Senior Payroll Specialist

Join a role where accuracy, compliance, and continuous improvement truly matter. We are seeking a Senior Payroll Specialist to lead end-to-end US payroll processing across a complex, high-volume environment supporting 8 legal entities and 18,000+ employees. This is an opportunity for an experienced payroll professional to take ownership of critical payroll operations while partnering across HR, Finance, Benefits, and external vendors to deliver a seamless employee experience.

In this role, you will be at the center of ensuring employees are paid accurately, on time, and in full compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. Beyond day-to-day payroll execution, you will play a key role in strengthening controls, improving processes, supporting audits, and helping the organization evolve its payroll capabilities through automation and smarter ways of working. If you are someone who enjoys solving complex payroll challenges, working with large datasets, and influencing process improvements in a dynamic environment, this could be an excellent next step.

About the Role

As the Senior Payroll Specialist, you will own and support the full payroll lifecycle for US employees in a multi-entity, multi-state environment. You will be responsible for validating payroll data, resolving discrepancies, supporting compliance activities, and ensuring payroll records are maintained to a high standard in alignment with internal controls and audit requirements.

This position is ideal for a payroll professional who combines deep technical knowledge of US payroll regulations with a strong service mindset, excellent analytical skills, and the confidence to advise stakeholders on the payroll impact of business decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• End-to-end payroll processing: Manage timely and accurate processing of regular and off-cycle US payrolls, including earnings, deductions, garnishments, bonuses, and other special payments.

• Payroll validation and reconciliation: Review and reconcile payroll data from HRIS, time and attendance systems, and other source files; investigate and resolve discrepancies before final approval.

• Regulatory compliance: Ensure payroll operations remain compliant with US federal, state, and local tax and labor laws, including overtime, minimum wage, pay frequency, and statutory reporting requirements.

• Tax support and issue resolution: Review payroll tax filings and reports and help coordinate the resolution of tax notices, inquiries, and exceptions with internal teams and external providers.

• Controls and documentation: Maintain accurate payroll records and supporting documentation in line with SOX controls, internal audit expectations, and data privacy requirements.

• Employee support: Respond to complex employee payroll questions with professionalism and clarity, explaining pay calculations, taxes, and adjustments in a way employees can understand.

• Year-end payroll activities: Support key year-end processes such as W-2/W-2C review, annual reconciliations, and bonus cycles.

• Cross-functional partnership: Collaborate closely with HR, Benefits, and Finance on changes that affect payroll, such as policy updates, benefit changes, and organizational structure adjustments.

• Systems testing and change support: Participate in testing payroll system updates, integrations, and enhancements to ensure accuracy and business continuity.

• Process improvement and automation: Identify and implement opportunities to enhance payroll efficiency, accuracy, and control using available tools such as Excel macros, workflow solutions, Power BI, Power Automate, and other automation technologies.

• Audit support: Assist with internal and external audits by preparing schedules, documentation, and responses in a timely and organized manner.

• Subject matter expertise: Serve as a trusted advisor on US payroll regulations, helping stakeholders understand the downstream payroll implications of business decisions.

What Makes This Opportunity Attractive

This role offers the chance to make a visible impact in a large-scale, complex payroll environment where your expertise will be valued. You will work across multiple legal entities and states, giving you exposure to a broad range of payroll scenarios and compliance considerations. The role also goes beyond transactional payroll, offering opportunities to contribute to automation, systems enhancement, audit readiness, and strategic process improvement.

For candidates who enjoy both operational ownership and continuous improvement, this is a strong opportunity to deepen expertise, influence outcomes, and work closely with multiple business functions in a collaborative setting.

Required Qualifications and Experience

We are looking for a candidate with a strong foundation in US payroll operations and the ability to thrive in a high-volume environment.

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, HR, Business Administration, or equivalent relevant experience.

• Significant hands-on experience in US payroll processing within a large-volume, multi-entity, multi-state organization.

• Strong knowledge of the US legislative payroll landscape, including:

  • federal, state, and local income tax withholding
  • FICA, FUTA/SUTA, and other statutory contributions
  • wage and hour requirements under FLSA
  • overtime calculations
  • multi-state payroll complexities such as state moves, reciprocity, and local taxes

• Experience working with enterprise HRIS, payroll, and timekeeping systems.

• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including complex formulas, pivot tables, VLOOKUPs, macros, data validation, and troubleshooting large datasets.

• Strong analytical, reconciliation, and problem-solving capabilities with a high level of attention to detail.

• Proven ability to manage confidential information with professionalism and discretion.

Skills and Competencies

Success in this role requires both technical depth and strong interpersonal capability. Ideal candidates will bring:

• Excellent English communication skills, both written and spoken, with the ability to explain complex payroll matters in simple, clear language.

• A strong customer service mindset and the ability to manage sensitive employee issues with tact and empathy.

• Excellent organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

• A continuous improvement mindset, including the confidence to challenge existing processes and propose more efficient, automated solutions.

• The ability to work effectively in a cross-functional, global, and virtual team environment.

Preferred Qualifications

While not required, the following experience would be an advantage:

• Experience with Workday HCM, Workday Time and Absence, and Workday Payroll.

• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC).

• Experience in a shared services or global business services (GBS) environment.

Who You Are

You are an experienced payroll professional who takes pride in getting the details right while seeing the bigger picture. You understand that payroll is not only about processing data, but also about building trust with employees, protecting compliance, and improving business processes. You are comfortable navigating complexity, collaborating across functions, and using data and systems to drive better outcomes.

Apply

If you are looking for an opportunity where you can bring your US payroll expertise, strengthen critical operations, and contribute to meaningful process improvement in a large, sophisticated environment, this role offers both challenge and impact.

Date Posted

10-Jun-2026

Closing Date

25-Jun-2026

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorisation and employment eligibility verification requirements.