Payroll Manager

Carolina PRG is conducting a search for an experienced Operations & Payroll Manager to join a large, complex organization in the Charlotte market.

This is a highly visible leadership opportunity for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment and brings a strong combination of payroll operations, compliance, controls, process improvement, systems expertise, vendor management, and team leadership.

The right person will be comfortable stepping into a complex environment, identifying gaps, creating structure, and implementing sustainable processes that improve payroll accuracy and prevent recurring issues.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead a distributed payroll team supporting employees across multiple locations
• Oversee high-volume payroll operations across multiple pay cycles and jurisdictions
• Provide oversight of benefits operations
• Strengthen payroll controls, audits, reconciliations, and processes to improve accuracy and reduce risk
• Identify recurring issues and implement preventative solutions rather than relying solely on downstream corrections
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on automation, efficiency, accuracy, and operational excellence
• Manage relationships with external payroll service providers and ensure accountability around service, configuration, and performance
• Partner closely with HR, Finance, Total Rewards, and other key stakeholders
• Lead and support payroll system implementations, integrations, upgrades, and organizational change initiatives
• Balance day-to-day payroll operations with multiple strategic projects and improvement initiatives
• Establish clear metrics and KPIs to measure team performance and operational effectiveness
• Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, provincial, and local payroll requirements
• Provide proactive communication to stakeholders and identify upstream issues impacting payroll accuracy
• Develop team members while creating greater structure, accountability, and consistency across the function

What We're Looking For

• 8+ years of relevant payroll, operations, or related experience
• 3+ years of people leadership experience
• Experience operating in a large, complex, multi-state and/or multi-country payroll environment
• Strong understanding of payroll compliance, controls, reconciliations, audits, and year-end processes
• Demonstrated success identifying operational gaps and implementing sustainable improvements
• Strong project management skills with examples of leading initiatives from planning through implementation

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Human Resources, or a related field pref