Director, Payroll

General Description:

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, the Director of Payroll is responsible for the execution, coordination and oversight of daily payroll operations including driving the strategic payroll processes to deliver value-added services to employees. The Director of Payroll is responsible for leading the transformation of the current payroll process to meet the rapidly growing organizational needs. These duties include managing the design, implementation, administration, governance, and ongoing operations of the Company's payroll and certified payroll reporting. This position plans, develops and implements forward looking payroll processes/procedures and revises current processes/procedures to continuously seek improvement, improve accuracy, and create optimal efficiency, aligned with the Company's total strategic and financial objectives. The Director of Payroll is also responsible for ensuring that the Company's payroll processes/procedures are administered in compliance with internal policies and government regulations. The Director of Payroll will ensure all systems and internal controls adequately support the full-cycle payroll processes, employment taxes, applicable labor laws, certified payroll reporting, prevailing wage, and hour laws and state and federal wage and hour laws/regulations. The Payroll Director will also create long-term strategies for continuous improvement in payroll operations.

Supervises: Payroll Managers - Office, Union, Certified

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Oversee the overall payroll functions including payroll processing, reviewing, and revising policies and procedures, as well as internal controls, system reviews and upgrades.
• Establish and effectively lead and execute department strategy and goals.
• Direct, audit, and advise on best practices for payroll procedures to include earnings, garnishments, tax withholding, pay integration with state agencies as necessary, etc.
• Establish and regularly monitor and report on key performance and accuracy metrics and targets.
• Assist senior leadership in defining organizational goals and strategic plans related to system wide payroll operations.
• Collaborate with the IT Department and/or external vendors and consultants to lead project activities related to payroll functions bringing exceptional value to the organization through streamlining processes, automation, etc.
• Working with our Executive team and Key partners (IT, HR, and Legal) for System implementation, Acquisitions, and changes due to Federal and State law and/or company policy.
• Identify, evaluate and recommend information technology solutions to meet strategic objectives.
• Maintain payroll guidelines by devising and updating policies and procedures.
• Ensure timely preparation and processing of payroll in compliance with federal, state, and local laws and within the Collective Bargaining Agreements
• Ensure accurate and timely processing of the Company's payroll in accordance with federal, state and local regulations and legislative compliance requirements and bargaining unit contractual obligations.
• Develop and oversee controls to ensure accuracy, accurate reconciliation, and payment of deductions and benefits.
• Support annual payroll tax reconciliation and compliance with filing returns and W-2 issuing.
• Maintain confidentiality of any payroll, private employee information and ensures payroll information is secure.
• Collaborate with the Finance department, Legal, HR and/or external vendors and consultants to effectively research reconciling items to ensure accounting records are accurate and complete including internal/external and outside agency (Federal, State, and Union) audits.
• Ensure payroll accounts are accurately balanced after resolving discrepancies.
• Develop and maintain strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, building a reputation as a credible and trustworthy partner to successfully influence, facilitate change initiatives and drive buy-in at all levels and all areas of the organization.
• Lead project activities related to payroll, certified payroll and labor compliance functions bringing exceptional value to the organization through streamlining processes, automation, etc.
• Ensure timely and accurate submission of all relevant federal, state and local tax reporting and deductions.
• Oversee audit functions and create and manage action plans in response to audits.
• Function as primary contact for internal, state and federal HR & Payroll audits.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for the payroll system platform, certified payroll and labor compliance.

Required Skills/Experience:

Payroll Experience:

• Must possess extensive knowledge of principles, practices and functions of full-cycle in-house payroll management.
• Strong knowledge and adherence to regulations and laws which govern labor compliance.
• Formulate and implement strategies and concepts to improve payroll processing efficiency and accuracy.
• Must have fundamental accounting/general ledger knowledge/accruals.
• Strong business acumen with extensive experience in full-scale compensation and benefit management.
• Exceptional understanding of job evaluation and job analysis.
• Strong understanding of State and Federal prevailing wage.
• Familiarity with labor legislation.
• Experience in a multi-state, multi-site environment.
• Recognized in areas of expertise through established networks, experience and accomplishments.
• Experience in certified payroll reporting and project labor compliance.
• Extensive knowledge of state and federal laws and regulations.

Education/Work Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in business, Finance, or Accounting.
• 8 years minimum supervisory/management experience required.
• 10 years minimum Payroll operations experience required.
• A minimum of 10 years of related experience developing and managing full-cycle payroll including experience evaluating, developing, and implementing company-wide base and payroll processes with multi-state union and non-union payroll.
• Experience with union payroll required.
• Experience with public works construction payroll a plus

Technical Skills:

• Intermediate to Advanced skills with MS Office applications, including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
• Intermediate skills with Google products.
• Highly proficient utilizing HRIS for compensation, benefits, and program administration.

Leadership/Professionalism Skills:

• High degree of professionalism and discretion in contacts with management, team members, Union representation, Federal and State agencies and employees.
• Strong team leadership and empathy skills.
• Decisive and action-oriented.
• Able to thrive in a fast-paced environment with multiple daily deadlines and requests.
• Ability to develop and foster strong, trusting relationships with internal and external customers.
• Excellent strategic leadership skills - big picture thinker who can evaluate how any change will impact the organization and how to tactically achieve them.
• Experience analyzing and creating plans to meet objectives and goals.
• High level of ethics and commitment to ACCO Engineered Systems mission, vision and core values.
• Advanced diplomatic skills and organizationally savvy.
• Excellent written and oral communications coupled with superb analytical skills.
• Ability to take initiative and have a forward-thinking approach.
• Ability to listen effectively and use information to evaluate and determine appropriate course of action for situations which are highly confidential.
• Being detail oriented, flexible and creative while maintaining the appropriate perspective no matter how pressured the situation.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to effectively develop and maintain internal and external business relationships along with strong customer service skills when dealing with employees' questions and requests.
• Excellent communication skills - verbal, written, presentation (as well as listening) - and the ability to represent the organization in both formal and informal settings.
• Forward-thinking approach and results-oriented.
• Ability to work cooperatively and strategically in a team environment with all levels of professional, technical and administrative staff and to integrate resources in a timely and organized manner.
• Ability to work well under pressure with high level of drive to obtain results.
• Demonstrated knowledge, sensitivity, and proactive support of diversity and inclusion.
• The ability to collaborate across the organization to improve processes and drive consensus and decision making is critical for success.

Preferred Skills/Experience:

• Master's degree in business, Finance or Accounting.
• JDE Enterprise 1, Peoplesoft and/ or Oracle system experience.
• Understanding of wage and hour laws in California required with knowledge of Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, and Texas.
• Construction and/or commercial contracting industry experience.
• Certification as a CCP, CBP, or SHRM-SCP.
• Experience working with ESOPs.
• Smartsheets experience.

Travel:

• As required to support job duties.

ACCO Competencies:

• Proactivity / Initiative: Recognizes what needs to be done and accomplishes it in a manner appropriate for one's level/position and with minimal supervision.
• Perseverance: Shows the wherewithal to fight for difficult goals despite challenges and to bounce back from adversity.
• Insight: The ability to gather and make sense of information that suggests new possibilities.
• Engagement: Shows a knack for using emotion and logic to communicate a persuasive vision and connect with people.
• Teamwork: The ability to effectively work toward common goals with others by supporting, encouraging, and sharing information in an authentic and approachable manner.
• Big Picture: Understands and contributes to organizations' short- and long-term business strategy. On a personal level has independently developed a vision for short- and long-term career success.
• Motivation / Dedication: Commits to excellence in pursuing unselfish goals. Initiates action with collective goals takes responsibility and shows personal humility.
• Technical Curiosity / Willingness to Learn: Interest in seeking out new experiences, knowledge, and candid feed, back; demonstrating an openness to learning and change.
• Problem-Solver: Ability to identify, analyze, and solve a problem in support of personal, group, department, or organizational objectives.

Physical Requirements:

(The physical demands described herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions)

• The employee may regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, and occasionally lift and/or move up to 30 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include Close vision and Distance vision.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms and talk or hear.
• The employee is regularly required to walk and sit; climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl (for purposes of filing photocopier/printers). The employee is occasionally required to reach above shoulder height to access storage cabinets and mail cubicles.

Hours: Monday-Friday 8 hours between 7am-6pm

Competitive Wages:

$133,000 to $171,000 Annual Salary. Applicants please note that actual compensation is determined by several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, certifications, relevant education or training, and specific work location, among others. The offered wage or salary is only one aspect of an employee's total compensation.

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