Payroll Manager

How This Position Supports Our Purpose and Strategy
Responsible for leading, managing, and ensuring absolute accuracy, compliance, and execution of the firm’s multi-state payroll operations. This role provides strategic mentorship to the Payroll Specialist and partners closely with the HR and Finance leadership teams.

Department Role
Administrative and clerical support services. Perform a variety of general payroll and accounting tasks.

Reports To
Director of Human Resources directly; CFO and Principals indirectly

Salary Rate: $80,000 to $95,000
Additional benefits include medical plans, dental, vision, employee life insurance,
401(k), Flexible Spending Accounts, paid time off, paid holidays, and tuition
reimbursement.

Responsibilities and Requirements

• Direct, mentor, and evaluate the daily work of the Payroll Specialist, ensuring high-performance standards and continuous professional development
• Act as the final escalation point for complex employee pay inquiries, complex tax adjustments, or time-tracking discrepancies
• Conduct final audits and required approvals on all payroll batches processed prior to funding release
• Serve as backup for completion of any task completed by the Payroll Specialist or other members of the HR team that involve payroll related items (processing semi-monthly payroll, uploading 401k reports, processing payroll deducts, etc.)
• Partner with firm leadership to ensure employee timesheets are accurate, submitted on time, and properly authorized
• Oversee the strict reconciliation of labor distribution reports to confirm that hours are correctly billed to specific project codes, phases, and cost categories
• Manage multi-state payroll complexities specific to local municipal projects, including Certified Payroll reporting and Prevailing Wage compliance where applicable
• Manage payroll adjustments for technical staff transitioning between billable (project) and non-billable (overhead/BD) time blocks
• Posting of Payroll Journal Entries in Financial ERP system
• Maintain comprehensive compliance with all federal, state, and local payroll tax regulations, specifically managing multi-state taxation for field engineers and remote staff
• Serve as the functional system administrator for the HRIS/Payroll and ERP system configuration (e.g., maintaining rate tables, pay rules, and PTO accrual structures)
• Own quarterly and year-end payroll processes, including the balancing, reconciliation, and distribution of W-2 forms
• Lead internal and external payroll audits (e.g., Worker’s Compensation, 401k compliance, and tax authority reviews)
• Oversee 401k monthly transaction processing and completion of annual 401k census including reconciliation of wages to W-3, ensure compliance with 401k annual employee contribution limits
• Collaborate directly with the Director of HR and the HR Coordinator to integrate employee benefit adjustments, retirement plan contributions (401k deductions/loans), and HSA/FSA plans into payroll
• Manage calculations and distribution processing for complex compensation payouts, including but not limited to performance bonuses, profit sharing, and final termination payouts
• Provide monthly or quarterly workforce metrics, labor cost dashboards, and utilization analytics to HR and Finance executives to guide firmwide budget decisions
• Assist in evaluation and integration of payroll software into the ERP system. Includes evaluation of current and future system capabilities

Skill Sets

• Advanced understanding of project-based professional service firms, billable hour metrics, and internal job costing structures
• Expert knowledge of FLSA rules, multi-state wage/hour regulations, garnishments, and employer tax obligations
• High level proficiency in major integrated HRIS/Payroll platforms (e.g., UKG, ADP, Workday, Paylocity) and engineering ERP software (e.g., Deltek, BST, or Ajera) is highly preferred
• Experience and demonstrated expertise using enterprise accounting software and HRIS systems
• Strong analytical and data manipulation skills using Excel including pivot tables, VLOOKUPs, and logic arrays)
• Sound judgment, discretion, and integrity handling sensitive confidential financial and personal data

Recommended Education/Training

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, accounting, business administration, or a closely related field is highly recommended
• 6+ years of progressive in-house corporate payroll experience, including 2+ years in a dedicated supervisory and/or leadership capacity
• Experience with payroll for an Architecture, Engineering, or Construction (AEC) firm or a professional services corporation is strongly preferred
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) credential is preferred