The Role The Senior Manager, Payroll and People Operations is a hands-on leader who owns payroll, benefits, leaves, compensation, and HR operations across Versaterm's U.S., Canadian, and Quebec entities. This role combines close, working oversight of payroll - able to personally step in and run a pay cycle when needed - with building a reliable, well-run People Operations function and a structured, well-managed approach to compensation and benefits. AI is a standard part of how this role gets work done, the same way it's used across the organization today. Reporting to the CHRO, the Senior Manager leads execution, day-to-day program management, and compliance accountability across the full scope of the role.
What You Do Payroll Leadership- Own accurate, timely payroll processing - semi-monthly for U.S. and Canadian entities, biweekly for Quebec - including ad hoc payments, commissions, and bonuses.
- Maintain the ability to personally step in and run a full payroll cycle in any entity; this is a working leadership role, not a purely administrative one.
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, provincial, and Quebec-specific payroll tax regulations, including statutory and year-end filings (e.g., W-2s, T4s, T4As, RL-1s, T2200s), and maintain accurate state/provincial tax registrations and agency accounts.
- Act as data steward and primary partner to the payroll vendor (ADP) and own the Employer of Record (EOR) relationship (Rippling) for countries outside of North America;
- Support payroll and benefits integration for newly acquired entities as needed.
- Own payroll budgeting, forecasting, and internal controls - including recurring data validation and audit practices - and document processes to reduce key-person dependencies.
Benefits & Leave Program Ownership - Own the benefits program - health insurance, retirement plans, and related offerings - including plan design, vendor/broker strategy, renewals, rates, administrative standards, and escalation for vendors and third-party administrators.
- Own the leave management program end-to-end: policy design, jurisdictional compliance, and personal ownership of complex or high-risk cases.
- Ensure benefits and leave administration comply with applicable regulations - including ACA, ERISA, COBRA, FMLA, ADA, and Section 125, and Canadian/Quebec equivalents (ESA, EI, CPP, CNESST) - as well as privacy requirements for employee health information.
- Lead annual open enrollment across US and Canadian entities, including employee communications, education, and enrollment support in collaboration with benefits brokerages.
HR Operations & Systems - Own the HRIS (BambooHR) as system administrator, ensuring data integrity, clean workflows, and reliable reporting.
- Own People & Culture policy and compliance programs ensuring they are effective, well-documented, and audit-ready.
- Drive continuous improvement in HR service delivery, standardizing processes and closing gaps in the employee and manager experience.
- Use AI as a standard working tool across the role - for payroll and benefits analysis, compensation modeling, policy drafting, and reporting.
Governance & Reporting - Oversee recordkeeping and retention for payroll, benefits, and HR files in line with privacy requirements.
- Manage budgets across payroll, benefits, and HR operations, monitoring and reconciling spend.
- Support internal and external audits related to payroll, benefits, and HR operations.
- Support required workforce reporting (e.g., EEO-1) by maintaining accurate job classification data.
Compensation & Total Rewards - Administer and maintain the compensation framework - pay bands, job classification, and market benchmarking - in partnership with the CHRO.
- Support the annual compensation cycle, including budget planning, calibration, and recommendations for new hires, promotions, and equity adjustments.
- Ensure compensation practices comply with pay equity and pay transparency requirements across applicable jurisdictions.
People Leadership - Manage, coach, and develop a team across payroll and People & Culture operations, acting as both a player and a coach, and support team member professional growth.
- Partner cross-functionally with Finance, HR Business Partners, IT, and the CHRO.
- Provide front-line and escalated support to employees on payroll, benefits, leave, and compensation matters.
- Model discretion and confidentiality in handling sensitive employee and compensation information.
Other Duties as Required - Perform other related duties as assigned to support team objectives, departmental needs, and overall organizational priorities.
What You Bring- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field preferred; PLP or CPP designation, or actively working toward one.
- 10+ years of progressive payroll, benefits, and HR operations experience, including multi-entity, cross-border (U.S./Canada) operations; Quebec payroll experience is a strong asset.
- A minimum of 3-5 years of demonstrated people leadership experience
- In-depth knowledge of U.S. and Canadian payroll, tax, and benefits regulations, and familiarity with pay equity and pay transparency requirements.
- Working knowledge of compensation practices and benchmarking, or strong aptitude and motivation to build this capability.
- Experience owning or administering an HRIS (BambooHR or similar); comfortable as a technical system owner, not just an end user.
- Familiarity with Employer of Record (EOR) arrangements (Rippling or similar) and job classification/FLSA exemption analysis is an asset.
- A genuine, daily user of AI tools (Claude, Copilot) in your own work - for research, drafting, analysis, and problem-solving. AI should already be part of how you work, not something you're learning on the job.
- Prior experience operating as both a player and a coach - comfortable personally executing a payroll run, not just managing others who do.
- Strong vendor management and project management skills.
- High degree of discretion and professionalism in handling confidential payroll, benefits, and compensation information.
- Excellent communication and organizational skills; able to manage several complex priorities simultaneously under deadline pressure.
