Senior Payroll Specialist

Overview

A well-established international supplier of fashion jewelry and accessories is seeking a Senior Payroll Specialist to join their North America team. This remote position involves managing comprehensive payroll activities to ensure accuracy, compliance, and operational efficiency.

Responsibilities

• Execute accurate and timely payroll processing for weekly and biweekly cycles, including off-cycle payments, bonuses, severance, and corrections.
• Perform payroll reviews, audits, and reconciliations to maintain data integrity and compliance.
• Monitor payroll operations end-to-end, proactively resolving or escalating issues.
• Support quarter-end and year-end close activities.
• Manage employment tax compliance activities such as tax registrations, jurisdiction setup, filings, reconciliations, and resolving tax notices.
• Research and address federal, multi-state, and local payroll tax compliance matters, ensuring adherence to wage and hour laws, withholding requirements, garnishments, and regulatory deadlines.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of U.S. and Canadian payroll regulations and ensure system configurations and internal processes remain compliant.
• Respond to payroll inquiries through a ticketing system in a timely, accurate, and professional manner.
• Provide guidance and support to the Payroll Coordinator and collaborate with internal teams and third-party vendors to ensure effective payroll service delivery.
• Identify opportunities to enhance payroll processes, controls, and efficiency; support implementation and assess ongoing effectiveness.

Immediate Critical Outcomes

• Within 30 Days: Develop strong working knowledge of company payroll systems and processes (SAP HCM, Salesforce, Zendesk, ADP Smart Compliance).
• Within 60 Days: Independently support accurate payroll processing while ensuring compliance with employment tax laws and regulatory requirements.
• Within 90 Days: Establish and maintain an effective audit cadence to ensure payroll data accuracy, integrity, and reconciliation of ADP billing statements.

Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of payroll processing experience, preferably in a multi-state environment.
• Strong attention to detail with consistently high accuracy.
• Proven research, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Knowledge of employment tax withholding, garnishments, and labor compliance.
• Working knowledge of MS Office applications including PowerPoint, Excel, and Word.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Experience with SAP HCM and ADP payroll processing is strongly preferred.
• Payroll certification (CPP, FPC) is a plus.

Preferred Competencies

• Entrepreneurial thinking with an innovative mindset.
• Ability to set clear priorities and adapt as needed.
• Accountability to meet functional commitments.
• Collaborative teamwork and solution-oriented conflict resolution.
• Effective communication and active listening skills.
• Cross-cultural sensitivity and adaptability.
• Openness to managing change and improving processes.
• Willingness to provide and seek feedback.
• Integrity, discretion, and confidentiality.
• Resilience and self-management of mistakes.
• Awareness of how role impacts resources of others.

Compensation & Benefits

Details regarding compensation and benefits will be provided during the interview process.

Location

This is a remote position based in the United States.