Payroll & HR Operations Administrator
Location: Central New Jersey — On-site
Employment Type: Full-Time
Department: Finance/Human Resources
Compensation: $65,000–$72,000 annually, commensurate with experience
Schedule: Monday through Friday during standard business hours
About the Organization
A well-established, mid-sized organization is seeking an experienced Payroll & HR Operations Administrator to join its team. This position operates in a fast-paced, collaborative environment and works closely with Finance, Human Resources, Operations, department leaders, managers, and employees.
The organization is conducting a confidential search. Additional information about the company will be provided to qualified candidates during the interview process.
Position Summary
The Payroll & HR Operations Administrator is responsible for the accurate and timely processing of multistate payroll, payroll reporting and analytics, time-and-attendance administration, employee-data maintenance, and related HR operational support.
This position serves as a key operational resource for ADP Workforce Now and supports payroll accuracy, workforce-data integrity, compliance, audit readiness, and business continuity.
The successful candidate must be able to independently organize recurring responsibilities, anticipate deadlines, maintain effective tracking systems, follow open matters through completion, and proactively communicate discrepancies, risks, barriers, and recommended next steps.
This position requires strong hands-on payroll experience, attention to detail, sound judgment, accountability, and the ability to manage multiple priorities with an appropriate level of independence.
Essential Duties and ResponsibilitiesPayroll Processing and Administration
- Process accurate and timely biweekly, multistate payroll using ADP Workforce Now.
- Review and validate employee hours, earnings, deductions, taxes, garnishments, benefit deductions, direct deposits, and other payroll transactions.
- Maintain accurate employee payroll records.
- Review payroll previews and registers before final submission.
- Audit payroll data each cycle and proactively identify and resolve discrepancies.
- Research and process payroll corrections, adjustments, voids, reversals, and off-cycle payments when required.
- Support payroll reconciliations, general-ledger reporting, audits, and year-end processing.
- Serve as a primary point of contact for employee payroll questions, including pay discrepancies, deductions, garnishments, direct deposits, and tax documents.
- Maintain appropriate documentation and audit trails supporting payroll transactions.
- Ensure payroll practices comply with applicable federal, state, and local wage-and-hour laws, payroll regulations, and company policies.
ADP Workforce Now Administration
- Serve as a key operational resource for ADP Workforce Now.
- Maintain payroll and workforce data accurately and confidentially.
- Run standard and ad hoc payroll and workforce reports.
- Build, modify, validate, and maintain customized ADP reports for recurring operational and leadership needs.
- Analyze payroll trends, variances, overtime, attendance impacts, and audit controls.
- Support system testing, upgrades, implementations, and process improvements.
- Investigate data discrepancies and coordinate corrections with internal and external partners.
- Work with ADP and appropriate stakeholders to resolve payroll, tax, system, and reporting issues.
- Monitor data quality and recommend improvements to payroll controls and operating procedures.
Candidates whose ADP Workforce Now experience is primarily limited to employee data entry or self-service administration, without direct payroll-processing and reporting responsibility, may not meet the requirements of this position.
Time and Attendance Administration
- Administer and support the organization’s time-and-attendance platform.
- Reconcile time-and-attendance information with ADP Workforce Now before payroll processing.
- Monitor time punches, missed punches, paid-time-off usage, tardiness, attendance exceptions, and manager approvals.
- Review unresolved exceptions and proactively follow up with managers before payroll deadlines.
- Maintain accurate attendance records, validations, audit trails, and supporting documentation.
- Collaborate with Human Resources on attendance-policy administration, reporting, and corrective-action documentation.
- Assist managers and employees with timekeeping questions and system navigation.
- Support system testing, implementation activities, and process transitions as needed.
- Identify timekeeping issues that may create payroll, compliance, or employee-relations concerns.
Payroll Reporting and Analytics
- Prepare payroll summaries, labor-cost reports, overtime analyses, variance reports, census reports, and other workforce reporting.
- Produce accurate recurring reports according to established schedules.
- Respond to management requests for payroll and workforce information.
- Review reports for accuracy and completeness before distribution.
- Analyze payroll and attendance information to identify discrepancies, trends, control concerns, and potential compliance risks.
- Explain findings clearly and provide practical recommendations when appropriate.
- Maintain reporting calendars, supporting documentation, and repeatable reporting procedures.
- Support workforce planning, budgeting, audits, and operational decision-making.
Compliance, Audits, and Agency Correspondence
- Support federal, state, and local payroll-compliance requirements.
- Assist with year-end payroll processing, including tax-document review, reconciliations, corrections, and audits.
- Respond to payroll-related tax notices, garnishments, unemployment requests, employment-verification requests, and other agency correspondence.
