Senior Payroll Manager

Senior Payroll Manager

Compensation: $140k - $160K

Location: Reston, VA

We are seeking an experienced Payroll Manager to lead end-to-end payroll operations for a government contracting environment. This role is responsible for ensuring compliant, accurate, and timely in-house payroll processing across multiple programs, pay groups, and states. The ideal candidate has at least 5 years of managerial payroll experience, deep familiarity with government contracting payroll requirements, and hands-on expertise with Deltek Costpoint and Deltek Time & Expense (T&E) systems.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Operations

• Manage full-cycle, in-house payroll processing for salaried and hourly employees, ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
• Oversee payroll for multiple pay groups and jurisdictions, including multi-state taxation, garnishments, deductions, and benefits integration.
• Ensure payroll data integrity in Deltek Costpoint and Deltek T&E, including time approvals, labor transfers, and corrections.
• Review and reconcile payroll registers, variance reports, labor distribution, and general ledger postings.
• Coordinate payroll calendar(s), off-cycle payments, bonuses, retro pay, and final pay.

Government Contracting Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable federal/state laws and government contracting requirements, including but not limited to:
• DCAA timekeeping and labor distribution standards
• FAR/DFARS labor charging rules
• SCA, DBA, and prevailing wage requirements (as applicable)
• Certified payroll reporting where required
• Partner with Finance and Contracts teams to ensure labor costs are properly captured and allocated by project and cost objectives.
• Support internal/external audits related to payroll, labor, and timekeeping, including responding to DCAA, DCMA, and client audits.

Leadership & Process Improvement

• Lead, mentor, and develop the payroll team; set performance goals and ensure effective training and coverage.
• Evaluate and improve payroll and timekeeping workflows to enhance accuracy, compliance, and efficiency.
• Document payroll policies, processes, and SOPs; ensure consistent adoption across the team and organization.
• Act as escalation point for complex payroll issues; provide expert guidance to HR, Finance, and employees.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of payroll management/leadership experience with demonstrated team oversight.
• In-house payroll experience within a government contracting environment.
• Strong working knowledge of DCAA-compliant payroll/timekeeping and labor distribution.
• Hands-on experience with Deltek Costpoint and Deltek Time & Expense (T&E).
• Experience processing payroll in a multi-state environment.