Manager, Payroll – US PEO
Remote
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Remote
Location: United States
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Salary
💰 $112,500 - $151,900 per year
About the role
- 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.
- Ensure strong documentation, audit readiness, and evidence quality.
- Partner closely with Product and Engineering to inform PEO payroll system enhancements and roadmap priorities.
- Collaborate with Tax, Benefits, Legal, and Finance teams to resolve complex PEO issues.
- Provide subject-matter guidance on US PEO feasibility, risk, and scalability.
- Support go-to-market, sales, or implementation teams as an advisor on PEO payroll capabilities and limitations.
- 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
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard Skills & Tools
US payroll operationsmulti-state payrollco-employment modelspayroll tax complianceSUTAFUTAworkers' compensationpayroll deductionsprocess improvementspayroll system implementation
Soft Skills
leadershipcoachingcommunicationproblem-solvingindependent operationteam developmentperformance guidancedocumentationrisk managementcollaboration