Manage and train payroll team to ensure accurate, timely payroll across multiple locations. Maintain compliance with labor, tax, garnishment and benefits rules; audit transactions; reconcile ledgers and prepare reports; handle W-2s, onboarding payroll setup, audits, and employee inquiries; collaborate with Finance and HR and maintain payroll systems (Paylocity/UKG).
Description
Responsible for training and supporting the payroll team to ensure timely and accurate payroll processing, ensuring compliance with federal, state, local and benefits requirements and promoting an excellent customer service culture. Must have some knowledge of Paylocity/UKG payroll systems.
Responsibilities:
- Oversee payroll processing and operations for multiple locations, ensuring accurate and timely pay.
- Ensure strict and consistent compliance to labor laws, tax withholdings, wage orders, garnishments and year-end reporting.
- Set up and maintain functional payroll systems (Paylocity/UKG).
- Audit payroll transactions to ensure all amounts and payment dates are accurate.
- Reconcile and prepare reports for ledgers, journal entries, 5500s, overtime usage, retirement, attrition etc.
- Lead processing, accuracy and distribution of W-2 statements.
- Approve one-time or permanent changes in payroll (e.g. salary increases, tax deduction, bonuses).
- Approve all employee changes from the self-service portal.
- Train employees who are involved in payroll on best practices.
- Manage payroll discrepancies quickly and efficiently.
- Collaborate with Finance and HR to create payroll reports. Create and maintain all cost centers, allocations and new location codes.
- Monitor and audit payroll for fraud, abuse and waste.
- Prepare onboarding material to enable new hires and add union codes, exempt status and benefit hours, payroll policy, CID and Respite codes. Help new hires understand the company’s compensation and benefits policies (Orientation).
- Coordinate external audits (Work Comp. and 403B, 5500).
- Answer payroll-related questions from employees and supervisors
- Maintain records for insurance and benefit partners (Employees contributions, loans and employer contributions).
- Maintain system updates
Requirements
Qualifications:
A minimum of 10 years of payroll experience
At least five years in payroll management
Must be a CPP (Certified Payroll Professional)
Bachelor’s degree, preferably in accounting or business administration
Similar Jobs
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Information Technology • Legal Tech • Productivity • Software
Lead end-to-end payroll operations across multiple countries and PEO vendors, ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant payroll processing. Manage payroll calendars, tax and statutory reporting, controls, audits, vendor relationships, system configuration, integrations, process improvements, and coach payroll team members while partnering with Benefits, HRIS, Finance, and People Operations.
Top Skills:
Ceridian DayforceHris
Food • Hospitality
Manage end-to-end payroll for 21 restaurant locations and corporate staff across multiple states; supervise two payroll specialists; ensure timely, compliant payroll processing, tax filings, reconciliations, audits, and system implementations. Coordinate with HR, AP, and Controller on benefits, garnishments, GL interfaces, and payroll inquiries while improving processes and maintaining confidentiality.
Top Skills:
ExcelHrisMS OfficeNetSuitePaycom
Transportation
Senior operational leader for US payroll across five legal entities. Manages a team of three specialists, owns end-to-end payroll processing, final review/sign-off, off-cycle runs, tax compliance, SOX controls, year-end W-2s, vendor and stakeholder relationships, and leads process improvements and payroll system projects (Workday).
Top Skills:
ExcelHrisPower BIWorkday Payroll
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
With vibrant neighborhoods, great food and more affordable housing than either coast, Chicago might be the most liveable major tech hub. It is the birthplace of modern commodities and futures trading, a national hub for logistics and commerce, and home to the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association. This diverse blend of industry influences has helped Chicago emerge as a major player in verticals like fintech, biotechnology, legal tech, e-commerce and logistics technology. It’s also a major hiring center for tech companies on both coasts.
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
