Payroll Specialist

Job Description

Job Description

We are looking for an experienced Payroll/Human Resources Specialist to join a team in California. This position is ideal for someone who can manage payroll operations with precision, protect confidential employee data, and collaborate effectively with finance and HR partners. The role supports accurate and timely compensation for a large workforce while helping maintain compliance with applicable wage, tax, and payroll regulations.

Responsibilities:

• Review employee time records, verify accuracy, and resolve missing or inconsistent entries before payroll is finalized.

• Process full-cycle payroll for a workforce of more than 500 employees, ensuring wages are issued correctly and on schedule.

• Calculate earnings adjustments such as overtime, holiday pay, sick time, benefit deductions, tax withholdings, and other payroll-related changes.

• Maintain payroll records for new employees, compensation updates, promotions, and other employee pay status changes within the payroll system.

• Administer direct deposit information and support paycheck distribution while safeguarding highly sensitive employee payroll data.

• Respond to employee questions related to pay statements, deductions, and tax documents with professionalism and accuracy.

• Investigate and correct payroll discrepancies caused by time entry issues, manual mistakes, or data inconsistencies.

• Prepare payroll reports and cost summaries for leadership to support tracking, analysis, and decision-making.

• Partner with HR and finance teams to help ensure payroll practices align with company policies and regulatory requirements.

• 5+ years of payroll experience, including ownership of full-cycle payroll processing.
• Hands-on experience managing multi-state payroll in a high-volume environment.
• Proficiency with ADP Workforce Now and strong general payroll systems knowledge.
• Experience supporting payroll for employee populations exceeding 500 workers.
• Solid understanding of payroll tax rules, deductions, wage regulations, and compliance requirements.
• Ability to handle confidential employee and compensation information with a high degree of discretion.
• Strong attention to detail, accuracy, and problem-solving skills when resolving payroll issues.
• Background collaborating with HR administration and finance teams in a detail-focused setting.