Payroll Specialist

Payroll Specialist The Corporate Finance Payroll team is responsible for processing full-cycle, in-house payroll operations across multiple legal entities. We manage payroll for over 5,000 employees across 45+ state jurisdictions, interacting closely with internal partners in Human Resources, Corporate Legal, IT, and various business lines to ensure absolute compliance with company policies and all federal, state, and local payroll laws. As our Payroll Specialist, you will drive critical transactional execution and manage the complete employee payroll lifecycle within Workday. In this role, you will accurately execute off-cycle payrolls, immediate pay state-mandated terminations, ACH rejections, and garnishment data entries. You will serve as the first-line support for managers and associates to resolve unmatched, unsubmitted, or unapproved timecards, while validating the earning proof and audit reports each cycle to verify incentive pay, track unusual pay fluctuations, and ensure all associates are paid correctly. Additionally, you will run pay deductions per pay period to create payment uploads for 401(k), HSA, FSA, parking, and LTD, reconcile monthly vendor benefit invoices for AP payment files, and logically prioritize the shared "Payroll Admin" inbox while serving as the primary operational backup for the Sr. Payroll Specialist. How you'll spend your time: You will use problem-solving skills and your deep knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll laws to investigate and resolve complex payroll situations, ensuring tax integrity and Gross-to-Net results. You will need mathematical and Excel aptitude (including VLOOKUPs, XLOOKUPs, Pivot Tables, and IF statements) to calculate on demand checks, handle prorated or retroactive adjustments, and confidently reconcile monthly vendor benefit invoices against payroll deductions. You will need strong communication skills to guide associates and managers through Workday functions, provide policy direction, and explain complex pay discrepancies to frustrated employees in simple, calm, and empathetic terms. You will need extreme attention to detail and a "zero-error" mindset to ensure data entries, system uploads, and timecards are accurate to meet established deadlines. You will practice strict discretion to maintain complete data privacy while handling highly sensitive associate information. We're excited to talk with you if: You have a bachelor's degree or equivalent professional work experience. You bring 13 years of hands-on payroll and timecard processing experience, ideally with a clear understanding of managing high-volume shared inboxes and a deep understanding of payroll practices. Compensation Ranges: US Employees in California, Washington DC, New Jersey, and New York: $47,100 - $68,600 US Employees in Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin: $43,000 - $62,800 US Employees in all other states not listed above: $38,910 - $56,990 The posted compensation range on this listing represents UMB's good faith and reasonable estimate based on its budget and what it expects to be the starting pay for this role, but the actual compensation may vary by geographic location, experience level, and other job-related factors. Please see the description of benefits included with this job posting for additional information. UMB offers competitive and varied benefits to eligible associates, such as Paid Time Off; a 401(k) matching program; annual incentive pay; paid holidays; a comprehensive company sponsored benefit plan including medical, dental, vision, and other insurance coverage; health savings, flexible spending, and dependent care accounts; adoption assistance; an employee assistance program; fitness reimbursement; tuition reimbursement; an associate wellbeing program; an associate emergency fund; and various associate banking benefits. Benefit offerings and eligibility requirements vary. UMB and its affiliates are committed to inclusion and diversity and provide employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, military service, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. If you need accommodation for any part of the employment process because of a disability, please send an e-mail to View email address on click.appcast.io to let us know the nature of your request. If you are a California resident, please visit our Privacy Notice for California Job Candidates to understand how we collect and use your personal information when you apply for employment with UMB.