Payroll is your specialty. Accuracy is your reputation. A growing North County organization with multiple operating locations is seeking a detail-oriented Payroll Specialist to join its accounting and HR team. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who understands the importance of accurate payroll, enjoys troubleshooting discrepancies, and can manage competing deadlines without sacrificing attention to detail. Supporting a diverse employee population, this position requires someone who is comfortable handling hourly and salaried payroll, reviewing timekeeping records, processing employee changes, and partnering with managers to resolve issues before payroll closes. You'll have an active role in keeping payroll operations running smoothly while helping improve the processes behind them. The ideal candidate is organized, dependable, and comfortable communicating with employees and supervisors at all levels. If you enjoy owning your work, investigating discrepancies, and making sure people are paid correctly and on time, this could be a great fit.
What you'll be responsible for:
- Process biweekly payroll for hourly and salaried employees across multiple locations.
- Review timecards, overtime, missed punches, meal periods, and other timekeeping exceptions.
- Process new hires, terminations, pay-rate changes, bonuses, deductions, and direct deposit updates.
- Research payroll discrepancies and coordinate corrections with HR and department managers.
- Maintain accurate payroll records and confidential employee information.
- Review payroll deductions, garnishments, reimbursements, and benefit-related adjustments.
- Reconcile payroll registers and assist with payroll-related general ledger entries.
- Prepare payroll reports for management and accounting.
- Respond to employee questions regarding pay statements, deductions, and timekeeping.
- Assist with payroll audits, year-end reporting, and W-2 preparation.
- Help identify recurring errors and recommend improvements to payroll procedures.
- Ensure payroll documentation is maintained in accordance with company policies and applicable regulations.
- 2–4 years of hands-on payroll processing experience.
- Experience processing payroll for hourly employees or multiple locations.
- Familiarity with timekeeping systems, payroll deductions, and payroll reconciliations.
- Strong Excel skills and comfort working with payroll reports.
- Excellent attention to detail and deadline management.
- Professional communication skills and a customer-service mindset.
- Experience with ADP, UKG, Paylocity, Dayforce, or a comparable platform is a plus.
- Knowledge of California wage-and-hour requirements is strongly preferred.