Who You Are:

The Payroll & Time and Labor Practice Leader owns the structure, optimization, documentation, and long-term scalability of Payroll and Time & Labor as foundational PEO service offerings. This role is responsible for building consistent service standards, improving workflows, strengthening documentation, supporting system and process review, and partnering cross-functionally to improve accuracy, efficiency, and the client and employee experience.

This role partners closely with Payroll, Time & Labor, Implementation, Client Solutions, School Services, Product/Technology, Finance, Tax, Benefits, and Compliance teams to ensure workflows, handoffs, policies, configuration dependencies, and service expectations are clear, scalable, and aligned across the organization.

What You'll Do:

• Payroll and Time & Labor Service Model: Define, maintain, and continuously improve the service model across Payroll and Time & Labor, ensuring consistent support across multi-state, multi-client, and complex service environments.
• Process Review and Efficiency: Review Payroll and Time & Labor workflows to identify inefficiencies, recurring issues, manual workarounds, duplicate steps, and opportunities to streamline processes, reduce rework, and improve service delivery.
• Standardization and SOP Development: Build, maintain, and govern SOPs, playbooks, checklists, and service standards for Payroll and Time & Labor processes, including clear exception-handling for client-specific, state-specific, industry-specific, and system-specific scenarios.
• System Review and Documentation: Support structured review of systems, forms, configuration inputs, case routing, workflow documentation, knowledge articles, templates, and reports to ensure teams have accurate, current, and usable guidance.
• Time & Labor Discovery and Readiness: Create and maintain a consistent discovery and readiness framework for Time & Labor, including attendance practices, clocks, approvals, calendars, employee groups, pay rules, accruals, time-off policies, compliance requirements, reporting needs, and client decision points required before configuration begins.
• Platform and Configuration Alignment: Partner with operational and technology teams to support clear qualification, documentation, and handoff expectations for Time & Labor platforms and related workforce management processes.
• Policy, Handbook, and Accrual Alignment: Partner with internal teams to ensure time-off, leave, holiday, accrual, classification, and pay practice policies are reviewed early enough to support accurate payroll and timekeeping setup.
• Implementation and Handoff Standards: Define readiness checkpoints and handoff expectations between Sales, Implementation, Client Solutions, School Services, Payroll, and Time & Labor so client requirements, employee data, policy decisions, open items, and configuration dependencies are visible and actionable.
• Automation and Technology Enablement: Identify and lead automation and technology enablement opportunities across Payroll and Time & Labor, partnering with Product/Technology on tooling, AI enablement, routing logic, reporting, integrations, forms, and system improvements that reduce manual effort and improve accuracy.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Serve as a domain partner to Finance, Tax, Benefits, Implementation, Client Solutions, School Services, Compliance, Product/Technology, and operational leaders to support alignment across wage changes, pay rules, multi-state compliance, GL integrations, timekeeping setup, accruals, tax filings, and related dependencies.
• Compliance Stewardship: Maintain awareness of payroll and timekeeping compliance considerations, including wage notices, classification impacts, meal and rest period considerations, sick leave rules, time-off and accrual implications, and documentation needed to support compliant execution.
• Enablement and Knowledge Management: Build training, reference materials, and just-in-time guidance that elevate Payroll and Time & Labor proficiency across service teams and partner functions. Translate complex payroll, timekeeping, system, and compliance concepts into clear internal guidance.
• Metrics and Continuous Improvement: Partner with operational leaders to evaluate process health, recurring issue themes, readiness gaps, manual touchpoints, escalation patterns, turnaround constraints, and opportunities to measure efficiency gains through workflow improvement or automation.
• Complex Issue and Root Cause Support: Serve as a senior domain escalation partner for complex Payroll and Time & Labor issues, helping resolve the immediate concern while identifying the root cause, documentation gap, training need, or process improvement that will help prevent recurrence.
• Cross-Practice Alignment: Coordinate with Customer Experience, Benefits, Compliance, Implementation, and other practice or functional leaders to ensure Payroll and Time & Labor integrate cleanly with the broader client and employee service experience.

What You Bring:

• 5+ years of progressive payroll, time and labor, workforce management, HR technology, service operations, or related leadership experience; PEO, payroll service bureau, HR services, or large multi-state employer experience strongly preferred.
• Deep knowledge of multi-state payroll, payroll tax, garnishments, wage and hour considerations, timekeeping workflows, accruals, time-off policies, and integrations with benefits, GL, payroll, and workforce management systems.
• Demonstrated success leading process review, workflow improvement, SOP development, documentation governance, standardization, enablement, or automation initiatives at scale.
• Strong systems-thinking and process-design skills, with the ability to evaluate current-state workflows, identify root causes, and translate findings into clear standards, tools, documentation, and training.
• Ability to partner effectively with Finance, Tax, Benefits, Product/Technology, Compliance, Implementation, Client Solutions, School Services, Payroll, Time & Labor, and operational leaders.
• Experience influencing without direct authority and driving adoption of standards, processes, and documentation in a matrixed environment.
• CPP certification strongly preferred; timekeeping, workforce management, or HR technology experience strongly valued.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex payroll, timekeeping, system, and compliance concepts for operational, executive, and client-facing audiences.

Preferred Attributes

• Process-oriented, practical, and able to balance standardization with client-specific complexity.
• Comfortable moving between detail-level workflow review and broader service model design.
• Collaborative approach with strong follow-through, sound judgment, and a continuous improvement mindset.
• Ability to create structure in ambiguous environments and bring teams together around common standards.

What We Offer:

Position Salary:

85k-135k

Effective 06/1/2025 NJ passed a Pay Transparency Law which requires NJ based hiring to include a compensation range on each job posting. This compensation range is presented in good faith for candidates that are hired in these roles will be presented a salary within the range stated on the job posting.

At ExtensisHR, we recognize there are many factors that influence your overall satisfaction both at work, and in your personal life. Under our You, Supported program, we provide a perfect mixture of compensation, benefits, company culture, and resources to our employees that help you reach a happier, more balanced life. Some of these offerings include:

• Competitive compensation to reward you for your hard work every day.
• Progressive Paid-Time Off Program for you to enjoy time out of the office, including time off for volunteering and life events.
• Group Medical, Dental, Vision and Life insurance to encourage a healthy lifestyle available from day one.
• Student Loan Assistance Program where ExtensisHR contributes toward your student loans.
• Pretax Spending Accounts to ease taxes on health and dependent care expenses.
• Extensive professional development programs to help you get to where you want to go in your career.
• Discounts in retail and entertainment.
• A social and community outreach committee that promotes a fun inclusive culture through in-office events and networking opportunities.
• Complimentary coffee and snacks to keep you fueled and productive throughout the day.