Payroll Specialist

We are looking for a Payroll Specialist to support weekly payroll operations for a higher education environment in Maryland. This contract opportunity with potential for a permanent role is ideal for someone who can balance precision, confidentiality, and strong collaboration while managing payroll activities for a diverse employee population. The role works closely with human resources leadership to maintain compliant payroll practices, support reporting needs, and help ensure employees are paid accurately and on time.

Responsibilities:
• Administer end-to-end weekly payroll processing for multiple employee groups, ensuring accurate calculations, timely submission, and adherence to applicable policies and regulations.
• Maintain payroll records and supporting documentation for permanent, contingent, and student employees, keeping files organized, current, and audit-ready.
• Coordinate salary updates, stipends, contract pay changes, promotions, and other compensation adjustments with the appropriate internal and external stakeholders.
• Manage year-end payroll activities and prepare required information for audits, serving as a key point of contact for external and legislative reviewers.
• Update and maintain employee data within payroll and HR systems, ensuring information integrity across contracts, status changes, and personnel actions.
• Partner with HR leadership to support policy administration, employee training needs, and feedback processes that improve workforce operations.
• Act as a liaison with central payroll and budget-related agencies to resolve payroll issues, submit required transactions, and support compensation administration.
• Prepare recurring and ad hoc reports, including weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, and compliance-related personnel and payroll reporting.
• Support payroll-related onboarding and offboarding activities, and assist employees with questions related to pay, timekeeping, and attendance.
• Serve in designated compliance and employee-relations support functions, including campus security authority responsibilities and backup participation in unemployment hearings when needed.• Demonstrated experience managing full-cycle payroll from data review through final processing and reconciliation.
• Background handling payroll for large employee populations, including environments with more than 500 employees.
• Working knowledge of multi-state payroll practices and payroll compliance requirements.
• Ability to interpret and apply payroll policies, employee handbook guidelines, and related procedural documentation.
• Experience preparing payroll reports, audit materials, and year-end documentation with a high level of accuracy.
• Strong attention to detail, sound judgment with confidential information, and the ability to meet recurring deadlines.
• Comfortable collaborating with human resources, finance, external agencies, and employees to resolve payroll matters effectively.