Payroll Business Analyst

Payroll Business Analyst

Salary: $85,000 - $100,000, annually; DOE. Location: This position is based onsite at the Service Center in San Juan Capistrano, CA and may be eligible for hybrid work after 6 months (not fully remote). We are only seeking candidates who currently reside in the local area and relocation is not being offered at this time.

About the Company: Ensign Services, Inc. ("ESI") is a subsidiary of The Ensign Group, Inc., whose affiliated entities are considered national leaders in the fast-growing post-acute care industry. ESI provides service and support to over 378 facilities in the long-term care continuum that employ over 55,000 employees. ESI is known as the "Service Center" and provides the facilities and leaders it serves with "back-office" support in areas such as accounting, construction, compliance, human resources, information technology, learning and development, legal and risk management and recruiting. This structure allows the onsite leaders and caregivers to focus on day-to-day care and operational issues in their individual operations. What sets ESI apart from other companies is the quality of our most valuable resource - our people. We take our core values of Celebration, Accountability, Passion for Learning, Love One Another, Intelligent Risk Taking, Customer Second, and Ownership ("CAPLICO") seriously. We want an individual in this role who will demonstrate these values through actions and words.

About the Opportunity

As a Payroll Business Systems Analyst (BSA) you will be in an analytical role —rather than system configuration-heavy—capacity, acting as a strategic bridge between the Payroll, accounting department and the IT/HRIS teams. While a configuration specialist builds the system, this analyst focuses on requirements gathering, data integrity, and process optimization to ensure the system effectively supports business goals. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who enjoys the "puzzle" of systems and wants to build a career in specialized payroll accounting.

Job Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Partner with Payroll and Finance stakeholders to document complex business needs and translate them into functional specifications for technical teams.
• Create detailed functional specifications, user stories, and process flow diagrams to guide technical teams, without performing the technical configuration yourself.
• Lead User Acceptance Testing (UAT), parallel testing, and regression testing for Workday releases, ensuring payroll results (gross-to-net) are accurate.
• Conduct regular audits of payroll data to ensure integrity, troubleshooting discrepancies in deductions, earnings, and tax settings.
• Design and maintain advanced reports and dashboards (e.g. labor costing) to provide actionable workforce analytics.
• Analyze current payroll processes, identify efficiencies, and recommend changes to workflows within Workday to improve user experience.
• Serve as the subject matter expert (SME) to troubleshoot issues, working with Accounting, Human Resources and IT partners.
• Develop and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and job aids to support end-users.
• Reports to Manager Business Systems, Payroll.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years in Payroll Operations or Business Analysis with a heavy emphasis on business process analysis and stakeholder collaboration.
• Strong understanding of U.S. payroll regulations, tax laws, and gross-to-net processing.
• Proficient in Excel (Pivot Tables, VLOOKUP) for data validation.
• Ability to translate complex policy and business requirements into clear, actionable business procedures.
• Proficiency in enterprise HCM/Payroll systems (e.g., Workday, ADP, SAP) and process mapping tools (e.g., Lucidchart, Visio).
• Exceptional technical and business writing skills with the ability to explain "the why" behind policy/procedure changes to non-technical stakeholders.
• Collaborative team player who works well with others across functions.

Desired Skills

• High School degree minimum or some college experience and/or equivalent related experience.
• Workday Experience: Functional experience with Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, and Absence Management.
• CPP (Certified Payroll Professional) designation.
• Experience in multi-state or union payroll environments.
• Six Sigma or Lean certification for process improvement.
• Basic knowledge of Workday HCM and ADP Tax, highly preferred.
• Strong Analytical skills.
• Strong initiative and ability to manage multiple projects.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, above average Excel skills with Excel tools to analyze large data.
• Ability to complete projects timely and accurately.
• Must be detail oriented with strong organizational and analytical skills.

Additional Information

• Pre‑employment criminal background screening required.

What We Offer: We are committed to providing a competitive benefits and compensation package which includes medical/dental/vision coverage, company-provided life insurance, 401(k) with company match, and sick/vacation plans. Additionally, enjoy access to our fully equipped onsite gym (San Juan Capistrano office location). We also believe in supporting our employee's professional growth and development through our Learning Management System as well as training sessions and seminars. Take a look at these benefits (and more!) at . Ensign Services, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. If you need assistance or accommodation during the application process, please contact us at View phone number on click.appcast.io.