Lead, Payroll

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.

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.

Core Responsibilities

• Operational Leadership: Execute and oversee semi-monthly and bi-weekly payroll for 3,000 employees, ensuring 100% accuracy 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. You will manage external vendor relationships, including brokers and 403(b) financial advisors.

• Transformation & Innovation: Identify opportunities to automate, optimize, and audit the payroll lifecycle to increase compliance and reduce manual overhead.

​Qualifications and Experience

Education and Certification

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field required.

• Certification: Active Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) designation is required.

Technical Skills

• Direct Experience: 8 years of progressive payroll experience, with at least 2 years in a supervisory or lead capacity.

• Software: Proficiency in ADP is required; experience with Workday is strongly preferred.

• Excel Mastery: Advanced skills, including multi-function formulas, pivot tables, and sophisticated data formatting.

• Regulatory Knowledge: Comprehensive understanding of Federal, State, and Local laws, including FLSA.

Soft Skills & Leadership

• Change Management: Proven ability to act as a "change agent" , bringing transformation experience to an entrepreneurial, high-volume environment.

• Communication: Refined emotional intelligence with the ability to influence stakeholders and negotiate buy-in across departments.

• Critical Thinking: A hands-on problem solver who can balance granular detail with big- picture process improvement.

Success Academy Charter Schools is an equal opportunity employer and actively encourages applications from people of all backgrounds. Compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience. Success Academy offers a full benefits program and opportunities for professional growth.

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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.