Strategic Citywide Payroll Director

City of Seattle; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 9,213,000 - 13,087,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Vacation and sick leave

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Long-term disability insurance

Job summary

The City of Seattle's Office of City Finance is seeking a Director of Payroll to lead payroll, time and attendance, and staff scheduling for the city’s 40 departments. You will drive strategy, oversee centralized payroll processes, and ensure accurate, timely compensation while maintaining strong internal controls.

You will collaborate across HR, Finance, IT, and vendors, manage system upgrades (Workday, PeopleSoft, ADP), ensure tax compliance, and provide detailed payroll reporting to senior

Qualifications

• BA in Accounting, Finance, Public Administration, or comparable level of experience.
• Experience with payroll in large, complex organizations.
• Knowledge of federal and Washington state payroll laws.
• Leadership experience supervising centralized and decentralized payroll teams.
• Strong audit, reporting, and internal controls skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the organization’s payroll, time and attendance, and staff scheduling operations.
• Develop long-term payroll system and process strategy aligned with organizational goals.
• Oversee citywide payroll processing.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic payroll

Regulatory compliance

Data analytics

Cross-department collaboration

Project management

Education

BA in Accounting, Finance, Public Administration, or comparable level of experience

Public sector knowledge

Tools

Workday Payroll ERP

Tyler Technologies

Munis

SAP Public Sector

Oracle Public Sector

ADP

Job description

The City of Seattle's Office of City Finance is seeking a Director of Payroll to lead payroll, time and attendance, and staff scheduling for the city’s 40 departments. You will drive strategy, oversee centralized payroll processes, and ensure accurate, timely compensation while maintaining strong internal controls.

You will collaborate across HR, Finance, IT, and vendors, manage system upgrades (Workday, PeopleSoft, ADP), ensure tax compliance, and provide detailed payroll reporting to senior