Accounting, Compensation and Benefits, Continuous Improvement, Finance, Financial Reporting, General Ledger Accounting, Internal Audit, Leadership, Maintain Compliance, Outsourcing, Payroll Administration, Payroll Management, Payroll Tax, Performance Metrics, Reconciliation, Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), Stock Purchase Plans, Tax Operations, Tax Regulations, Team Lead/Manager, Time Management, Vendor/Supplier Management
Director of Payroll Operations
Raleigh, NC · Hybrid
Banyan Search is partnering with a growing, publicly traded company to place a Director of Payroll Operations. This is a senior operational leadership role for a payroll professional with deep enterprise platform experience and a background supporting complex employee populations and equity compensation programs.
About the Opportunity
Reporting to VP-level leadership, you'll own North America payroll operations across multiple entities and pay groups while leading a team of payroll professionals. You'll be responsible for accurate, compliant, and timely payroll delivery; maintaining strong internal controls and audit readiness; and serving as the functional owner for the company's payroll and tax compliance platforms.
What You'll Do
- Lead end-to-end North America payroll operations across all entities and pay groups
- Manage and develop a team of payroll operations leaders
- Own payroll controls, SOX compliance, and audit readiness
- Oversee payroll tax operations, filings, reconciliations, and notice resolution
- Manage payroll compliance for complex populations including global mobility and cross-border scenarios
- Oversee payroll processing for share-based compensation and employee stock programs
- Maintain alignment between payroll, general ledger, and financial reporting
- Drive KPI tracking, process standardization, and continuous improvement
What You'll Bring
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
- 10+ years of progressive payroll leadership in complex, multi-entity North America environments and strong experience with publicly traded organizations
- Advanced proficiency in enterprise payroll and tax compliance platforms
- Strong knowledge of payroll tax compliance, global mobility, and expatriate taxation
- Experience with equity and stock purchase plan payroll reporting at a publicly traded company
- Proven ability to lead managers and develop high-performing teams
- Experience managing outsourced payroll vendors
Candidate must be authorized to work in the US without current or future sponsorship requirements.