Payroll Specialist

DESCRIPTION
FTS runs payroll for two operating companies, GEBM and UCA, and for the people who deploy from them to client sites across the country. Fulfillment centers, data centers, industrial facilities. Fifty-plus people on payroll today, and the hiring plan behind our project portfolio puts that number in the hundreds.

That payroll is not a Florida payroll. A crew mobilizes to a state we have never worked in, and three weeks later somebody has to have a withholding account open, an unemployment account registered, and the right rate loaded before the first check runs. People carry per diem and lodging and mobilization pay, and every one of those dollars is either taxable or it isn't depending on how the arrangement is documented. Hours have to land on the right job and the right site, because the margin analysis downstream is only as good as the coding upstream. Overtime has to be calculated on the regular rate that actually applies, not the base rate on the offer letter.

Today all of that runs alongside accounts payable, handled by one person who is doing both jobs well and cannot keep doing both at three times the headcount. This is the seat that takes payroll out of that arrangement and makes it a function.

You are not inheriting a mature process. You are inheriting a payroll that works and a growth curve that will break it. Your job is to run it flawlessly every cycle while you rebuild it underneath yourself to carry ten times the volume. If you want a payroll where the calendar is set, the states are registered, and every earning code already exists, this is not that job. If you have wanted to own a payroll function end to end and build the version that scales, keep reading. Lastly, this role handles compensation data for every employee in the company. Discretion is a condition of the job.

KEY JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Run end-to-end payroll on cycle across GEBM, UCA, and FTS. Time capture, approvals, earnings and deductions, garnishments, PTO accrual, off-cycle checks, terminations, and final pay in accordance with each state's timing rules
• Own multi-state payroll tax. Registration and account setup in advance of a crew's first day in a new state, withholding and unemployment filings, local taxes where they apply, rate updates, reciprocity, and resident versus non-resident treatment for people who work in three states in a month
• Own the tax treatment of travel pay. Per diem, lodging, mobilization, and mileage under accountable plan rules, taxable versus non-taxable determinations, and the documentation that supports each one
• Calculate overtime on the correct regular rate, including non-discretionary bonuses and any per diem that fails the accountable plan test. Know why that distinction exists and catch it before it becomes a back-wage exposure
• Own job and site cost coding on every labor dollar. Hours flow into project-level margin analysis, so the coding is not administrative detail, it is the input the business makes pricing decisions on
• Manage onboarding and offboarding at volume. New hire setup, I-9 and E-Verify, state new hire reporting, direct deposit, and withholding elections, at a hiring pace measured in dozens per surge
• Own quarter and year end. 941s, state reconciliations, W-2s and corrections, and the workers compensation audit, including class code accuracy by role, which is a real cost lever in field services
• Reconcile payroll to the general ledger every cycle with the accounting team, and be the person who explains a variance rather than the person who reports one
• Build the function that carries the growth. Written procedures, a payroll calendar, a state registration tracker, an earnings code structure that holds up, and a documented point of view on what system we need at 200 people and 400
• Answer employee payroll questions directly and well, including from people in the field on a phone between shifts, with discretion and without making anyone chase you

A DAY IN THE LIFE
Timesheet approvals close at noon and one site's crew is not in. You call the project manager rather than emailing the group, get the hours, and notice half of them are coded to a site the crew left two weeks ago. You fix the coding before it runs, because once it posts it becomes somebody's variance to explain.

Midmorning, operations tells you a crew mobilizes to a new state in nineteen days. You already know what that means: withholding registration, unemployment account, whether that state has a local tax layer, and whether anyone on the crew lives across a border with a reciprocity agreement. You start the registrations today, not the week of the first check.

After lunch you are in the per diem detail for a long-running site. A few people have been out past the point where the arrangement still qualifies as temporary, which changes the treatment. You flag it to the Director with the numbers and the correction, before it becomes a W-2 problem in January instead of a payroll adjustment in September.

Late in the day someone from a crew emails about a garnishment that hit their check. You explain what it is, what the limit is, and what happens next, clearly and without making them feel small about asking. Then you run the payroll. It is right, it is on time, and nobody has to think about it.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• By day 30: every payroll has run clean and on time. You know every state we are registered in, every state we are working in, and you have told us plainly where those two lists do not match.
• By day 90: the payroll calendar is documented, the state registration tracker is live and forward-looking, the earnings and deduction code structure is cleaned up, and payroll reconciles to the general ledger every cycle without a scramble.
• By the end of year one: no crew deploys to a state we are not already registered in. Travel pay treatment is documented and defensible. Labor coding is accurate enough that operations trusts the job cost report. Quarter end is routine. And you have given leadership a written recommendation on the payroll system and process we need to carry the next two hundred people.

ABOUT THE TEAM
You will sit inside the Finance and Accounting team, reporting to the Director of Finance and Accounting, alongside the accounts payable function and a new accounts receivable seat. This is a small team that is growing deliberately, and this role exists because payroll has outgrown being part of somebody else's job.

You will work with operations constantly. Project managers, the deployment side of the business, and the travel function all touch data you depend on, and none of it improves unless you go get it. You will also work with the analyst who owns project-level margin, because payroll is the largest single input to that analysis. When labor coding is wrong, they find out and so does the business.

You will have an experienced accounting leader to back you up on judgment calls. What that person does not have is time to run payroll, which is the whole point of this seat.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• 3+ years of full-cycle payroll experience with direct responsibility for running payroll, not supporting someone who does
• Multi-state payroll experience, including state withholding and unemployment registration and filing
• Experience with an hourly workforce, including overtime calculation, timesheet-based time capture, and shift or premium pay
• Working knowledge of FLSA overtime rules, including how the regular rate of pay is determined
• Experience with garnishments, wage orders, and multi-state final pay timing requirements
• Experience with quarter end and year end payroll tax filings and W-2 production
• Advanced Excel, including the ability to reconcile two systems that disagree and find out why
• High school diploma or equivalent

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• FPC or CPP certification, or active progress toward one
• Experience with ADP Workforce Now, our primary payroll platform, or a comparable enterprise payroll system
• Payroll experience in construction, field services, staffing, or another deployed or project-based workforce
• Experience with per diem, lodging, and travel pay treatment under accountable plan rules
• Certified payroll and prevailing wage reporting experience
• Multi-entity payroll experience, including intercompany labor allocation
• Experience coding labor to jobs, sites, or cost centers
• Experience with a payroll system conversion or implementation
• Experience with workers compensation audits and class code assignment
• Experience being the first dedicated payroll person in a growing company

A CPA is not required and is not relevant to this role.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
This is a salary exempt position with an annual base pay range of $62,000 to $80,000, depending on experience. Eligible for annual performance bonus and the company profit sharing program. Medical, dental, and vision coverage is available for enrollment on the first of the month following your start date. Company paid life insurance and short term disability. 401(k) with company match. Paid time off. Full details are provided during the interview process.

WORK ENVIRONMENT
Hybrid, based out of our Tampa office at 3853 Northdale Blvd, Suite 354. Tuesday through Thursday onsite with the finance and accounting team, Monday and Friday remote. This is a set schedule, not a negotiated one, and it is the same for everyone on the team.

Payroll deadlines do not move unless for a company or bank holiday. Occasional work outside standard hours around cycle close, quarter end, and year end.

FTS Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in fostering an inclusive environment that values diversity and empowers employees at all levels. If you need a workplace accommodation during the application or interview process, let your recruiter know.