Payroll Accountant / Payroll & HR Specialist
Location: South King County, Washington
Schedule: Full-time, Monday–Friday, onsite
Compensation: Approximately $26–$35/hour, depending on experience
Opportunity Overview
A growing, multi-state organization is seeking an experienced Payroll Accountant / Payroll & HR Specialist to join a small, collaborative HR function and take significant ownership of payroll operations.
This is a payroll-first position supporting approximately 500 employees across 15 states. Roughly 75% of the role centers on payroll, reporting, reconciliation, benefits deductions and related compliance, with the remaining responsibilities providing exposure to onboarding, benefits administration and general HR operations.
The opportunity is particularly well suited for someone who enjoys the technical side of payroll but wants broader exposure and greater ownership than they may receive in a large, highly siloed organization.
What Makes the Opportunity Different
- Significant ownership of a complex multi-state payroll
- Approximately 500 employees across 15 states
- Direct partnership with HR leadership
- Exposure to multiple compensation structures
- Opportunity to work across payroll, benefits and HR operations
- Growing, acquisition-oriented organization
- Collaborative environment with visibility across functions
- Opportunity to develop broader HR expertise without leaving payroll behind
- Established payroll/HRIS technology environment
- Small-team setting where individual contributions are highly visible
Responsibilities
- Process and support biweekly full-cycle payroll for a multi-state employee population
- Manage payroll for hourly, salaried and variable-compensation employees
- Review earnings, deductions, taxes and other payroll calculations for accuracy
- Reconcile payroll records and investigate discrepancies
- Reconcile benefit deductions and vendor billing, including medical, dental, vision, HSA and FSA programs
- Support federal, state and local payroll tax compliance
- Assist with garnishments, levies and child-support orders as applicable
- Partner with Finance/Accounting on payroll reporting and general-ledger alignment
- Support payroll, financial and retirement-plan audits
- Maintain accurate payroll and employee records
- Assist with new-hire processing and onboarding
- Support benefit enrollment and other administrative HR activities
- Maintain appropriate employment documentation
- Produce payroll and HR reports as needed
- Protect confidential employee and compensation information
- Develop into a dependable payroll partner capable of independently owning assigned processes and deadlines
Ideal Candidate Profile
- 2+ years of hands-on payroll experience
- Experience participating directly in full-cycle payroll
- Multi-state payroll experience strongly preferred
- Experience with ADP Workforce Now or another sophisticated payroll/HRIS platform
- Strong Excel skills, including pivot tables and lookup/reconciliation functions
- Demonstrated ability to reconcile payroll and financial data
- Working knowledge of federal, state and local payroll requirements
- Strong attention to detail and deadline management
- Comfortable troubleshooting payroll discrepancies
- Able to handle confidential employee information professionally
- Reliable and comfortable working in an onsite environment
- Collaborative, accountable and willing to take ownership
Preferred Payroll/Business Characteristics
The strongest candidates will bring experience with several of the following:
- Payroll populations of several hundred employees
- Multi-state or distributed workforces
- Hourly and salaried payroll
- Commission or draw-based compensation
- Benefit deduction reconciliation
- Payroll taxes across multiple jurisdictions
- Garnishments, levies and support orders
- Payroll or financial audits
- 401(k) audit support
- Advanced Excel reconciliation
- ADP Workforce Now
- UKG or comparable enterprise payroll platforms
An associate degree in Accounting, Business, Human Resources or a related field is helpful but not the primary selection criterion.
Not a Fit If You
- Have primarily general HR experience with limited hands-on payroll responsibility
- Have only submitted payroll changes without participating in full-cycle processing
- Are uncomfortable working extensively in Excel
- Do not enjoy reconciliation and detailed payroll work
- Require a remote position
- Are unable to maintain a reliable Monday–Friday onsite schedule
- Prefer a highly siloed position with narrowly defined responsibilities
- Are primarily seeking employee-relations or strategic HR responsibilities
Compensation
The anticipated compensation range is approximately $26–$35 per hour, depending on payroll experience, technical capabilities, system knowledge and overall qualifications.
The organization also offers a competitive benefits package that may include medical, dental and vision coverage, life insurance, flexible spending options, supplemental insurance, retirement-plan contributions, paid time off, paid holidays and ongoing training opportunities.