{"id":961331,"url":"https://alion.io/job/kipp-senior-director-payroll","title":"Senior Director, Payroll","company":{"id":678132,"name":"KIPP","domain":"kipp.org","url":"https://alion.io/company/kipp-2","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"SmartRecruiters","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":85,"open_postings":196,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.612,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":28,"computed_at":"2026-10-26T05:57:25Z"}},"role":"Finance","role_family":"Finance","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["New York, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":132870,"max":165830,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":165830},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-16T01:47:59Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-16","last_verified_at":"2026-10-26T17:40:10Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":40,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":[],"days_open":40},"description":"About KIPP NYC:\nFounded in 1995, KIPP NYC Public Schools is a non-profit network of 18 free, public charter schools located in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. We partner with families and communities to create joyful, academically excellent schools where every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities.\nFrom our first middle school, KIPP Academy in the Bronx, to today’s network of eight elementary schools, nine middle schools, and one high school, KIPP NYC provides students with engaging academics, arts, athletics, and social-emotional learning that prepare them for college, career, and beyond.\nOur commitment doesn’t end at graduation. Through KIPP Forward, we continue to support our alumni as they navigate college, career, and life, helping them define success on their own terms and pursue the paths that align with their goals and sense of purpose.\nTogether, we serve more than 9,400 students, support 4,700 alumni, and employ over 1,100 dedicated team members who bring passion, expertise, and commitment to our mission every day.\n Position Overview:\nThe Senior Director, Payroll is a key leader within KIPP NYC's Finance Team, responsible for setting the vision and leading the strategy, systems, and operations for a complex payroll function serving employees across multiple legal entities, schools, and programs.\nReporting to Finance leadership, the Senior Director will lead a cross-functional approach to payroll in close partnership with People Operations, Accounting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), school and program leaders, and external partners. This leader will establish the systems, controls, processes, and accountability structures needed to deliver accurate, timely, compliant, and employee-centered payroll services across KIPP NYC.\nThe Senior Director leads and develops a payroll team consisting of an Assistant Director of Payroll and two Payroll Clerks and serves as KIPP NYC's senior payroll subject-matter expert. The role is responsible for strengthening internal controls, optimizing UKG and related payroll systems, managing external vendors, ensuring regulatory compliance, and continuously improving the employee payroll experience.\nThis role requires a strategic and collaborative leader with deep technical payroll expertise who can build sustainable systems while remaining close enough to the work to understand operational details, identify risks, solve complex problems, and provide direct leadership and operational coverage when needed.\nThis is a full-time position with a hybrid schedule, requiring a minimum of three in-person days per week based out of our KIPP NYC Midtown Manhattan office. The role also includes travel to KIPP NYC campuses across the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. The cadence and frequency of school visits will be determined by your leadership team. This position may require work on some company holidays as required by the payroll calendar to ensure employees are paid accurately and on time.\nDuties and Responsibilities:\nGeneral responsibilities include (but are not limited to):\nPayroll Leadership & Operations\nLead KIPP NYC’s payroll function operations to effectively support employees, schools, programs, and organizational priorities.\nLead the accurate and timely processing of regular, supplemental, and off-cycle payrolls across multiple legal entities and employee populations.\nEstablish and continuously improve payroll processes, procedures, calendars, controls, service standards, and operating rhythms.\nProvide strategic oversight of payroll preparation, validation, review, approval, submission, corrections, and related activities.\nDevelop and monitor key performance indicators related to payroll accuracy, timeliness, corrections, employee service, and operational effectiveness.\nLead payroll planning and execution during high-volume periods, including significant annual onboarding, offboarding, compensation, and staffing changes.\nProactively identify payroll risks and lead the resolution of complex, high-impact, or systemic payroll issues.\nServe as KIPP NYC's senior payroll subject-matter expert and trusted advisor to Finance, People Operations, and organizational leadership.\nInternal Controls, Compliance & Data Integrity\nDesign, implement, and maintain a strong payroll internal control environment, including appropriate segregation of duties, approval structures, and independent review.\nEstablish effective controls for new hires, terminations, compensation changes, employee transfers, supplemental pay, stipends, and off-cycle payments.\nDevelop exception reporting, quality assurance processes, and preventative controls that identify potential errors before payroll is finalized.\nPartner closely with People Operations to ensure employee information impacting payroll is complete, accurate, timely, and appropriately authorized.\nEnsure accurate payroll treatment and financial coding across legal entities, schools, programs, departments, and cost centers.\nEnsure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local payroll tax, wage-and-hour, and employment requirements.\nLead root-cause analyses of payroll errors and implement sustainable process, system, or control improvements that reduce future risk.\nPartner with Accounting to ensure KIPP NYC is appropriately registered as an employer in applicable jurisdictions before payroll begins in a new state, including tax withholding, unemployment/workforce requirements, and workers' compensation.\nEstablish and consistently apply organizational payroll practices for employees holding multiple concurrent positions or pay arrangements, ensuring accurate and compliant treatment of hours, stipends, supplemental compensation, and overtime.