Payroll Accountant

We are looking for an experienced Payroll Accountant to join a growing team in New Jersey. This contract opportunity with permanent potential is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment and can manage complex payroll activities with accuracy and professionalism. The role supports large-scale payroll operations, reporting, reconciliations, and compliance efforts while partnering closely with Finance, Operations, and leadership.Responsibilities:• Manage payroll processing support that includes both W-2 employees and 1099 workers across multiple states.• Examine timekeeping records, pay adjustments, deductions, and related payroll inputs to confirm complete and accurate pay calculations.• Research and resolve payroll issues such as incorrect payments, unreported hours, direct deposit problems, tax-related questions, and employee inquiries.• Analyze payroll registers, funding summaries, tax documentation, exception reporting, and audit outputs to identify discrepancies and maintain accuracy.• Produce recurring and ad hoc payroll reports, overtime reviews, workforce metrics, and analytical summaries to support operational and financial decision-making.• Perform reconciliations for payroll balances, liabilities, and general ledger activity, and assist with accruals and month-end close support.• Work with internal teams and external vendors to address payroll tax matters, investigate notices, and resolve outstanding tax discrepancies.• Coordinate vendor cases, monitor issue resolution, escalate urgent concerns, and contribute to payroll-related projects and process improvements.• Participate in payroll system reviews, implementation efforts, conversion activities, migration support, parallel testing, validation, and user acceptance testing.• Build broad knowledge of payroll operations and provide dependable backup coverage for payroll leadership to help maintain business continuity.