Senior Payroll Specialist

Overview

A growing organization in the commerce infrastructure space is seeking a Senior Payroll Specialist to manage US payroll operations and contribute to building a global payroll function. Founded in 2012, the company supports brand manufacturers, distributors, and retailers worldwide, helping them improve brand trust, product differentiation, conversion rates, profit margins, and speed to market.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end multi-state US payroll processing across multiple entities, pay groups, and payroll vendors.
• Ensure payroll is processed accurately, compliantly, and on time.
• Maintain strong payroll controls through regular audits, reconciliations, and validation processes.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local payroll regulations, including tax withholding, new state registrations, quarterly and annual filings (Forms 941, 940, W-2/W-2c), amendments, and resolution of agency notices.
• Administer regulated payroll components such as 401(k) contributions, benefit deductions, equity compensation, imputed income, and taxable fringe benefits.
• Ensure payroll accounting accuracy and timely completion of payroll-related reconciliations.
• Perform regular audits within Workday Payroll to ensure data accuracy, integrity, and compliance.
• Investigate payroll issues, identify root causes, and implement long-term, scalable solutions.
• Support the evolution of the global payroll operating model, including implementation and ongoing optimization of payroll solutions.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve global payroll documentation, SOPs, and operational playbooks.
• Standardize payroll processes across countries while respecting local compliance requirements.
• Identify and lead automation opportunities that reduce manual work and enhance the employee experience, leveraging AI tools where relevant.
• Partner with Systems on Workday enhancements and payroll integrations.
• Support payroll implementations, testing, and system enhancements as the function scales.
• Contribute to People Experience (PX) Operations team initiatives, including Workday employee data management, employee lifecycle queries, offboarding processes, operational documentation, and cross-functional projects.

Requirements

• Experience managing multi-state US payroll operations.
• Strong knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll regulations and compliance requirements.
• Experience with payroll systems, preferably Workday Payroll.
• Ability to perform audits, reconciliations, and maintain payroll controls.
• Strong problem-solving skills to investigate and resolve payroll issues.
• Experience supporting or implementing global payroll operations is a plus.
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally with People Operations, Total Rewards, Finance, Systems, Legal, and external vendors.
• Passion for operational excellence, compliance, and continuous improvement.
• Comfortable working in fast-paced, collaborative, and evolving environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with payroll automation and leveraging AI tools.
• Experience developing payroll documentation, SOPs, and operational playbooks.
• Experience supporting payroll system implementations and enhancements.

Compensation & Benefits

Details on compensation and benefits are not provided in the description.

Location

The organization is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with additional hubs in Lisbon, Portugal, and Sydney, Australia. The role primarily focuses on US payroll operations.

This role offers the opportunity to own US payroll operations and expand into global payroll ownership, driving consistency, automation, and best practices across multiple countries. The position requires strong operational skills, compliance expertise, and the ability to collaborate across multiple functions to deliver accurate and scalable payroll solutions.