Payroll Manager

Robert Half Management Resources is looking for an experienced Payroll Manager to lead payroll operations for one of our clients on an interim basis. This contract position will oversee full-cycle payroll delivery for approximately 5,000 employees across several states, including union-based employee populations. The ideal candidate will bring strong operational leadership, deep payroll compliance knowledge, and the ability to keep processes accurate, timely, and well-coordinated across internal teams.

Responsibilities:

• Direct the daily work of a nine-member payroll team, setting priorities, providing guidance, and ensuring consistent execution across all payroll activities.

• Manage end-to-end payroll processing for a workforce of roughly 5,000 employees, maintaining accuracy, timeliness, and completeness in each pay cycle.

• Administer payroll activities across multiple states while ensuring alignment with federal, state, and applicable labor agreement requirements.

• Oversee union payroll components such as negotiated pay rates, deductions, and contract-specific rules to support compliant employee payment practices.

• Use ADP payroll tools to strengthen process reliability, improve efficiency, and maintain standardized payroll operations.

• Review reconciliations, reporting, and payroll outputs to detect discrepancies, address issues quickly, and reduce operational risk.

• Collaborate closely with Human Resources, Finance, and related business partners to support smooth payroll delivery and resolve cross-functional concerns.

• Provide interim leadership during the contract period by reinforcing payroll stability and driving practical process improvements where needed.

• Demonstrated experience managing full-cycle payroll operations in a high-volume environment.

• Proven background processing multi-state payroll for large employee populations of 500 or more, ideally around 5,000 employees.

• Hands-on expertise with union payroll administration, including contract-driven wage and deduction rules.

• Strong working knowledge of payroll compliance requirements at the federal, state, and labor agreement levels.

• Experience leading payroll staff and overseeing day-to-day team performance.

• Proficiency with UKG payroll systems and related payroll reporting or reconciliation activities.

• Ability to investigate payroll variances, solve operational problems, and maintain accuracy under tight deadlines.