Associate Director, Payroll Services

Purpose of the Position:

The Associate Director, Payroll Services manages and coordinates the operations and activities of the Payroll Office, ensuring the accurate and timely preparation and disbursement of employee paychecks. This includes the maintenance and payment of related taxes and liabilities, and producing biweekly labor distribution reports and monthly budget statements. The incumbent will apply and monitor labor change transactions, reconcile faculty deferred payments and liabilities, and assist in the presentation of campus-wide payroll and timekeeping training.

Key Responsibilities include

• Formulates, recommends, and implements changes to procedures to ensure the integrity of the payroll system, ensuring compliance with federal and state regulations governing payment of wages.

• Administers biweekly payroll processing for approximately 2,850 employees, including balancing salary changes, tax documents, miscellaneous deductions, leave information, overtime, time-off payroll, and straight-time exceptions.

• Advises certain academic support departments on federal contract rules and regulations, particularly Office of Management and Budget (OMB) A-21; collaborates with Contract & Grant Accounting, and the Office of Sponsored Programs to resolve external financial issues.

• Serves as the liaison between the Payroll Office and Research units, including the Office of Sponsored Programs, all Research Centers, Contract and Grant Accounting, Effort Reporting, and the Budget Office, supporting the University’s extensive externally funded research contracts, where approximately 70% of expenditures are personnel-related.

• Manages the preparation, balancing, and distribution of three biweekly payrolls and weekly manual check processes, including all aspects of payroll registers.

• Processes University benefit liabilities biweekly, and reconciles liability accounts in Banner HR/Finance; prepares and enters journal entries to balance accounts and correct defaulting liability errors.

• Assists with payroll-related training programs across campus, including Web Time Entry, ELabor, EPrints, and TCP.

• Collaborates with the Director of Payroll Services and Financial Services to develop customized labor reports supporting administrative decision-making; ensures reports are accurate, confidential, and compliant for submission to external agencies.

• Assists the Director of Payroll with testing updates, upgrades, or changes in payroll software, including Banner, TCP, and Glacier.

• Supports the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs on financial issues related to external grants and contracts, particularly labor distributions for academic support departments lacking a dedicated budget analyst.

• Assists in the development and implementation of the Business Interruption Insurance process, which mitigates costs associated with school closings due to weather or other emergencies.

• Assists in the development and implementation of the Leave Loaded System process.

• Applies technical expertise from Payroll and Contracts & Grants Accounting to improve operational efficiency without additional staffing in a growing research environment.

• Analyzes and resolves complex payroll issues; determines causes and implements corrective actions.

• Maintains knowledge of recent changes in payroll regulations, notifying affected staff of updates and implications.

• Performs monthly reconciliation of deferred faculty benefit charges, requiring a detailed understanding of organizational charges and liabilities.

• Coordinates with supervisors and departmental representatives to align payroll-related activities.

• Compiles and reviews data for state and federal reports; monitors staff submissions to ensure accurate recording of transactions.

• Generates and distributes labor distribution and budget reports biweekly and monthly, including EPrints and ELabor setup and training.

• Ensures familiarity and compliance with OMB A-21 and A-133 regulations.

• Supports payroll and encumbrance feeds, as well as LSS and Business Interruption Insurance coordination with Accounting & Finance multiple times per week.

• Develops and implements changes to work assignments, procedures, or methods to meet operational needs and improve payroll accuracy and efficiency.

• Participates in GRA/GTA orientation.

• Acts as the primary contact for payroll questions, audits, or related inquiries.

• Prepares vacation and sick rollover reports, including reconciliation of employee leave.

• Assists with campus new hire orientation.

• Serves as payroll representative for all benefit setup on the new employee benefit site (Benefit Focus).

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance