Payroll Manager

Manager, Payroll

Job Summary

The Manager, Payroll will lead the organization’s end-to-end payroll function, ensuring accurate, timely, compliant, and efficient payroll processing across all employee groups.

This is a hands-on leadership role requiring extensive expertise in UKG Pro Payroll and UKG Workforce Management (WFM). The Manager will be responsible for payroll operations, system configuration, troubleshooting, reporting, integrations, controls, data integrity, and continuous optimization of the UKG environment.

The Manager will lead and develop the payroll team while partnering closely with HR, Finance, IT, Operations, UKG, and external vendors. The role will also provide leadership on payroll transformation initiatives, system enhancements, implementations, integrations, testing, automation, compliance, audits, reconciliations, and year-end activities.

The successful candidate will be a payroll subject matter expert and UKG leader who can combine strong technical payroll knowledge with systems expertise, process improvement, and people leadership.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Operations & Leadership

• Lead end-to-end bi-weekly payroll processing across all employee groups, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, compliance, and strong internal controls.
• Lead, coach, and develop the payroll team, including workload allocation, training, performance management, and ongoing professional development.
• Review and approve payroll transactions including new hires, terminations, compensation changes, bonuses, retroactive payments, leaves, taxable benefits, and other adjustments.
• Ensure accurate processing and reconciliation of statutory deductions, benefits, pension and RRSP contributions, garnishments, and other payroll deductions.
• Establish and maintain strong payroll controls, procedures, and quality assurance practices.

Payroll Compliance & Year-End

• Ensure payroll practices and system configurations comply with federal and provincial legislation, CRA requirements, employment standards, Canada Labour Code requirements, company policies, and collective agreements.
• Monitor legislative and taxation changes and ensure payroll processes and UKG configurations are updated accordingly.
• Lead payroll audits, reconciliations, year-end processing, and statutory reporting, including T4s, T4As, RL-1s, taxable benefits, pension adjustments, and other required filings.
• Ensure all payroll remittances and filings are completed accurately and within required deadlines.
• Identify compliance risks and implement appropriate corrective actions.

UKG Pro & Workforce Management

• Serve as the organization’s payroll subject matter expert for UKG Pro and UKG Workforce Management (WFM).
• Maintain and optimize UKG payroll configuration, including earnings and deduction codes, taxation, pay rules, employee data, workflows, and related payroll functionality.
• Manage and optimize UKG WFM/timekeeping integrations to ensure accurate transfer of employee hours and payroll data.
• Troubleshoot complex payroll, timekeeping, configuration, integration, and data issues and determine appropriate resolutions.
• Develop and maintain payroll reports, queries, audits, reconciliation tools, and dashboards using UKG and related systems.
• Partner with HR, IT, Finance, UKG, and other vendors on system upgrades, enhancements, integrations, configuration changes, and technical issues.
• Lead user acceptance testing (UAT), parallel testing, data validation, defect resolution, and implementation readiness for payroll system changes.
• Evaluate existing payroll processes and systems and recommend improvements that reduce manual work, minimize risk, and improve employee and management experience.
• Maintain appropriate documentation for system configuration, processes, integrations, controls, and business continuity.

Reporting, Analytics & Financial Controls

• Develop and analyze payroll reports supporting payroll validation, labour-cost analysis, headcount reporting, tax remittances, financial reconciliation, and management decision-making.
• Partner with Finance on payroll accounting, payroll-to-GL reconciliations, accruals, variance analysis, budgeting, and forecasting.
• Investigate payroll discrepancies and data issues and implement sustainable corrective actions.
• Maintain strong audit trails and documentation to support internal and external audits.

Stakeholder Management

• Act as a senior point of contact for payroll-related inquiries and escalations from employees, managers, executives, auditors, government agencies, and other stakeholders.
• Partner with HR, Finance, IT, and Operations on compensation changes, organizational changes, employee data, budgeting, forecasting, policy changes, and payroll-related projects.
• Work effectively with external vendors and UKG representatives to resolve issues and deliver system enhancements.
• Maintain a high level of confidentiality when handling sensitive employee, compensation, payroll, and financial information.

Qualifications & Requirements

• 12+ years of progressive Canadian payroll experience, including a minimum of 5 years in a supervisory or managerial capacity.
• Payroll Leadership Professional (PLP) designation required.
• Extensive knowledge of Canadian payroll legislation, taxation, statutory deductions, year-end requirements, and payroll compliance.
• Extensive hands-on experience with UKG Pro Payroll is required, including payroll processing, configuration, troubleshooting, reporting, testing, and system optimization.
• Extensive hands-on UKG Workforce Management (WFM) experience is required, including timekeeping, payroll integrations, configuration, troubleshooting, testing, and system enhancements.
• Proven experience leading or playing a key leadership role in an end-to-end UKG implementation, including requirements gathering, configuration, integrations, data validation, testing/UAT, go-live, and post-implementation support.
• Demonstrated experience with payroll process improvement, automation, system controls, reconciliations, and data integrity.
• Experience supporting payroll across multiple provinces and/or a federally regulated environment is strongly preferred.
• Experience with unionized payroll and collective agreements is an asset.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including PivotTables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, complex formulas, data analysis, and reconciliations.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to investigate complex payroll and system issues and implement effective solutions.
• Strong leadership, communication, relationship-building, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to work effectively with HR, Finance, IT, Operations, senior leadership, UKG, and external vendors.
• Exceptional attention to detail, accuracy, discretion, and confidentiality.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver against strict payroll deadlines.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a senior payroll leader who combines deep Canadian payroll expertise with strong UKG Pro and UKG WFM technical knowledge. They should be comfortable both leading a payroll team and getting into the system to troubleshoot configuration, integrations, reporting, data, and payroll issues.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record of UKG implementation, payroll transformation, process automation, compliance, controls, and continuous improvement, along with the leadership skills required to build a high-performing payroll function.

Candidates must be eligible to work in Canada

I would like to thank all the candidates in advance. Please do stay connected on LinkedIn for future opportunities. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted .

This position reflects a current vacancy with one of our clients. Our Recruiters combine their expertise and AI-enabled technology in the recruitment process.