Payroll Specialist

$70,000 - $80,000 a year

Tucson, AZ (On-site Position)

Ondas is building a new kind of intelligence company, one designed for a world where speed, autonomy, and decision advantage matter more than ever. By combining multi-domain platforms, advanced sensing, secure networks, and AI-enabled analytics, Ondas helps defense, government, and critical infrastructure customers transform complex mission data into decision-ready insights when and where they matter most.

Ondas Sentinel is Ondas'U.S.based defense division, purpose-built to deliver U.S. made, U.S. delivered capabilities for the Department of Defense and allied ministries of defense. The division brings together advanced autonomous systems, mission technologies, and intelligence solutions that help customers create persistent awareness, operate with confidence, and make faster decisions in complex and contested environments.

The Stratospheric ISR business unit within Ondas Sentinel is focused on one of the most unique mission areas in aerospace and defense: manufacturing and operating high-altitude stratospheric balloon systems. Few companies in the world can do this work at operational scale. That means our teams are not simply maintaining existing systems; they are building new capabilities, solving first‑of‑their‑kind challenges, and helping define what persistent.

Ondas Sentinel is hiring a Payroll Specialist based in Tucson. This role owns end‑to‑end payroll processing for the Tucson team and provides payroll support and backup coverage across the Ondas Sentinel organization’s other locations.

• Own end‑to‑end payroll processing for the Tucson workforce: data collection, timekeeping review, pre‑processing audits, processing, post‑processing reconciliation, and funding.
• Serve as documented backup and surge support for payroll at other Ondas Sentinel locations, per the cross‑location support model.
• Ensure accurate, timely payroll tax deposits and filings (federal, multi‑state, and local), W‑2s, and year‑end processing; resolve agency notices.
• Administer payroll aspects of benefits, 401(k) contributions and funding, garnishments, PTO accruals, and expense reimbursements processed through payroll.
• Prepare payroll journal entries and labor distribution files for the general ledger; reconcile payroll accounts with the accounting team in support of the monthly close.
• Maintain payroll controls consistent with public‑company (SOX) requirements, including segregation of duties, approval workflows, and audit‑ready documentation; support internal and external audit requests.
• Maintain written payroll procedures and cross‑training documentation to preserve redundancy in both directions with the accounting team.
• Respond to employee payroll inquiries with accuracy, discretion, and confidentiality.

• 3+ years of hands‑on, end‑to‑end payroll processing experience, including multi‑state payroll.
• Working knowledge of federal and state payroll tax requirements, wage and hour rules, and year‑end reporting.
• Experience with at least one major payroll/HRIS platform;
  Paycor or Work Day experience preferred.
• Strong Excel skills (lookups, pivot tables) and comfort reconciling payroll data to the general ledger.
• Demonstrated discretion with confidential compensation data.

• FPC or CPP certification.
• Experience in a public company or SOX‑controlled environment.
• Exposure to government contractor timekeeping and labor distribution requirements (DCAA‑compliant timekeepinga plus).
• Experience supporting multiple entities or locations from a central payroll function.

• First 90 days: full ownership of Tucson payroll following documented parallel runs and cross‑training with the current processor.
• By year‑end 2026: procedures documented, cross‑location backup model operating, and readiness plan in place for the 1/1/2027 shared‑services go‑live.
• Ongoing: zero missed payroll deadlines, clean payroll reconciliations at close, and audit requests supported without escalation.

You will work side by side with experts in emerging technology, gaining…