Payroll Manager (New York City Metropolitan Area)

Payroll Manager

Location: New York, NY

Work Arrangement: Hybrid, 4 days onsite / 1 day remote

Experience: 6–15 years

Industry: Financial Services

*MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH WORKDAY PAYROLL*

The Opportunity

A growing financial services firm in New York City is seeking an experienced Payroll Manager to take ownership of the firm's payroll function. This is a hands-on role responsible for managing the end-to-end payroll process while ensuring accuracy, compliance, and a high-quality employee experience.

The ideal candidate will have 6–15 years of progressive payroll experience and significant hands-on experience processing payroll through Workday . This individual will serve as the primary payroll subject matter expert and partner closely with HR, Finance, Benefits, and other stakeholders across the organization.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced payroll professional to join a growing organization and play an important role in strengthening payroll processes, controls, and infrastructure as the business continues to scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and manage the end-to-end payroll process , ensuring accurate and timely payroll processing.
• Process and manage payroll directly through Workday , including compensation changes, bonuses, deductions, new hires, terminations, leaves, and other employee transactions.
• Review and audit payroll prior to submission, proactively identifying and resolving discrepancies.
• Manage payroll for employees across multiple states and jurisdictions.
• Oversee payroll tax requirements and ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local regulations.
• Partner closely with HR, Finance, Benefits, Accounting, and other internal stakeholders to ensure payroll data is accurate and properly reflected across systems.
• Manage payroll reconciliations, reporting, audits, and general ledger-related activities in partnership with Finance.
• Oversee year-end payroll activities, including W-2 processing and related reporting.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for complex payroll questions and escalations.
• Maintain appropriate payroll documentation, procedures, controls, and audit trails.
• Identify opportunities to automate and streamline payroll processes through better utilization of Workday and other technologies.
• Support internal and external payroll audits and ensure appropriate controls are consistently followed.
• Monitor changes to payroll legislation and ensure continued compliance.
• Develop reporting and metrics to provide greater visibility into payroll operations.
• Support broader HR, compensation, benefits, and finance initiatives as needed.
• Help build a scalable payroll infrastructure capable of supporting the continued growth of the organization.

Qualifications

• 6–15 years of progressive payroll experience , ideally within financial services, investment management, fintech, or another sophisticated corporate environment.
• Hands-on experience processing payroll through Workday is required.
• Demonstrated experience owning or managing an end-to-end payroll process.
• Strong understanding of federal, state, and local payroll regulations and tax requirements.
• Experience managing multi-state payroll .
• Experience processing complex compensation arrangements, including bonuses and other variable compensation, is highly desirable.
• Strong understanding of payroll controls, reconciliations, audits, and reporting.
• Advanced Excel skills and comfort working with large and complex data sets.
• Experience working closely with HR, Finance, Accounting, Benefits, and external payroll providers.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with exceptional attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive employee information with the highest level of discretion.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, growing organization where processes and responsibilities are continuing to evolve.