Senior Payroll Tax Specialist — Multi-State Expert

Socket.dev; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 95,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus program

401(k) with company match

Employee stock purchase program

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

Wellbeing programs

Job summary

Constellation is seeking a skilled Payroll Tax Lead to own the full lifecycle of U.S. payroll tax compliance across multiple states and entities.

You will serve as the subject matter expert on federal, state, and local employment tax matters, leading high-visibility tax projects across Payroll, HR, Accounting, and Legal. Responsibilities include managing returns, year-end reporting, reconciling liabilities, and coordinating with outsourced providers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 5+ years of multi-state US payroll tax experience.
• Hands-on experience with third-party tax services such as ADP, Ceridian or Vertex.
• Proficiency in at least one major payroll platform: Workday, Oracle HCM, SAP, UKG or PeopleSoft.
• Advanced Excel skills including pivot tables, VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, Copilot and data validation.
• Working knowledge of federal and multi-state employment tax law including FUTA, SUTA, FIT, SIT and local taxes.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with experience presenting findings to managers and directors.

Responsibilities

• Manage payroll tax compliance for federal, state, local, and international jurisdictions, ensuring timely and accurate filing of employment tax returns, tax payments, registrations, and account maintenance.
• Lead year-end payroll tax reporting, including preparation, validation, and distribution of Forms W-2, W-2c, and other required tax reporting documents.
• Review and reconcile payroll tax liabilities, taxable wages, payroll system activity, outsourced tax provider reports, and general ledger accounts to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Research, analyze, and resolve payroll tax discrepancies, notices, penalties, and agency inquiries, including coordination of audit responses and corrective actions.
• Serve as the primary liaison with outsourced payroll tax providers, managing service delivery, filing compliance, issue resolution, and amended return processing.
• Maintain payroll tax configurations within payroll systems and support testing, validation, and implementation of tax updates, system enhancements, and regulatory changes.
• Provide payroll tax subject matter expertise and guidance to Payroll, HR, Finance, management, and employees on complex tax matters, including multi-state taxation, remote work, mobility, reciprocity, fringe benefits, and equity compensation reporting.
• Monitor changes in payroll tax legislation and regulatory requirements, assess business impacts, and implement necessary compliance and process updates.
• Develop and maintain payroll tax procedures, documentation, job aids, and internal controls to support compliance, audit readiness, and operational excellence.
• Partner with internal stakeholders, external consultants, and cross-functional teams to drive process improvements, automation initiatives, system implementations, and strategic payroll tax projects.

Skills

Workday

Oracle HCM

SAP

UKG

PeopleSoft

ADP

Ceridian

Vertex

Excel

Multi-state payroll

Tax compliance

W-2 forms

Communication

Data analytics tooling

Power BI

Alteryx

Tableau

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

ADP

Ceridian

Vertex

Job description

Constellation is seeking a skilled Payroll Tax Lead to own the full lifecycle of U.S. payroll tax compliance across multiple states and entities.

You will serve as the subject matter expert on federal, state, and local employment tax matters, leading high-visibility tax projects across Payroll, HR, Accounting, and Legal. Responsibilities include managing returns, year-end reporting, reconciling liabilities, and coordinating with outsourced providers.