a focus on complex compensation, garnishments, and regulatory changes.