Lead, Payroll Manager

Thanks for your interest in Success Academy! Running a large, fast-growing, and high-performing network of public charter schools takes a village - families, children, teachers, staff and faculty, advocates, and supporters alike. We are growing fast in New York and expanding to Florida, and we would love to welcome you to our community! We work tirelessly every day to ensure children have access to a fun, rigorous, whole-child education regardless of zip code or economic status.

When you join SA, you play a part in giving every student who walks through our doors a fair shot at reaching his or her potential.

About the Role

As the Lead Payroll, you will hold primary day-to-day responsibility for the end-to-end payroll operations of a complex, 3,000+ employee organization. Reporting directly to the Leader of Finance Operations, you will manage a dedicated team of 1–2 specialists and serve as a strategic change agent, bridging the gap between routine processing and high-level financial transformation.

Key Responsibilities

• Operational Leadership: Execute and oversee semi-monthly and bi-weekly payroll for 3,000+ employees, ensuring 100% accuracy, timeliness, and compliance.
• Regulatory Expertise: Serve as the resident Subject Matter Expert (SME) for payroll regulations, specifically for New York State and multi-state US jurisdictions.
• Deductions Management: Maintain deep technical knowledge of withholdings, including complex payroll taxes, medical elections, 403(b) contributions, garnishments, and diverse benefit deductions.
• Systems & Integration: Lead the maintenance and optimization of integrations between the HRIS and payroll processing systems.
• Compliance & Audit: Drive the issuance of annual W-2 statements and manage all internal/external audit inquiries.
• Stakeholder Partnership: Act as a critical business partner to Benefits, HR, FP&A, and Accounting. Manage external vendor relationships, including brokers and 403(b) financial advisors.
• Transformation & Innovation: Proactively identify opportunities to automate, optimize, and audit the payroll lifecycle to increase compliance, streamline workflows, and reduce manual overhead.

Requirements

• Education & Certification
• Degree: Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field required.
• Certification: An Active Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) designation is preferred.
• Technical Skills & Experience
• Direct Experience: 8+ years of progressive payroll experience, with at least 2 years in a supervisory or leadership capacity.
• Software Proficiency: Experience with ADP is required; experience with Workday is strongly preferred.
• Excel Mastery: Advanced data manipulation skills, including multi-function formulas, pivot tables, and sophisticated data formatting.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Comprehensive, up-to-date understanding of Federal, State, and Local laws, including FLSA.
• Leadership & Soft Skills
• Change Management: Proven ability to act as a "change agent," bringing transformation experience to an entrepreneurial, fast-paced, and high-volume environment.
• Communication: Refined emotional intelligence with the ability to influence stakeholders, deliver exceptional internal customer service, and negotiate buy-in across departments.
• Critical Thinking: A hands-on problem solver who can easily balance granular detail with big-picture process improvement.

Day-One Health & Wellness:

Medical, dental, and vision coverage starting your first day (SA covers 82% of our core medical plan), plus a free One Medical membership and confidential mental health support via EAP/Talkspace.

Financial Security:

403(b) retirement plan with a 3% employer match, up to $2,400/year in employer HSA contributions, employer-paid life/disability insurance, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligibility.

Time to Recharge:

Generous paid time off, paid holidays, and paid parental leave.

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We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We actively seek applications from people of all backgrounds to strengthen our community and the perspectives needed to flourish in a multicultural world. Success Academy offers a full benefits program and opportunities for professional growth.

Success Academy Charter Schools does not offer employment-based immigration sponsorship.