Senior Payroll Operations Leader: Scale, Automate

Wayne Farms LLC; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayne-Sanderson Farms is seeking a Senior Manager, Payroll Operations to lead payroll delivery for a 28,000+ workforce across 25+ locations. This high-impact role combines hands-on payroll expertise with strong people leadership in a fast-paced, complex environment.

You will own end-to-end payroll processing, ensure compliance, drive system improvements, and partner with HR, Finance, Tax, Legal, and IT to support growth and operational excellence.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive payroll experience.
• 3+ years of people leadership experience.
• Experience managing payroll in a large, multi-state organization.
• Strong knowledge of payroll processing, taxation, wage-and-hour laws.
• Experience with major payroll/HCM platforms such as Workday, ADP, UKG, SAP, Oracle or similar.
• CPP certification is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end payroll processing for a large, multi-state workforce, ensuring payroll is accurate and timely.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations and SOX requirements.
• Build and develop a high-performing payroll team with clear expectations and development plans.
• Lead payroll systems implementations, upgrades, integrations, and process improvements.
• Partner with HR, Accounting, Finance, Tax, Legal, Internal Audit, and IT to support payroll accounting and reporting.

Skills

Payroll processing

People leadership

Multi-state payroll

Regulatory compliance

Excel & data analysis

SOX compliance

Education

CPP certification

Tools

Workday

ADP

UKG

SAP

Oracle

Job description

Wayne-Sanderson Farms is seeking a Senior Manager, Payroll Operations to lead payroll delivery for a 28,000+ workforce across 25+ locations. This high-impact role combines hands-on payroll expertise with strong people leadership in a fast-paced, complex environment.

You will own end-to-end payroll processing, ensure compliance, drive system improvements, and partner with HR, Finance, Tax, Legal, and IT to support growth and operational excellence.