Payroll Lead
$89,500–$134,000 year
On-siteSeattle, Washington, United States
Job Summary
Own end-to-end processing of biweekly multi-state US payroll spanning up to 20 states, including tax withholding, SUTA rates, and local jurisdiction compliance. Manage international payroll for employees in 5–10 countries via EOR partners, handling onboarding coordination, invoice reconciliation, and urgent employment changes. Optimize integrations between HRIS and adjacent systems to reduce manual entry, while building AI-assisted dashboards and leading data analysis projects to surface cost trends and anomalies. Perform quarterly and annual SALT reconciliations, monthly benefits reconciliations, and administer the 401(k) plan, ensuring all filings for workers' compensation and Seattle-specific taxes are accurate and timely. Respond to employee payroll questions with clarity and urgency, maintaining audit-ready documentation and driving continuous process improvements across the function.
Required Qualifications
- 4+ years of progressive payroll experience
- multi-state payroll ownership (10+ states and experience managing local tax registrations preferred)
- Hands-on experience with modern payroll/HRIS platforms and monitoring system integrations
- Advanced Excel skills, including pivot tables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, and comfort manipulating large data sets for reconciliation and reporting
- Knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll tax regulations, wage and hour rules, and payroll compliance requirements
- A solution-oriented mindset — you don't just flag problems, you offer a fix
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with experience working effectively in a virtual or hybrid environment across multiple teams
- High attention to detail, discretion with confidential information, and a strong sense of ownership over deadlines
- Must be able to remain in a stationary position for long periods of time
- The ability to communicate information and ideas so others will understand
- Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations
- The ability to observe details at close range
- Can work under deadlines
- This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.
Desired Qualifications
- Experience managing complex logistics for onboarding, extending and offboarding international employees or similar work
- Experience supporting international payroll, ideally through EOR providers such as Remote, Deel, or similar platforms
- Experience with payroll GL accounting and cost allocation, ideally in a grant-funded or nonprofit environment
- CPP or FPC certification — professional development support is available
- Experience documenting SOPs or building process docs from scratch
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