Senior Payroll Specialist

Senior Payroll Specialist

Crusoe is on a mission to accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence. As the only vertically integrated AI infrastructure company built from the ground up, we own and operate each layer of the stack — from electrons to tokens — to power the world's most ambitious AI workloads. When you join Crusoe, you join a team that is building the future, faster.

We're in the midst of the greatest industrial revolution of our time. The demand for AI compute is boundless, and power is a bottleneck. We're solving that — with an energy-first approach that makes AI infrastructure better for the world and faster for the people innovating with AI.

We're looking for problem-solving, opportunity-finding teammates with a sense of urgency, who believe in the scale of our ambition and thrive on a path not fully paved — people who want to grow their careers alongside a team of experts across energy, manufacturing, data center construction, and cloud services.

If you want to do the most meaningful work of your career, help our customers and partners advance their AI strategies, and be part of a high-performing team that believes in each other, come build with us at Crusoe.

About the Role:

Crusoe is seeking a detail-oriented and customer-focused Senior Payroll Specialist to join our growing Total Rewards team. In this role, you will be responsible for executing accurate, timely, and compliant payroll processing for our rapidly expanding U.S. workforce. You'll partner closely with Total Rewards, Finance, Accounting, Benefits, and HR Ops & Systems to ensure payroll runs smoothly while continuously improving processes that support a world-class employee experience.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, high-growth environment, enjoys solving complex payroll challenges, and takes pride in delivering exceptional accuracy and service.

What You'll Be Working On:

• Process end-to-end biweekly payroll for 1,500+ multi-state U.S. employees, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations.
• Provide support and troubleshoot discrepancies for the non-exempt population ensuring hours worked are reported and approved in a timely manner Review, validate, and reconcile payroll inputs including new hires, terminations, promotions, bonuses, commissions, equity events, PTO, leave of absence payments, and other earnings and deductions.
• Audit payroll data to identify and resolve discrepancies before payroll is finalized.
• Partner with People Operations, Benefits, Total Rewards, Finance, and Accounting to ensure payroll changes are processed accurately.
• Ensure compliance with wage and hour laws, payroll tax regulations, garnishments, and other statutory requirements.
• Support payroll tax filings, year-end activities, W-2 processing, and payroll audits.
• Reconcile payroll-related general ledger accounts and assist Accounting during monthly and quarterly close.
• Manage payroll inquiries from employees with professionalism, discretion, and excellent customer service.
• Maintain payroll documentation, standard operating procedures, and internal controls.
• Identify opportunities to automate manual processes and improve payroll efficiency as the company continues to scale.
• Support payroll-related projects including system implementations, process improvements, acquisitions, and international expansion as needed.
• Partner with HR Systems to ensure employee data integrity across Workday and payroll platforms.

What You'll Bring to the Team:

• 7+ years of payroll processing experience, including ownership of full-cycle U.S. payroll.
• Experience processing payroll for multi-state employee populations in a high-growth or fast-paced environment.
• Strong understanding of federal, state, and local payroll tax regulations, wage and hour laws, and payroll compliance requirements.
• Experience with Workday HCM and ADP Payroll or other enterprise payroll systems (Rippling, Deel, CloudPay, etc.).
• Exceptional attention to detail with strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities while consistently meeting payroll deadlines.
• Strong reconciliation, auditing, and data validation skills.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to partner effectively across HR, Finance, Accounting, and employees at all levels.
• High degree of integrity and ability to handle confidential information with discretion.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including lookups, pivot tables, and payroll data analysis.

Bonus Points

• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) certification.
• Experience supporting payroll for public or pre-IPO companies.
• Experience processing equity-related payroll transactions (RSUs, stock options, ESPP).
• Familiarity with international payroll coordination.
• Experience with payroll process automation and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Experience supporting SOX controls and audit requirements.
• Experience working within Workday HCM and Workday Payroll.

Benefits:

• Competitive compensation and equity packages
• Restricted Stock Units
• Paid time off, paid holidays & leave of absence programs
• Comprehensive health, dental & vision insurance
• Employer contributions to HSA account
• Paid parental leave
• Paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability
• Professional development & tuition reimbursement
• Mental health & wellness support
• Commuter benefits (parking & transit)
• Cell phone stipend
• 401(k) Retirement plan with company match up to 4% of salary
• Volunteer time off
• Global travel insurance & emergency assistance
• Daily meals allowance
• Additional perks & programs specific to location

Compensation Range

Compensation will be paid in the range of up to $130,000 - $155,000 + Bonus. Restricted Stock Units are included in all offers. Compensation to be determined by the applicant's knowledge, education, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

Crusoe is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, citizenship, marital status, sex/gender, sexual preference/orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, national origin, or any other status protected by law or regulation.