Senior Associate​/ Manager, Payroll & Benefits

About Superluminal Medicines:

Superluminal Medicines is a generative biology and chemistry company revolutionizing the speed and accuracy of how small molecule medicines are created. The Company’s platform aims to create candidate‑ready compounds with unprecedented speed using a combination of deep biology, computational and medicinal chemistry, machine learning, and proprietary big data infrastructure. We are expanding the team of talented scientists who seek to build the future of small molecule drug discovery with creativity and innovation.

About the Role:

We are seeking an experienced Senior Associate/ Manager Payroll & Benefits to join our team. In this role, you will own the end‑to‑end payroll cycle, administer comprehensive employee benefit programs, and serve as support for equity administration. You will support Finance, HR, and external advisors to ensure accuracy and full regulatory compliance.

Who would love this job?

A professional who is passionate about payroll and benefits administration and eager to expand their expertise in equity administration. A curious individual looking for an opportunity with a growing company and a small, cross‑functional G&A team. Someone who is detail‑oriented, process‑driven, and a proactive problem solver with a customer‑service mindset. An ambitious self‑starter who enjoys working independently but also thrives as part of a collaborative and supportive team.

Key Responsibilities:

Payroll Administration

• Process multi‑state, full‑cycle payroll (semi‑monthly) with accuracy and timeliness for all employees.
• Reconcile payroll registers, general ledger entries, and payroll‑related balance sheet accounts.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local wage and hour laws, tax regulations, and garnishment orders.
• Partner with accounting on payroll accruals, journal entries, month‑end close activities, ad‑hoc reporting, and system integrations.

Benefits Administration

• Administer health, dental, vision, life, disability, FSA/HSA, and 401(k) plans including onboarding, open enrollment, qualifying life events, and day‑to‑day employee inquiries.
• Coordinate with HR, benefits brokers, and carriers on plan changes, renewals, billing reconciliation, and claims escalations.
• Manage COBRA administration, ACA reporting (1094-C/1095-C), annual non‑discrimination testing, as well as other reporting as assigned.
• Support leave of absence processes (FMLA, state leaves, personal leave).
• Develop, update, and communicate benefits and leave policies while serving as the primary resource for employee inquiries, issue resolution, and interpretation of plan and policy provisions.

HR Administration & Employee Records

• Maintain accurate and up‑to‑date employee records in the HRIS, including new hires, terminations, transfers, promotions, compensation changes, and personal data updates.
• Process employment verifications, unemployment claims, and HR‑related correspondence.
• Support HR compliance activities including I‑9 administration, E‑Verify, EEO‑1, and applicable state HR filings.
• Respond to employee inquiries regarding HR policies, procedures, and programs; elevate complex issues appropriately.
• Support the administration of compensation change workflows, and merit increase processing in the HRIS.

Onboarding & Offboarding

• Coordinate and facilitate the new hire onboarding record keeping, including pre‑boarding paperwork, HRIS setup, benefits enrollment, and payroll activation.
• Administer offboarding processes including final pay calculations, benefits termination, equity notifications, equipment retrieval coordination, and exit interview scheduling.
• Maintain and continuously improve onboarding and offboarding checklists to reflect current policies, systems, and compliance requirements.

Systems, Reporting & Process Improvement

• Serve as a functional administrator for the HRIS and payroll platform; manage configuration, integrations, and audits.
• Generate and analyze standard and ad‑hoc compensation, benefits, and headcount reports for leadership and Finance.
• Identify and implement process improvements to increase efficiency, reduce error risk, and strengthen internal controls.
• Train managers and employees on…