\nPayroll Systems & Vendor Management\nServe as the Finance functional owner for UKG payroll operations and related payroll technologies.\nLead the ongoing assessment, optimization, and improvement of payroll-related UKG configurations, workflows, and processes.\nEnsure payroll systems effectively support KIPP NYC's organizational structure, legal entities, pay groups, earnings and deductions, time and attendance, and complex employee pay arrangements.\nEstablish strong testing, documentation, governance, and change-management processes for payroll system updates and configuration changes.\nLead relationships with managed payroll services and other payroll-related vendors, establishing clear expectations, performance measures, service standards, and escalation procedures.\nHold external providers accountable for accuracy, timeliness, responsiveness, and overall service quality.\nIdentify opportunities to automate manual processes, strengthen system utilization, improve data integrity, and reduce payroll risk.\nEnsure changes to payroll tax requirements, rates, and applicable benefit or retirement contribution limits are monitored and implemented accurately and on time.\nEmployee Service & Cross-Functional Partnership\nEstablish an employee-centered payroll service model grounded in responsiveness, accuracy, transparency, and excellent customer service.\nEnsure employee payroll questions and concerns are investigated and resolved accurately, respectfully, and within established service expectations.\nLead organizational responses to significant or systemic payroll issues and ensure employees and leaders receive clear, timely, and appropriate communication.\nPartner with People Operations to strengthen employee lifecycle processes, including onboarding, offboarding, compensation changes, transfers, leaves, and organizational assignments.\nPartner with Accounting on payroll accounting, reconciliations, financial reporting, internal controls, audits, and year-end activities.\nPartner with FP&A on headcount planning, payroll budgeting and forecasting, variance analysis, and the accuracy of payroll information across schools and programs.\nBuild strong, trusted relationships with school and program leaders to support accurate employee assignments, time reporting, and timely resolution of payroll issues.\nFoster shared ownership and accountability for payroll accuracy across Finance, People Operations, schools, and regional teams.\nTeam Leadership & Development\nLead, coach, and develop the Assistant Director of Payroll and Payroll Clerks, building a high-performing team grounded in accuracy, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.\nEstablish clear roles, responsibilities, performance expectations, and decision-making structures across the payroll team.\nDevelop the Assistant Director of Payroll as the primary leader of day-to-day payroll operations and the Senior Director's primary operational backup.\nBuild team capacity through ongoing coaching, feedback, cross-training, and professional development.\nEnsure critical payroll processes are clearly documented and appropriately cross-trained to reduce key-person dependencies.\nCreate sustainable systems that maintain strong controls and operational continuity during vacancies, vacations, peak periods, and other absences.\nMaintain sufficient technical expertise and operational knowledge to independently evaluate payroll results, challenge assumptions, troubleshoot complex issues, and directly oversee or execute payroll processes when necessary.\nContinuous Improvement & Organizational Impact\nUse payroll data, trends, employee feedback, and operational metrics to identify opportunities to strengthen systems and improve the employee experience.\nDevelop and implement scalable payroll practices that support KIPP NYC's evolving organizational needs.\nPartner across Finance and the Shared Services Team on initiatives that improve data quality, systems integration, operational efficiency, and organizational effectiveness.\nStay current on payroll regulations, emerging practices, and technology developments, and translate relevant changes into effective KIPP NYC policies and processes.\nPromote a culture of continuous improvement, strong financial stewardship, and shared accountability across payroll operations.\n Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Human Resources, or a related field required.\nSignificant progressive payroll experience, including demonstrated experience leading a complex payroll function for a large employee population.\nDeep hands-on knowledge of end-to-end payroll processing with the technical expertise to independently review payroll results, troubleshoot complex issues, and provide operational coverage when needed.\nExperience managing payroll for a workforce that includes both salaried and hourly employees.\nStrong knowledge of payroll internal controls, payroll taxation, wage-and-hour requirements, time and attendance, and federal, state, and local payroll compliance.\nExperience supporting complex organizational structures, multiple legal entities, and employees with multiple jobs, stipends, supplemental compensation, or other complex pay arrangements is strongly preferred.\nStrong payroll systems expertise; experience with UKG strongly preferred.\nExperience managing third-party payroll providers, managed payroll services, or other external payroll partners preferred.\nDemonstrated success in strengthening payroll processes, systems, data integrity, internal controls, and service delivery.\nDemonstrated success in leading, coaching, and developing payroll professionals and building high-performing teams.\nStrong analytical and problem-solving skills with exceptional attention to detail and the ability to identify root causes and develop sustainable solutions.\nExcellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills with the ability to translate complex payroll matters for employees, school leaders, and senior organizational stakeholders.\nDemonstrated ability to build strong cross-functional partnerships across Finance, People Operations, school teams, and external partners.\nAbility to balance strategic leadership with operational execution...","description_format":"text","description_chars":14630,"description_truncated":true,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"All levels","optional":false}]},"benefits":["Equity","Life insurance","Parental leave","Professional development","Retirement plans"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Education","Secondary Education"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-16T10:27:33Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":23,"band":"cold","label":"Long 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