Senior Payroll Specialist

SPS New England, Inc.; Salisbury, Northern (MA, KY); Hybrid; USD 75,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

ESOP participation

Job summary

SPS New England, Inc. is seeking a detail-oriented Senior Payroll Specialist to support accurate and timely payroll processing across multiple heavy/highway and bridge projects.

This role works closely with the Payroll Manager and payroll team to support dynamic payroll processes and ensure payroll accuracy and compliance across a unionized workforce. Responsibilities include processing weekly payroll for approximately 500 office and field employees, managing certified payroll reporting,

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience processing high-volume weekly payroll.
• Experience with union payroll, Davis-Bacon, prevailing wage and certified payroll preferred.
• Strong Excel skills required; advanced Excel a plus.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent organizational skills and confidentiality in handling payroll data.

Responsibilities

• Process weekly payroll for ~500 office and field employees in a unionized construction environment.
• Manage certified payroll reporting and ensure compliance with state, federal, municipal, and union requirements.
• Maintain accurate employee records, prevailing wage rates, and union wage rates.
• Handle deductions, garnishments, and benefits contributions in coordination with HR.
• Manage leave balances and accruals, process time-off requests, reconcile accruals and usage balances.
• Respond to employee payroll inquiries and resolve discrepancies.
• Coordinate payroll tax and union benefit remittances, reconcile liabilities to AP.
• Support payroll audits, tax filings, and union benefit reporting.
• Reconcile payroll-related general ledger accounts and investigate variances.
• Collaborate with payroll team, project managers, and accountants to obtain accurate labor data and align payroll with job costing systems.

Skills

Payroll processing

Viewpoint Vista

Excel

Analytical skills

Organizational skills

Communication

Tools

Viewpoint Vista

Job description

SPS is seeking a detail-oriented Senior Payroll Specialist with experience in the construction industry to support accurate and timely payroll processing across multiple heavy/highway and bridge projects. This role works closely with the Payroll Manager and payroll team to support dynamic payroll processes and ensure payroll accuracy and compliance across a unionized workforce.

Responsibilities:

• Process weekly payroll for approximately 500 office and field employees in a unionized construction environment.
• Manage certified payroll reporting and ensure compliance with state, federal, municipal, and union requirements.
• Maintain accurate employee records, prevailing wage rates, and union wage rates.
• Handle deductions, garnishments, and benefits contributions in coordination with HR.
• Manage employee leave balances and accruals, including processing time-off requests, validating reported hours, reconciling accrual and usage balances, researching discrepancies, and ensuring accurate payroll payments in accordance with company policy and Massachusetts Earned Sick Time requirements.
• Respond to employee payroll inquiries and resolve discrepancies promptly.
• Coordinate payroll tax and union benefit remittances, reconcile payroll liabilities to accounts payable records, and ensure timely and accurate payment processing.
• Support payroll audits, tax filings, and union benefit reporting.
• Reconcile payroll-related general ledger accounts, investigate variances and discrepancies, and work with Payroll and Accounting teams to ensure accurate financial reporting.
• Collaborate with payroll team, project managers, and accountants to obtain accurate labor data and align payroll activity with job costing systems.

Qualifications:

• 3–5 years of experience processing high-volume weekly payroll.
• Construction payroll experience, including exposure to union payroll, Davis-Bacon, prevailing wage, and certified payroll requirements, strongly preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of union collective bargaining agreements and their application to payroll calculations, pay rates, premiums, classifications, and location-specific wage requirements.
• Ability to independently reconcile payroll-related accounts, investigate discrepancies, and resolve issues accurately and promptly.
• Proficiency in payroll software (Viewpoint Vista experience preferred).
• Proficiency in Excel is a must; advanced Excel skills are a plus.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage competing deadlines.
• High attention to detail and confidentiality.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan):

SPS is an employee-owned company. We are proud to offer eligible employees the opportunity to participate in our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Employee-owners benefit from the success of the company and play a critical role in fostering an ownership culture within the organization, emphasizing the importance of employee engagement, and commitment to long-term success.

We offer competitive compensation and benefits packages, including participation in the ESOP for eligible employees, a collaborative work environment, and opportunities for professional growth within our expanding organization.

Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the policy of SPS New England, Inc. to assure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, national origin, age or disability. Such action shall include: employment, upgrading, demotion, or transfer; recruitment or recruitment advertising; layoff or termination; rates of pay or other forms of compensation; and selection for training, including apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, and/or on-the-job training. It is also the policy of SPS New England, Inc. to take affirmative action to employ and to advance in employment, all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, protected veteran status, or any other applicable legally protected status, and to base all employment decisions only on valid job requirements. This policy shall apply to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, recruitment advertising, hiring, upgrading, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, recall, termination, rates of pay, fringe benefits or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, including apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, on the job training, classification, and referral, at all levels of employment.Consistent with these obligations, SPS New England, Inc. also provides reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs, observances, and practices.

Employees and applicants of SPS New England, Inc. will not be subject to harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, protected veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status. Additionally, retaliation, including intimidation, threats, or coercion, because an employee or applicant has objected to discrimination, engaged or may engage in filing a complaint, assisted in a review, investigation, or hearing or have otherwise sought to obtain their legal rights under any Federal, State, or local EEO law is prohibited.

SPS New England, Inc. is seeking minority and female employees, and all employees are encouraged to recruit minority and females as well.