Payroll and Benefits Specialist

Velir is an established mid-sized agency with a top-tier portfolio of clients, ranging from the world's largest non‑profits to Fortune 500 brands. As of 2023, Velir acquired Brooklyn Data Company, a premier data and analytics consultancy focused on leadership, process improvement, implementation, and advanced analytics. Velir is a remote first company that offers competitive pay and excellent benefits. We believe people are our greatest asset and build our culture on trust, collaboration, and continued improvement.

We strive for excellence in everything we do, embracing challenges as opportunities for growth. Our success is driven by a shared passion for making a positive impact on our customers, our communities and each other.

As Payroll & Benefits Specialist, you'll sit at the operational core of how we support our people—ensuring they are paid accurately, supported thoughtfully, and enabled by systems. You'll own US payroll (our largest population), coordinate payroll with UK and Canada EOR partners, manage global contractor payments, and run US benefits administration. You'll partner closely with Finance, brokers, carriers, and the broader People Experience team to keep operations clean, compliant, and continuously improving.

You'll also be one of the primary interfaces between our systems and our people. When someone has a payroll issue, a benefits question, or a leave concern, you'll be the steady, clear, solutions‑oriented voice on the other end. This role is for someone who loves details, is very organized, takes ownership naturally, communicates with confidence, and gets real satisfaction from keeping things humming smoothly.

• Run end‑to‑end US payroll in Rippling with accuracy and consistency
• Audit changes carefully—new hires, comp updates, bonuses, terminations
• Coordinate payroll submissions and approvals with UK and Canada EOR partners
• Oversee global contractor payments and documentation
• Maintain multi‑state compliance and partner with Finance on reconciliations
• Manage year‑end processes (W‑2s, 1099s, EOR coordination)
• Serve as the trusted, calm point of contact for payroll questions and issue resolution

You won't just press "run." You'll build confidence in the system.

• Own eligibility, enrollments, and life event changes in Rippling
• Administer medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and voluntary programs
• Lead Open Enrollment execution end‑to‑end
• Partner closely with brokers and carriers on reconciliations, renewals, and issue resolution
• Translate complex benefits information into practical, clear guidance for employees when they are hired and on‑going

• Support FMLA, state leaves, disability, and other leave programs
• Ensure coordination between leave tracking, payroll adjustments, and benefits continuation
• Respond to employee questions with professionalism, empathy, and strong follow-through
• Troubleshoot issues across payroll systems, carriers, and vendors—owning resolution from start to finish
• Maintain organized, audit‑ready documentation

• Identify inefficiencies and strengthen payroll and benefits workflows
• Improve controls, reporting, and documentation
  
  Help fine‑tune our recently implemented HRIS (Rippling)—improving configuration, data integrity, and usability
• Proactively suggest smarter ways to operate as we scale domestically and internationally

• 3–5 years of payroll, benefits, or People Operations experience in a small organization. Experience with Rippling is a plus.
• Strong exposure to multi‑state US payroll. EOR experience a plus
• Comfortable interfacing directly with employees and external vendors/brokers
• Highly detail‑oriented—you catch what others miss
• A self‑starter who figures things out without waiting for instructions or answers…you enjoy the search for answers
• Confident and composed when problem‑solving with employees
• Bold enough to identify improvements—disciplined enough to execute them well
• Experience participating in or refining an HRIS implementation strongly preferred.

• Frequent sitting at a desk…