Manager, Payroll

Role Overview

• Own end-to-end US PEO payroll operations, including on-cycle, off-cycle, and correction payrolls.
• Ensure accurate handling of multi-state payroll, including work-state vs residence-state taxation under a co-employment model.
• Oversee PEO-specific compliance areas, including:
• Federal, state, and local tax withholdings and filings
• SUTA/FUTA and state unemployment complexities
• Workers’ compensation and benefits-related payroll deductions
• Co-employment risk and client responsibility boundaries
• Act as the final escalation point for high-risk payroll, tax, or compliance issues.
• Lead and develop a team of PEO payroll specialists, providing coaching, feedback, and performance guidance.
• Establish clear expectations around accuracy, timeliness, documentation, and ownership.
• Review payroll outputs, reconciliations, and risk items to ensure operational quality.
• Support onboarding, training, and skill progression for PEO payroll team members.
• Define and maintain PEO payroll operating standards, SOPs, and control frameworks.
• Identify operational gaps, risk patterns, and scalability issues; drive process improvements and automation where possible.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to improve payroll workflows, controls, and client experience.
• Provide regular updates on operational health, risks, escalations, and performance metrics.
• Own incident management for PEO payroll issues, including root cause analysis and corrective action plans.
• Ensure compliance with internal controls and external regulatory requirements.

Requirements

• Several years of US payroll experience, with significant hands-on experience in a PEO environment.
• Proven expertise in multi-state US payroll and co-employment models.
• Strong knowledge of US payroll tax, benefits, and labor compliance.
• Prior experience leading or mentoring payroll professionals.
• Ability to operate independently while managing complex, high-risk payroll scenarios.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex payroll issues clearly to non-experts.
• Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience supporting or scaling PEO payroll operations in a high-growth or tech-enabled company.
• Exposure to payroll system implementation or internal payroll engine development.
• Experience partnering with Product or Engineering teams.
• Familiarity with remote-first, asynchronous work environments.

Benefits

• work from anywhere
• flexible paid time off
• flexible working hours (we are async)
• 16 weeks paid parental leave
• mental health support services
• stock options
• learning budget
• home office budget & IT equipment
• budget for local in-person social events or co-working spaces