Payroll Director POST NUMBER: 481412

Director of Payroll
Dallas, TX – hybrid, 2 days onsite/week

Compensation: $200-220K Bonus

Full relocation assistance available.

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Director of Payroll to lead a large-scale, high-volume payroll function supporting more than 40,000 employees across multiple business units and jurisdictions. This leadership role will be responsible for overseeing end-to-end payroll operations, ensuring compliance, driving process excellence, and leading a large payroll organization within a complex enterprise environment.

The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in payroll operations, payroll compliance, workforce management, and system optimization, with demonstrated experience leading large teams in a Fortune 500 or similarly complex organization.

Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) certification and SAP S/4 HANA experience are required.

Key Responsibilities

• Direct all aspects of end-to-end payroll processing for a workforce exceeding 40,000 employees across multiple states and business entities.
• Ensure timely, accurate, and compliant payroll execution for exempt, non-exempt, union, and salaried employees.
• Establish and monitor payroll controls, policies, procedures, and governance frameworks to mitigate risk and maintain operational excellence.
• Lead payroll calendars, processing schedules, year-end activities, and special payroll events.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a large, geographically dispersed payroll organization consisting of managers, supervisors, and payroll professionals.
• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, local, and international payroll regulations, tax laws, wage and hour requirements, and company policies.
• Partner with Legal, Human Resources, Internal Audit, and Finance teams to address regulatory changes and payroll compliance matters.
• Oversee payroll tax reporting, garnishments, audits, SOX compliance requirements, and year-end processing activities including W-2 preparation and distribution.
• Serve as the payroll subject matter expert for SAP Payroll and related HRIS systems.
• Drive payroll technology enhancements, system implementations, upgrades, integrations, and automation initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to streamline processes, improve accuracy, reduce manual effort, and enhance the employee experience.
• Develop and maintain payroll metrics, KPIs, dashboards, and reporting capabilities to drive operational effectiveness.
• Ensure proper payroll accounting, reconciliations, accruals, and financial reporting support.
• Partner with Accounting and Finance leadership to maintain accurate payroll-related balance sheet and income statement reporting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field.
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) certification.
• 10 years of progressive payroll leadership experience, including management of large-scale payroll operations.
• Experience overseeing payroll processing for 40,000 employees in a complex, multi-state environment.
• Extensive experience with SAP Payroll and related payroll technologies.
• Experience within a Fortune 500 or large publicly traded organization.
• Experience supporting shared services or centralized payroll environments.
• Background leading payroll transformation, automation, or ERP implementation initiatives.

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Determining compensation for this role (and others) at Vaco/Highspring depends upon a wide array of factors including but not limited to the individual’s skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, office location and other geographic considerations, as well as other business and organizational needs. With that said, as required by local law in geographies that require salary range disclosure, Vaco/Highspring notes the salary range for the role is noted in this job posting. The individual may also be eligible for discretionary bonuses, and can participate in medical, dental, and vision benefits as well as the company’s 401(k) retirement plan. Additional disclaimer: Unless otherwise noted in the job description, the position Vaco/Highspring is filing for is occupied. Please note, however, that Vaco/Highspring is regularly asked to provide talent to other organizations. By submitting to this position, you are agreeing to be included in our talent pool for future hiring for similarly qualified positions. Submissions to this position are subject to the use of AI to perform preliminary candidate screenings, focused on ensuring minimum job requirements noted in the position are satisfied. Further assessment of candidates beyond this initial phase within Vaco/Highspring will be otherwise assessed by recruiters and hiring managers. Vaco/Highspring does not have knowledge of the tools used by its clients in making final hiring decisions and cannot opine on their use of AI products.