Senior Payroll Operations & Compliance Leader

American Public Media Group; St. Paul (AK); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 122,000; Full time

Job summary

American Public Media Group is seeking a Payroll Manager to lead bi-weekly, multi-state payroll operations across multiple entities. The role focuses on accuracy, compliance, and a superior employee experience, partnering with HR, Finance, Benefits, HRIS, and external vendors.

The successful candidate will implement process improvements, optimize payroll technology, and deliver precise payroll administration while maintaining strong internal controls and customer service excellence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, HR or related field or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience with payroll processing and analysis.
• Prior experience supervising or leading a payroll function.
• Multi-state and local tax experience.

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day administration of bi-weekly, multi-state, multi-company payrolls.
• Oversee complete payroll process from data validation through payroll confirmation and post-payroll activities.
• Ensure accurate processing of earnings, deductions, taxes, direct deposits, benefits, garnishments, retirement contributions, deferred compensation, incentive payments, expense reimbursements, and other taxable earnings.
• Process payroll adjustments including retroactive payments, off-cycle payrolls, manual checks, and gross-to-net calculations.
• Review payroll transactions for completeness and accuracy and resolve discrepancies prior to payroll processing.

Skills

Payroll processing

Process improvement

Regulatory compliance

Analytical thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in accounting, HR or related field

Equivalent experience

Tools

UltiPro

Excel

HRIS

Payroll software

Job description

American Public Media Group is seeking a Payroll Manager to lead bi-weekly, multi-state payroll operations across multiple entities. The role focuses on accuracy, compliance, and a superior employee experience, partnering with HR, Finance, Benefits, HRIS, and external vendors.

The successful candidate will implement process improvements, optimize payroll technology, and deliver precise payroll administration while maintaining strong internal controls and customer service excellence.