- Maintain accurate records supporting payroll, attendance, tax, garnishment, and employment matters.
- Monitor applicable deadlines and follow assigned matters through resolution.
- Escalate significant payroll, tax, compliance, or employee-impacting concerns promptly.
- Support internal and external audits and record-retention requirements.
- Maintain confidentiality when handling employee, payroll, financial, medical, and other sensitive information.
Onboarding, Offboarding, and HR Operations
- Support payroll and HR administration throughout the employee lifecycle.
- Enter new employees accurately and timely into ADP Workforce Now.
- Coordinate and monitor new-hire documentation for completeness and accuracy.
- Maintain complete, organized, and audit-ready personnel and payroll documentation.
- Process employee changes, transfers, compensation updates, and terminations.
- Support offboarding activities and final-pay administration.
- Maintain onboarding and open-items trackers and follow up on missing information.
- Support employee communications, policy-acknowledgment tracking, and other HR operational processes.
- Coordinate with Human Resources, Finance, recruiting, managers, and employees to resolve onboarding and workforce-data issues.
Benefits Administration Support
- Provide operational support and backup coverage for benefits administration.
- Assist employees with routine benefits-enrollment questions.
- Process benefit enrollments, qualifying-life-event changes, and terminations.
- Review payroll deductions against employee benefit elections.
- Support benefit reconciliations and carrier-invoice reviews.
- Maintain access to applicable carrier and benefits-administration systems.
- Escalate eligibility, coverage, deduction, or compliance concerns to Human Resources.
- Support annual open-enrollment preparation, system testing, employee communications, and enrollment processing.
Work Planning and Process Management
- Maintain daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual work schedules for assigned responsibilities.
- Initiate established recurring processes according to applicable deadlines.
- Maintain accurate trackers identifying status, deadlines, outstanding information, responsible parties, barriers, and next steps.
- Proactively follow up with employees, managers, vendors, and agency representatives.
- Communicate material risks, delays, and unresolved issues before payroll or employee service is affected.
- Research routine questions using available procedures, system resources, prior examples, and training materials.
- Present recommended next steps when escalating operational concerns.
- Document payroll, attendance, onboarding, reporting, and benefits procedures.
- Review completed work for accuracy before submission or distribution.
- Recommend process improvements that strengthen accuracy, internal controls, efficiency, compliance, and employee service.
Required Qualifications and Experience
- Minimum of three years of direct payroll-processing experience using ADP Workforce Now.
- Demonstrated experience managing multiple stages of a complete payroll cycle.
- Experience reviewing payroll previews and registers and identifying discrepancies before payroll finalization.
- Experience running standard reports and building customized reports in ADP Workforce Now.
- Experience performing payroll reconciliations, variance analysis, and payroll-related research.
- Experience using a time-and-attendance management system.
- Experience supporting multistate payroll.
- Working knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll and wage-and-hour requirements.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including formulas, filtering, sorting, reconciliations, and data review.
- Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to independently manage multiple priorities and recurring deadlines.
- Ability to anticipate and initiate necessary next steps.
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
- Professional written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive employee and financial information appropriately.
- Ability to work effectively under pressure and adjust to changing business priorities.
- Ability to work on-site in Central New Jersey Monday through Friday.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in a fast-paced, multistate organization.
- Certified Payroll Professional or Fundamental Payroll Certification.
- Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
- supporting employee-lifecycle activities.
- Accounting experience involving reconciliations, general-ledger support, or audits.
- Experience supporting payroll or timekeeping system implementations.
- Experience supporting benefits administration and open enrollment.
- Experience with workforce-compliance initiatives and operational reporting.
Core Competencies
- Payroll ownership and accountability
- Accuracy and attention to detail
- Independent work planning
- Analytical thinking and problem-solving
- Initiative and resourcefulness
- Organization and time management
- Accountability and follow-through
- Professional communication and collaboration
- Confidentiality and discretion
- Adaptability and responsiveness
- Ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines
- Ability to collaborate across Finance, Human Resources, Operations, and departmental leadership
Education
- High school diploma or GED required.
- Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field preferred.
- An equivalent combination of education, professional training, payroll certification, and relevant experience will be considered.
Compensation and Benefits
The anticipated salary range for this position is $65,000–$72,000 annually, commensurate with relevant payroll experience, ADP Workforce Now proficiency, education, certifications, and demonstrated qualifications.
Full-time employees are eligible for company-sponsored benefits, including:
Additional benefit eligibility and plan details will be discussed during the recruiting process.
Equal Employment Opportunity
The employer is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment and fostering an inclusive and respectful environment.
Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Pay: $65,000.00 - $72,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
