Payroll Benefits Manager

Total Rewards Manager - Payroll, Benefits & Compensation

4 days a week onsite

6-month Contract-to-Hire

Park Ridge, NJ work location

9 AM – 5 PM (Monday – Thursday) Remote Fridays

The Total Rewards Operations Manager ensures effective coordination of the day-to-day administration, processes, and systems that support the organization’s benefits, payroll, and service award programs. Develops and maintains standard operating procedures (SOPs) in partnership with functional owners for all payroll and total rewards processes. This role ensures operational excellence, data accuracy, compliance, and continuous improvement across all payroll and total rewards functions. The manager partners closely with HR, Finance, and external vendors to deliver a seamless employee experience

Payroll Operations

• Partner with Payroll Manager to ensure accurate, timely and compliant end-to-end payroll processing for hourly and salaried employees
• Monitor payroll processing to ensure optimization of processes, including areas such as shift differentials, overtime, and the time and attendance systems
• Partner with Payroll Manager to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal payroll laws (e.g., FLSA, tax regulations, wage/hour requirements
• In conjunction with Payroll Manager, partner with Finance on payroll reconciliation, general ledger postings, audits, and reporting
• Hold payroll vendor relationships accountable in alignment with functional leaders and ensure system upgrades/enhancements are properly implemented

Benefits Operations

• Partner with Benefits Manager to ensure best in class operation of health, welfare, retirement, and leave programs.
• Hold benefit vendors accountable in alignment with functional leaders and ensure performance guarantees are met.
• Enable and enhance the employee experience including benefits enrollment processes, eligibility audits, and corrective actions.Track cost of benefits and establish metrics to evaluate ROI
• Project manage new project initiatives managing risks and ensuring timely completion.
• Identify opportunities for optimization across the platform. • Partner on complex benefits issues and escalate as needed. Total Rewards Systems & Processes

Compliance & Reporing

• Ensure programs comply with federal, state, and local regulations (e.g., FLSA, ERISA, ACA, HIPAA).
• Ensure timely filing and completion of audits, filings, and documentation related to benefits, payroll and compensation.