Payroll Operations Analyst, Shared Services

Job Summary

Reporting to the Senior Payroll Operations Manager, the Payroll Operations Analyst will be a key driver of efficiency, accuracy, scalability, and governance across a complex multi-entity payroll environment. The role focuses on payroll analytics, process optimization, system enhancements, and enterprise reporting rather than routine processing. It centers on analyzing payroll data, identifying trends, improving workflows, and supporting system optimization to elevate the employee experience and strengthen compliance.

A Shared Services Center (SSC) centralizes critical business processes to streamline operations, reduce costs, and deliver consistent quality. SSC functions include:

• O2C (Order-to-Cash):
  Manages the customer journey from order to payment, driving smoother revenue processes.
• R2R (Record-to-Report):
  Enables robust financial reporting and accounting.
• P2P (Procure-to-Pay):
  Ensures timely vendor payments and strong supplier relationships; manages the Travel and Expense program.
• Payroll (Hire-to-Retire):
  Ensures accurate, compliant employee payments.
• Center of Excellence
  :
  Drives innovation and continuous improvement.

Shared Services enables companies to focus on growth and strategic goals while maintaining operational excellence.

• Develop, maintain, and automate payroll reports and dashboards to support business insights and decision-making.
• Analyze payroll data to identify trends, discrepancies, and opportunities for improvement.
• Partner with Finance, HR, and leadership to provide data-driven recommendations.
• Monitor key payroll metrics (accuracy, timeliness, exceptions, audit findings).

• Evaluate existing payroll workflows and identify opportunities to streamline, standardize, and automate processes.
• Lead or support continuous improvement initiatives to enhance efficiency and reduce manual work.
• Document payroll processes, SOPs, and controls to ensure consistency and compliance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve upstream and downstream processes impacting payroll.

• Support payroll system enhancements, configuration updates, and testing activities.
• Partner with HRIS and IT teams to troubleshoot issues and optimize system performance.
• Assist in evaluating new tools, integrations, and technologies that improve payroll operations.

• Serve as a payroll subject matter expert for M&A activities, employee data validation, risk assessments, and integration planning.
• Support payroll conversions including balance loads to produce correct monthly, quarterly and annual tax reporting.
• Work closely with the M&A team to ensure a smooth transition, including documentation storage oversight.

• Calculate, validate, and coordinate funding for deferred compensation programs, including non-qualified deferred compensation (NQDC), executive plans, and other complex arrangements.
• Support payroll processing and compliance related to bonuses, severance, equity compensation, and executive payroll.
• Partner with Finance, Treasury, Legal, and third-party administrators to ensure accurate funding, accounting, payroll taxation, and reporting.

• Assist with internal and external payroll audits by preparing data, documentation, and analysis.
• Ensure payroll processes align with federal, state, and local regulations.
• Maintain strong internal controls and support risk mitigation efforts.

• Work with HR, Finance, and Operations to ensure payroll data integrity and alignment.
• Provide analytical support for compensation changes, organizational updates, and special projects.
• Serve as a resource for payroll-related inquiries requiring research or analysis.

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, HR, Business Analytics, or related field or equivalent experience required.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in payroll, HR analytics, or related operational roles.
• Strong analytical skills with proficiency in Excel, reporting tools, and data visualization…