Sr. Payroll Analyst

Job Title: Sr. Payroll Analyst
Duration: 6 months Contract with possible extension
100% Remote role

Position Overview:
The Payroll Sr. Analyst supports the Global Payroll Operations (GPO) organization by helping maintain reliable, compliant, and scalable payroll operations across multiple countries and payroll providers. This role partners with payroll, HR, Finance, People Technology, and external vendors on projects, system configuration, testing, troubleshooting, issue resolution, and continuous improvement. The successful candidate will ramp quickly, operate effectively with minimal day-to-day direction, and take ownership of investigating issues and advancing work to resolution. The role may also provide global payroll coverage when business needs require.
The ideal candidate has experience supporting global payroll, is comfortable working across systems and vendors, and brings a strategic, analytical mindset to operational work. This role is designed for a self-directed payroll professional who can quickly understand unfamiliar issues, independently manage assigned workstreams, proactively identify and investigate risks or opportunities, and escalate complex matters with well-developed analysis and recommendations.

Responsibilities:

• Support troubleshooting of payroll-related issues by researching root causes, coordinating with appropriate partners, documenting findings, and tracking issues through resolution.
• Contribute to payroll projects and process-improvement initiatives, including requirements gathering, documentation, testing, implementation, and post-launch support.
• Support Workday payroll-related configuration, business process updates, testing, troubleshooting, and coordination with People Technology partners.
• Partner with CloudPay, Client, and other payroll providers to investigate issues, track action items, validate outputs, and support service delivery.
• Maintain accurate payroll documentation, process maps, standard operating procedures, controls, and issue logs.
• Analyze payroll-related data, system outputs, and trends to identify discrepancies, root causes, control gaps, and opportunities to improve accuracy and efficiency.
• Support payroll integrations and data flows between Workday, payroll providers, time systems, HR systems, and Finance systems.
• Assist with compliance, audit, and control activities by preparing reports, gathering evidence, and coordinating responses.
• Collaborate with regional payroll partners and stakeholders to support consistent global processes while accounting for local requirements.
• Participate in vendor governance activities, including service reviews, issue tracking, escalation follow-up, and performance reporting.
• Communicate project status, risks, dependencies, and decisions clearly to stakeholders and the GPO leadership team.
• Apply sound judgment to prioritize work, anticipate downstream impacts, and recommend practical solutions.

Success in This Role:
Success in this role means ramping quickly, operating with a high degree of independence, consistently delivering accurate and timely project and analytical work, proactively deep-diving into payroll and system issues, building trusted relationships with payroll partners and vendors, contributing effectively to projects, identifying opportunities for improvement, and developing the judgment and expertise needed to take on broader global payroll responsibilities.

Skills:
Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in payroll, payroll operations, HR operations, Finance operations, or a related analytical function.
• Experience supporting payroll processes in a global or multi-country environment.
• Working knowledge of payroll systems, payroll providers, data interfaces, and payroll controls.
• Experience with Workday, including exposure to configuration, business processes, reporting, or testing.
• Experience working with a managed payroll provider such as CloudPay or Client.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills with close attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to ramp quickly, work independently with minimal direction, manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, and follow work through to completion.
• Demonstrated curiosity and initiative to deep-dive into issues, identify root causes, and pursue solutions without waiting for step-by-step instructions.
• Ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across regions, functions, and time zones.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Business, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Preferred Qualifications
• Experience supporting payroll implementations, migrations, system enhancements, or other cross-functional projects.
• Experience with payroll or HR system configuration, integrations, testing, or release management.
• Knowledge of OSV or similar payroll service/vendor environments.
• Experience with payroll reporting, reconciliations, audit support, and internal controls.
• Familiarity with global payroll compliance concepts and country-specific payroll requirements.
• Experience using data-analysis and automation tools such as Excel, Google Sheets, Google Apps Script, or business intelligence platforms.
• Payroll certification or progress toward a relevant professional certification.

Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Business, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.