Payroll Manager

Job Description

PAYROLL MANAGER

Victoria

At BC Ferries, more than 5,000 employees work around the clock to connect coastal communities across British Columbia. Behind every sailing is a dedicated team of mariners, terminal employees, skilled trades, and corporate professionals who rely on one thing every pay period: getting paid accurately and on time.

We're looking for an experienced Payroll Manager to lead one of the organization's most critical functions. This is more than managing payroll processing. It's an opportunity to lead a high-performing team, navigate the complexities of a large, unionized environment, and help modernize payroll practices that support thousands of employees across the organization.

As the Payroll Manager, you will lead all aspects of payroll operations, ensuring employees are paid correctly, on time, and in compliance with collective agreements, employment standards, pension requirements, tax legislation, benefit plans, and corporate policies.

If you're a collaborative leader who enjoys solving complex payroll challenges, driving continuous improvement, and building strong partnerships across Finance, People Experience, Accounting & Reporting, Scheduling Services and IT, we'd love to hear from you.

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Financial Operations, your key areas of responsibility will include:

• Leading, coaching and developing a high-performing payroll team, including overseeing hiring, onboarding, training, performance management and employee development;
• Overseeing end-to-end payroll operations, ensuring employee time is appropriately authorized. and employees are paid accurately and on time, with the correct statutory and contractual deductions;
• Ensuring compliance with payroll legislation, pension requirements, employment standards, tax regulations and collective agreements, while monitoring legislative changes and their impact on payroll operations;
• Leading month-end, calendar year-end and fiscal year-end payroll activities, including reconciliations, T4 preparation, statutory reporting and external audit support;
• Partnering with People Experience, Labour Relations, Scheduling Services, Accounting & Reporting and IT to resolve complex payroll matters, implement collective agreement and legislative changes, and support payroll system enhancements;
• Developing and implementing departmental strategies, policies, objectives and short- and long-term plans that strengthen governance, improve service delivery and maximize operational efficiency;
• Developing and maintaining payroll procedures, process documentation and training materials to support consistent, compliant and effective payroll practices;
• Managing the department's operating budget while aligning resources and priorities with the strategic goals of the payroll function;
• Evaluating and strengthening internal controls, ensuring the accuracy and integrity of financial records, maintaining compliance with legislative and organizational requirements, and identifying opportunities to improve processes and mitigate risk;
• Developing payroll analytics, key performance indicators and reporting to monitor trends, validate payroll accuracy and completeness, and support informed decision-making;
• Serving as the organization's payroll subject matter expert, providing technical payroll and pension guidance to internal and external stakeholders, and presenting key payroll matters and recommendations to senior leadership.

• Certified Payroll Manager (CPM) designation from the National Payroll Institute
• A degree or diploma in a business-related discipline is preferred
• 7 to 10 years of progressive management experience in a large, complex payroll environment
• Extensive experience managing payroll for a unionized workforce
• Strong knowledge of payroll legislation, pension administration, employment standards, and payroll best practices
• Demonstrated experience leading teams and developing high-performing employees
• Experience with Oracle Payroll and UKG is considered an asset
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results in a deadline-driven environment
• Strong analytical,…