Payroll Manager (Contract) - San Jose, CA - $74/hr

Job Description

Job Description

Location: San Jose, CA (Hybrid -- on-site Mon/Tue/Thu, remote Wed/Fri, transitioning to fully remote later in the engagement)

Employment: Contract, approximately 8 months (through ~March 2027)

Compensation: Competitive hourly rate

Own end-to-end payroll operations for a 1,500+ employee, multi-state and international workforce on a contract basis, serving as the primary payroll owner on a lean, high-trust team during a critical coverage engagement.

What You'll Own

- Process end-to-end multi-state payroll for 1,500+ employees in Workday Payroll, including regular and off-cycle runs, data validation, and exception handling

- Process employee equity transactions and related tax withholding through Workday Payroll

- Prepare and review payroll journal entries, general ledger reconciliations, and accruals, and support month-end and year-end close including W-2 and W-2c processing

- Ensure federal, state, and local multi-state payroll tax compliance, remittances, and filings, and maintain payroll SOX controls and audit-ready documentation

- Serve as the escalation owner and partner daily with HR, Finance, Legal, Tax, Benefits, and Stock Administration to resolve payroll matters

- Support Australia payroll by preparing data for a third-party provider, including basic superannuation requirements

What You'll Bring

- 8+ years of hands-on, end-to-end payroll processing experience (4-6 years considered with exceptional Workday Payroll depth and full-cycle ownership)

- Demonstrated hands-on Workday Payroll expertise, personally processing multi-state payroll at scale rather than only managing or approving it

- Strong payroll accounting foundation: journal entries, GL reconciliations, accruals, close, and SOX controls

- Deep federal and multi-state payroll tax knowledge plus W-2/W-2c processing across Workday and ADP SmartCompliance

- Ability to ramp to full end-to-end ownership within about a month and operate independently on a lean team

- Availability to commit to the full contract with no planned extended time off through March 2027

Nice to Have

- Advanced Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, formulas, lookups)

- Basic Australia payroll and superannuation exposure

- Experience using AI tools such as Claude or Gemini to streamline payroll workflows

If you are a hands-on payroll expert who likes owning the full cycle and being the person the team counts on, this is a high-impact contract seat with real ownership from day one.