Payroll Manager

The City of Redmond is a thriving, culturally diverse community, and home to over 80,000 residents. Redmond is the hub of an array of commerce and industry ranging from technology, aerospace, and gaming to biomedical and innovation start-ups. In this role, you will represent the city, and our values of service, integrity, accountability, belonging and stewardship.

Under the general direction of the Human Resources Director, this role will develop, administer, evaluate, and manage the Payroll Division within the Human Resources Department. This role will serve as a member of the HR department's strategic leadership team and support the Department and Director at a strategic level.

Our ideal candidate is both technically strong in payroll operations and a passionate people-leader committed to building a high-performance work team and driving continuous process improvement through a time of growth. You will be successful in this role if you thrive in a fast-paced environment, enjoy developing staff, support change through strengthening internal controls, and implementing and maintaining payroll best practices to ensure accuracy, compliance, efficiency and exceptional employee experience.

• Lead, coach, mentor and train the payroll team, supporting accountability, engagement and professional development.
• Oversee and direct the work of assigned staff and department resources as required.
• Create and maintain a collaborative, service-oriented team culture.
• Identify and set Payroll division and staff goals, objectives and short- and long-range strategies.

• Evaluate, enhance or redesign payroll processes for optimization and ensure:
• Payroll tasks are handled by staff on time, consistently and accurately.
• Standard operating procedures (SOPs) updates occur in tandem with policy and/or collective bargaining agreement changes.
• SOPs are maintained in an organized and easily accessible manner.
• Payroll processing and Payroll staff efforts are compliant with applicable federal and Washington state laws, internal policies and procedures, and union collective bargaining agreements.
• Controlled payroll variances by routinely performing pre and post payroll auditing and reconciling.
• When payroll processing issues are discovered, identify the most effective correction, document the action taken for future reference, and make changes in the SOPs so the same mistakes do not continue.
• Work collaboratively with Benefits Administration and Leave Administration staff on payroll processing requirements and address issues that impact employees city-wide.
• Research, analyze and recommend best practice changes and updates to improve payroll performance, and document the changes in the SOPs.
• Research, analyze and draft payroll policies and procedures, and collaborate with the leadership team to rework, finalize, and implement any necessary policy or process changes.
• Participate on labor negotiations teams as assigned and/or provide input on policy or collective bargaining agreements’ language changes that impact payroll processing.
• Respond to questions regarding the interpretation and/or application of payroll procedures in relation to the personnel manual, collective bargaining agreements, civil service rules, etc.
• Educate City leadership, management, and/or employees on payroll processing tools and resources, as needed.
• Prepare and present sensitive and/or complex information and recommendations verbally and in writing to various audiences (management, elected officials, union representatives, employees, etc.).
• Design, develop and implement proactive and reactionary payroll-related communications.

• Business Owner and Payroll Functional Lead on changes to and implementation of a new HR/Payroll system, moving from the Tyler/Eden product to UKG Pro. Stabilize the new HR/Payroll system and then maintain in accordance with updates and process enhancements.
• Oversee all change management functions in preparation for the implementation of UKG Pro and any future updates to the HR/Payroll system. This will include implementing…