Payroll Associate
Location: New York City (Hybrid - 4 days onsite, 1 remote day)
Position Overview
A growing global organization is seeking a detail-oriented Payroll Associate to join its Human Resources team. This role will support payroll operations across both U.S. and international employee populations, combining hands-on payroll processing responsibilities with vendor management and cross-functional collaboration.
The ideal candidate will have 3–5 years of payroll experience, strong knowledge of multi-state U.S. payroll regulations, and experience working with international payroll providers. This individual will partner closely with Human Resources, Finance, and external vendors to ensure accurate, compliant, and timely payroll processing while contributing to ongoing process improvement initiatives.
Key Responsibilities
U.S. Payroll Administration
- Process bi-weekly and semi-monthly payroll for salaried and hourly employees using an HRIS/payroll platform such as UKG, Workday, ADP, or similar systems.
- Review and reconcile time and attendance records, including overtime, paid time off, and leave balances.
- Maintain employee payroll records, including new hires, terminations, compensation changes, garnishments, and tax withholding elections.
- Process payroll-related benefit deductions and assist with payroll reconciliations.
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local wage and hour laws.
- Support quarterly and year-end payroll activities, including tax reconciliations and year-end reporting.
- Administer wage garnishments, tax levies, child support orders, and other payroll deductions.
Global Payroll Coordination
- Serve as the primary liaison between internal stakeholders and international payroll providers.
- Coordinate payroll inputs including employee changes, compensation updates, allowances, and benefit deductions.
- Review payroll reports and funding files for accuracy and resolve discrepancies with vendors.
- Monitor payroll processing timelines and vendor service levels to ensure timely and compliant payroll delivery.
- Support onboarding and offboarding activities to ensure payroll setup and termination processing are completed accurately across jurisdictions.
- Maintain payroll calendars and track key payroll deadlines and statutory requirements globally.
Reporting, Compliance & Process Improvement
- Support payroll reconciliations, variance analysis, and deduction audits.
- Respond to employee payroll inquiries related to compensation, taxes, deductions, and direct deposit.
- Partner with Human Resources and Finance teams on audits, reporting, and payroll process improvements.
- Generate standard and ad hoc payroll reports for leadership, audit, and compliance purposes.
- Assist in identifying opportunities to improve payroll accuracy, efficiency, and employee experience.
Qualifications
Required
- 3–5 years of payroll processing experience.
- Experience processing multi-state U.S. payroll.
- Experience working with payroll systems such as UKG, Workday, ADP, Paychex, or similar platforms.
- Experience coordinating with third-party payroll providers.
- Strong understanding of payroll tax regulations, wage and hour laws, and payroll compliance requirements.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, and data reconciliation.
- Strong attention to detail, analytical skills, and ability to manage confidential information.
- Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
Preferred
- FPC or CPP certification.
- Exposure to international payroll operations across EMEA, APAC, or Latin America.
- Experience supporting equity compensation programs.
- Familiarity with expatriate payroll, shadow payroll, or global mobility programs.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to work effectively across multiple time zones and cultures.