Senior Payroll Specialist

Woodard & Curran is a national engineering, science, and operations firm with a simple vision for clean water, a safe environment, healthy communities, and happy people. As an employee-owned company, we strive to cultivate teams that encourage collaboration in an inclusive culture. We seek talented individuals from all backgrounds to help us address a broad range of water and environmental issues. We prioritize our people, offering opportunities for professional growth, ownership, and flexibility. This commitment enables us to make a meaningful impact on our clients, communities, and the planet.
Who We Are Looking For:A Senior Payroll Specialist who is responsible for ensuring all payroll is processed accurately and timely for all employees, in compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. This role requires a strong customer service orientation and a collaborative approach, working closely with HR, Benefits, and Finance teams to support compensation-related activities. The specialist oversees and completes biweekly payroll processing from start to finish through Workday, performs biweekly reconciliation, and verifies monthly and quarterly company totals. This individual also participates in year-end processing and works with auditors annually to verify procedures and company totals.
Outcomes: Payroll processed accurately and timely Compliance with federal and state tax regulations Entries to the general ledger posted accurately and timely

What You Will Be Doing at Woodard & Curran:

• Ensure payroll-related transactions are processed in compliance with external and internal policies.
• Provide exceptional customer service to employees and internal stakeholders by responding to payroll-related inquiries with professionalism and accuracy.
• Partner effectively with HR, Benefits, and Finance teams to ensure alignment on payroll-related matters, including compensation changes, benefit deductions, and financial reporting.
• Oversee end-to-end biweekly payroll processing using Workday, ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
• Calculate and process federal and state tax and social security withholdings, union dues, and other deductions, including insurance, benefits, 401(k) contributions, and company match.
• Review time-worked inputs for calculation, coding, or other errors.
• Maintain ongoing tax compliance with federal and state regulations.
• Create and monitor reports to identify potential problems or errors.
• Audit payroll information for accuracy.
• Reconcile payroll deposits, tax withholdings, wage garnishments, and voluntary deductions.
• Maintain and reconcile general ledger (GL) entries related to payroll, ensuring proper coding and financial integrity.
• Collaborate with Finance on payroll journal entries and month-end close activities.
• Lead and participate in problem-solving and special projects within the Payroll department.
• Test upgrades and new/existing configurations within Workday and the company ERP, ensuring payroll functionality is optimized.
• Participate in compensation review processes. Process stock and bonus payments.

This list of duties is not intended to be all-inclusive; other duties may be assigned as needed.

What You Will Need To Succeed:

• 5–7 years of payroll experience and/or training, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Hands-on experience with Workday Payroll is required.
• Demonstrated experience with payroll-related GL posting and reconciliation.
• Bachelor’s degree in business or accounting preferred.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong customer service skills with a commitment to providing a positive employee experience.
• Ability to communicate effectively with employees at all levels of management.
• Ability to maintain the highest level of confidentiality.
• Strong attention to detail and highly organized.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities with various deadlines.
• Ability to adapt to changes in business conditions and environments.
• Professional dedication to quality and customer service.

Desirable Qualifications:

• Proven ability to build effective partnerships across HR, Benefits, and Finance functions.
• CPP certification preferred.
• Experience with payroll in a professional services firm.
• Advanced Excel skills.
• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) preferred.

Employee Support & Benefits
Retirement Savings:• 401(k) Pre-tax or Roth Contributions: The company matches 100% of the first 3% of salary contributed
Time away from work: