Payroll Operations and Shared Services Manager

At Community Bank System, Inc. (CBSI), we are dedicated to providing our customers with friendly, personalized, high-quality financial services and products. Our retail division, Community Bank, N.A., operates more than 200 customer facilities across Upstate New York, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Vermont and Western Massachusetts. Beyond retail banking, we also offer wealth management, investment management, insurance and risk management, and benefit plan administration.

Just as our employees are committed to helping our customers manage their finances, we're committed to our employees. After all, they make it happen for our customers every day.

To ensure our people can enjoy long and successful careers here at CBSI, we offer competitive compensation, great benefits, and professional development and advancement opportunities. As an equal-opportunity workplace and affirmative-action employer, we celebrate and support a diverse workplace for the benefit of all: our employees, customers and communities.

The Payroll Operations and Shared Services Manager will report directly to the Director of Human Capital Management Systems and will supervise the Payroll support staff employee(s). In this role, you will own all processes, policies, and systems related to payroll operations. Ensure compliance with all applicable state and federal wage, tax and hour laws.

Design, update and transform key Payroll Operations infrastructure that will enable CBSI to scale smoothly through the needs today and in the future.

• Oversee the roadmap and administration of programs and policies including, but not limited to, all stages of the employee pay, mobility, labor compliance, wage taxation, etc.
• Serve as an internal consultant to functions within Human Resource and stakeholders across the organization.
• Propose and implement new or improved processes, guidelines, tools and systems to support the organization's needs, improve the employee experience and provide better decision support for Managers.
• Responsible for payroll system data integrity, reporting and analytics.
• Collaborate across the HR Team to create and continuously fine-tune programs through feedback loops, metrics, trends, key insights and detailed analyses.
• Consult with the BI Analytics team to ensure key stakeholders have the right insight to inform decision-making.
• Improve the overall manager and employee pay and time keeping experience when interacting with our core HR systems - in particular with UKG as our HRIS.
• Review and adapt the service delivery structure to meet changing business needs (i.e. some programs delivered centrally through the Operations team and some through HR business partners or talent acquisition teams)
• Oversee the administration, communication, and timeline of all employee compensation/tax/travel programs.
• Implement, upgrade, and maintain payroll system as needed to standardize data, streamline processes and ensure compliance.
• Ensure accurate payroll through frequent payroll audits and the management of payroll discrepancies.
• Responsible for updating and testing the Payroll Disaster Recovery plan.
• Keep current with all payroll tax regulations and regulatory requirements ensuring compliance with all state, federal and local wage and hour laws including business travel and multiple state taxation.
• Ensure regulatory compliance with all benefit programs offered (including ERISA health and welfare, retirement plans and leave of absence programs) as it relates to proper payroll deductions, taxation and reporting.
• Supervise the Payroll support staff employee(s); provide day-to-day performance management guidance, which includes coaching, counseling, career development and disciplinary actions.
• Execute special projects covering areas such as operational efficiency and organizational design.
• Maintain proficient knowledge of, and demonstrate ongoing compliance with all laws and regulations applicable to this position, ensure ongoing adherence to pertinent policies, procedures and internal controls, and meet all job-specific requirements in a timely fashion

Education/Training:

• Bachelor's degree with emphasis on accounting, business, finance, or a related field preferred.
• Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) preferred

Skills:

• Ability to use tact and discretion in handling information, attention to detail, and strong work ethic. Ability to effectively collaborate and work with all levels.
• Self-starter who is able to organize and prioritize while maintaining high standards of accuracy and quality under deadline pressure and with a high level of professionalism.
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills.

Experience:

• Minimum 10+ years of progressive payroll experience, with a minimum of 4 years successfully leading and developing a team of payroll professionals for a multi-state company. Proven ability to plan, organize and pull in key decision makers to prioritize issues and engage with management to drive the successful completion of multiple projects simultaneously with demonstrated subject matter expertise in payroll, compensation, travel expense, benefits, wage, hour and employment law and people policies and processes
• Experience working with large database sets and multiple HR-related tools, including HRIS, performance management, compensation planning and benefit portals. UKG experience a plus.
• Experience providing strategic direction and oversight of the Payroll function and serving as an advisor/confidant to all leaders.
• Advanced user of Microsoft Office applications with particularly developed skills in Excel.
• Experience in implementing and scaling systems and managing change. Strong work ethic coupled with the ability to handle confidential information with integrity.
• Experience of processing payroll with knowledge of local, state, and federal employment and tax law.

Location: Open to remote or on-site preferably within the Bank's footprint.

Compensation: Commensurate with experience plus potential for annual merit increase. In addition to your competitive salary, you will be rewarded benefits including: 11 paid holidays, paid vacation, Medical, Vision & Dental insurance, 401K with generous match, Pension, Tuition Reimbursement, Banking discounts and the list goes on!

Physical Requirements:

The physical demands described here 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. While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be required to stand, walk or sit. Use hands and fingers, handle or feel, reach with hands or arms, and speak and hear. The employee may occasionally be required to lift and or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, and the ability to focus.

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.