Senior Payroll Specialist

Venture Forthe Inc.; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 85,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

PTO

401(k) with match

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Short-term disability

Job summary

Venture Forthe Inc. is seeking a Senior Payroll Specialist to ensure accurate, timely payroll for a large multi-state workforce of hourly and salaried employees.

You will act as a senior payroll resource, handling complex transactions, ensuring compliance, and driving payroll process improvements. In this in-person role, you will collaborate across Payroll, HR, Finance, and Operations, support testing and integrations, and mentor junior staff while safeguarding confidential information.

Qualifications

• At least five years of progressive payroll experience, preferably in a high-volume environment.
• Strong knowledge of payroll processing, taxes, deductions, garnishments, reconciliations, and wage-and-hour requirements.
• Experience processing payroll for both hourly and salaried employees.
• Advanced Excel skills, including formulas, lookups, pivot tables, and large-data reconciliations.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and communication skills.
• Excellent attention to detail, sound judgment, and the ability to meet strict deadlines while protecting confidential information.

Responsibilities

• Process and review weekly and biweekly payroll with earnings, deductions, taxes, benefits, PTO, mileage, bonuses, overtime, and shift differentials.
• Handle complex payroll transactions, including retroactive adjustments, corrections, garnishments, manual checks, off-cycle payments, new hires, terminations, and compensation changes.
• Perform payroll reconciliations, investigate discrepancies, and support month-end, year-end, audit, and W-2 activities.
• Help maintain compliance with federal, state, and local payroll, wage-and-hour, tax, paid-leave, and record-retention requirements.
• Review information from scheduling, EVV, timekeeping, and payroll systems, resolving issues involving hours worked, pay rates, travel time, mileage, and employee status.
• Serve as an escalation point for employee payroll questions and communicate resolutions clearly and professionally.
• Partner with Payroll, Human Resources, Finance, Operations, and leadership to resolve payroll issues and ensure accurate reporting.
• Support payroll system testing, implementations, integrations, documentation, automation, and process improvements.
• Provide guidance and backup support to payroll staff and assist with training, audits, compliance initiatives, and special projects.
• Protect confidential employee and payroll information while escalating significant errors, compliance concerns, or control issues to management.

Skills

Payroll processing

Excel (Advanced)

Garnishments

Analytical skills

Attention to detail

Cross-functional communication

Time management

Education

CPP or FPC certification

Tools

Paylocity

Job description

DescriptionAt Venture Forthe, we believe home is where people thrive. As one of New York's leading home care agencies, we're passionate about helping individuals remain independent, safe, and in control of their lives. That mission starts with our team. We foster a culture built on compassion, respect, integrity, and collaboration, where employees are valued, supported, and encouraged to grow. As a family-owned organization, we know that when we invest in our people, they can make an even greater impact on the lives of others.

DescriptionAt Venture Forthe, we believe home is where people thrive. As one of New York's leading home care agencies, we're passionate about helping individuals remain independent, safe, and in control of their lives. That mission starts with our team. We foster a culture built on compassion, respect, integrity, and collaboration, where employees are valued, supported, and encouraged to grow. As a family-owned organization, we know that when we invest in our people, they can make an even greater impact on the lives of others.

The Senior Payroll Specialist ensures accurate, timely payroll for a large, multi-state workforce of hourly and salaried employees. This position serves as a senior payroll resource, managing complex transactions, resolving discrepancies, supporting compliance, and helping improve payroll processes and controls.

What You'll Do

• Process and review weekly and biweekly payroll, including earnings, deductions, taxes, benefits, PTO, mileage, bonuses, overtime, and shift differentials.
• Handle complex payroll transactions, including retroactive adjustments, corrections, garnishments, manual checks, off-cycle payments, new hires, terminations, and compensation changes.
• Perform payroll reconciliations, investigate discrepancies, and support month-end, year-end, audit, and W-2 activities.
• Help maintain compliance with federal, state, and local payroll, wage-and-hour, tax, paid-leave, and record-retention requirements.
• Review information from scheduling, EVV, timekeeping, and payroll systems, resolving issues involving hours worked, pay rates, travel time, mileage, and employee status.
• Serve as an escalation point for employee payroll questions and communicate resolutions clearly and professionally.
• Partner with Payroll, Human Resources, Finance, Operations, and leadership to resolve payroll issues and ensure accurate reporting.
• Support payroll system testing, implementations, integrations, documentation, automation, and process improvements.
• Provide guidance and backup support to payroll staff and assist with training, audits, compliance initiatives, and special projects.
• Protect confidential employee and payroll information while escalating significant errors, compliance concerns, or control issues to management.

What We Offer

• Work-life balance
• Competitive pay
• Health, dental, vision insurance
• PTO
• 401(k) with match
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Short-term disability, critical illness, and hospital indemnity plans
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)/ Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Employee discount programs
• Career growth in a mission-driven agency
• Supportive and collaborative work culture

Equal Opportunity Employer

Venture Forthe Home Care is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Work Authorization

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future employer sponsorship.

#VFI123

Requirements

What We’re Looking For:

Required

• At least five years of progressive payroll experience, preferably in a high-volume environment.
• Strong knowledge of payroll processing, taxes, deductions, garnishments, reconciliations, and wage-and-hour requirements.
• Experience processing payroll for both hourly and salaried employees.
• Advanced Excel skills, including formulas, lookups, pivot tables, and large-data reconciliations.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and communication skills.
• Excellent attention to detail, sound judgment, and the ability to meet strict deadlines while protecting confidential information.

Preferred

• Experience processing multi-state payroll for 500 or more employees.
• Experience supporting home care, healthcare, human services, or another high-volume hourly workforce.
• Experience with payroll, HRIS, and timekeeping system integrations; Paylocity experience is strongly preferred.
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC).

The ideal candidate is accurate, service-oriented, comfortable managing complex payroll activity, and skilled at collaborating across departments. They also bring a continuous-improvement mindset and the ability to guide and support other payroll team members. Please note that this is an in-person role (not remote), working Monday - Friday, 8-hour shifts between 8 AM - 5:30 PM.