Process Operations Manager - Payroll

Acuity Inc. (NYSE: AYI) is a market-leading industrial technology company. We use technology to solve problems in spaces, light and more things to come. Through our two business segments, Acuity Brands Lighting (ABL) and Acuity Intelligent Spaces (AIS), we design, manufacture, and bring to market products and services that make a valuable difference in people’s lives.

We achieve growth through the development of innovative new products and services, including lighting, lighting controls, building management solutions, and an audio, video and control platform. We focus on customer outcomes and drive growth and productivity to increase market share and deliver superior returns. We look to aggressively deploy capital to grow the business and to enter attractive new verticals.

Acuity Inc. is based in Atlanta, Georgia, with operations across North America, Europe and Asia. The Company is powered by approximately 13,000 dedicated and talented associates. Visit us at www.acuityinc.com.

Work location:

• This position may be based anywhere in the United States and includes travel as part of the responsibilities.

Job Summary

The Payroll Process Operations Manager is responsible for leading payroll process operations and driving discipline around payroll policies, controls, and time management standards. This role serves as a key operational leader, leveraging data analytics to improve payroll performance, reduce risk, and enable informed decision-making. The role will also support mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities, including payroll integration, process harmonization, and compliance alignment across newly acquired entities. The position also serves as a key liaison across HR Technology, Finance, and HR Operations to lead cross-process and system changes, govern pay-impacting rules, and provide operational analytics that strengthen payroll accuracy and service performance.

The role can be based anywhere in the U.S.A.

Key Tasks & Responsibilities (Essential Functions)

• Payroll Process Operations: Lead payroll process operations by ensuring disciplined execution of payroll calendars, cutoffs, and workflow standards. Serve as the primary escalation point for payroll issues and operational risks, driving timely resolution and on-time, accurate pay delivery. Act as the HR Operations expert on wage and hour compliance, payroll policies, and timekeeping processes, overseeing workforce management systems to ensure adherence to federal, state, and local labor laws. Establish and maintain strong internal controls that safeguard payroll accuracy, regulatory compliance, and financial integrity. Drive continuous process improvement through standardization, automation, and audit-ready documentation while supporting payroll transformation, M&A integration activities, and system and policy enhancements that improve scalability and operational effectiveness.
• Project Management & System / Implementation Leadership: Lead payroll workstreams for system implementations, upgrades, and configuration changes. Partner with HR Technology, Finance, and IT to assess cross-process impacts, coordinate testing and readiness activities, and manage timelines, risks, and stakeholder communication.
• Service Delivery, Ticket Governance & Case Management: Oversee payroll inquiry queues, ticket volumes, and escalation pathways even when direct ticket closure is delegated. Establish SLAs, monitor resolution performance, and drive case-deflection strategies through knowledge resources and process clarity.
• Compliance, Controls & Reconciliation: Ensure adherence to payroll tax, statutory, and wage-hour regulations through reconciliations, audits, and validation checks. Maintain documented procedures, segregation of duties, and audit readiness while supporting responses to tax notices or compliance inquiries.
• Foundational Pay-Impacting Process Governance: Govern operational rules and standards for upstream workforce processes that directly affect pay outcomes, including time capture, compensation updates, terminations, leave status, and pay codes. Monitor exception trends and partner with HR/HRIS to reduce downstream payroll errors.
• Analytics, Dashboards & Reporting: Develop and maintain dashboards and scorecards related to payroll accuracy, ticket volumes, overpayments, and time-and-pay exceptions. Analyze trends and provide actionable insights to leadership and cross-functional partners.

Skills and Minimum Experience Required

• Bachelor’s Degree or Equivalent
• 9+ years relevant experience
• Deep knowledge of payroll processing (cycles, cutoffs, funding, off-cycles, final pay)
• Strong payroll calendar and deadline management discipline
• Experience leading payroll projects, system upgrades, and implementations
• Working knowledge of payroll systems, HRIS, and Time & Attendance platforms/integrations
• Ownership of workforce time rules and standards (pay codes, overtime rules, shift premiums, accrual logic, union/CBA rules where applicable)
• Ability to drive time & attendance change management (policy updates, system rule changes, stakeholder communication, training)
• Troubleshooting expertise for time capture issues (missed punches, scheduling conflicts, accrual errors, integration defects)
• Vendor and SLA management experience
• Ticket queue and case management oversight skills
• Payroll tax, statutory, and wage-hour compliance knowledge
• Reconciliation, audit, and internal controls experience
• Understanding of upstream pay-impacting processes (time capture, comp changes, terminations, pay codes)
• Ability to build and interpret payroll dashboards and metrics
• Strong cross-functional collaboration (Finance, HRIS, IT, Benefits, Vendors)
• Clear executive communication and escalation management
• Risk identification and structured problem-solving ability
• Occassional travel for business

Preferred Experience

• CPP or equivalent certification
• Experience in outsourced model
• Experience with SF/ECP / Workforce

The range for this position is $104,200.00 to 225,500.00 . Placement within this range may vary, depending on the applicant’s experience and geographic location. Acuity offers generous benefits including health care, dental coverage, vision plans, 401K benefits, and commissions/incentive compensation depending on the role. For a list of our benefits, click here.

We value diversity and are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regards to race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity or national origin, disability, pregnancy, religion, covered veteran status, protected genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Please click here and here for more information.

Accommodation for Applicants with Disabilities: As an equal opportunity employer, Acuity Inc. is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in its application process for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you have difficulty using our online system due to a disability and need an accommodation, you may contact us at (770) 922-9000, select option 4. Please clearly indicate what type of accommodation you are requesting and for what requisition.

Any unsolicited resumes sent to Acuity Inc. from a third party, such as an Agency recruiter, including unsolicited resumes sent to an Acuity Inc. mailing address, fax machine or email address, directly to Acuity Inc. employees, or to Acuity Inc. resume database will be considered Acuity Inc. property. Acuity Inc. will NOT pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume.

Acuity Inc. will consider any candidate for whom an Agency has submitted an unsolicited resume to have been referred by the Agency free of any charges or fees. This includes any Agency that is an approved/engaged vendor, but does not have the appropriate approvals to be engaged on a search.

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