Payroll Supervisor

Marketing Statement

Are you a payroll professional who thrives in a fast-paced, complex labor relations environment? The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is pleased to announce an opening for a Payroll Supervisor, where you will serve as a trusted subject matter expert and strategic partner in ensuring payroll compliance, employee compensation accuracy, and exceptional customer service.

In this critical role, you will lead the administration and oversight of complex payroll matters, including employee grievances, reinstatements, and labor-related compensation adjustments. You will collaborate with Human Resources, Labor Relations, management, and legal stakeholders to research, analyze, and validate payroll actions, ensuring compliance with collective bargaining agreements, policies, and regulatory requirements.

As WMATA's payroll representative, you will play a visible role in grievance hearings, arbitration proceedings, and labor-related court matters, providing expert payroll insight and supporting the organization's interests. You will also drive continuous improvement initiatives by identifying business solutions, enhancing operational efficiency, streamlining payroll processes, and improving the employee customer experience.

This position offers a unique opportunity to combine payroll expertise, analytical problem-solving, compliance oversight, and labor relations support while making a meaningful impact on a large and diverse workforce.

Key Highlights:

• Lead complex payroll compliance and employee compensation matters.
• Serve as WMATA's payroll subject matter expert in grievance, arbitration, and labor proceedings.
• Conduct detailed research and analysis to support payroll-related decisions and payments.
• Ensure payroll actions are supported by complete and accurate documentation.
• Partner across departments to resolve payroll challenges and improve service delivery.
• Identify innovative solutions that enhance payroll operations, compliance, and customer satisfaction.

If you are a detail-oriented professional with strong analytical skills, payroll expertise, and a passion for process improvement, we invite you to bring your talents to WMATA and help shape the future of payroll operations.

The Payroll Supervisor is responsible for managing complex professional, technical, and administrative functions related to payroll operations. The position oversees the accurate processing and in-depth analysis of transactions for multiple payrolls within the Authority, ensuring compliance with policies and regulations. The incumbent is instrumental in proactively identifying business solutions, streamlines processes, and enhancing customer service opportunities. Serving as the first level of escalation for compliance and error resolution, the Payroll Supervisor exercises sound judgment in coordinating, communicating, and resolving payroll and management issues.

Principal Job Duties

• Acts as the first point of escalation for payroll-related inquiries and discrepancies, providing prompt resolution.
• Supervises, reviews work, trains, and provides guidance to lower level represented and/or non- represented staff to ensure the accuracy of all pay documents and calculations and ensures compliance with policies and procedures. Participates in the selection process and makes recommendations on the hiring of lower- level payroll staff.
• Processes and analyzes transactions for the weekly and biweekly payrolls, balances and controls, earnings and deductions totals; inspects automated system outputs, such as registers and standard reports; determines and corrects out-of-balance conditions; and researches and prepares special reports for management.
• Develops and produces meaningful and automated performance metrics to assess payroll processes and report on successes and deficiencies, such as breaks in controls and inefficient processes, to proactively propose solutions.
• Processes sensitive and irregular payments and develops routine queries and other confidential ad-hoc reports to support such payments.
• Coordinates, develops, and maintains written standardized documentation and forms on payroll procedures and processes for reference and training materials.
• Develops and/or provides WMATA-wide and cross-departmental training on the proper accounting for financial transactions.
• Evaluates existing processes to strengthen internal controls and streamline payroll processes.
• Leverages technology to eliminate manual processing, improve customer service responsiveness, and reduce instances of pay shortages, overpayments, and calculation errors.
• Coordinates with external auditors to prepare necessary working papers, audit samples, and accounting documentation for the year-end process.
• Serves as acting Payroll Manager, including all associated responsibilities, in the absence of the Payroll Manager.

Other Duties

• N/A
• Maintains and promotes awareness and accountability with safety policies and procedures while performing job functions. Promotes a positive safety culture and encourages reporting of safety concerns consistent with our Agency Safety Plan, other regulatory requirements within the Safety Management System and just culture principles.

The functions listed are not intended to limit specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position. Nor is it intended to limit in any way the right of managers and supervisors to assign, direct and control the work of employees under their supervision.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles and the Authority's overall accounting operations, with the ability to effectively apply that knowledge to the Authority's financial needs.
• Thorough knowledge, or the ability to rapidly acquire such knowledge, regarding Authority programs, current collective bargaining agreements and policies affecting the payroll branch functions.
• Comprehensive knowledge of applicable best practices; federal, state, and local laws; and other rules and regulations relating to payroll.

Skills

• Skilled in the application and use of automated, enterprise-wide systems to aid in the analysis of payroll and to assist in the management decision-making process.
• Skilled at establishing and monitoring measurable quantitative and qualitative performance metrics.
• Proficient skills with Microsoft Office Suite or related software
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

Abilities

• Ability to prepare and evaluate complex policy and procedure-related material and provide quality checks and controls of HR/Payroll data.
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information appropriately and professionally.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Considerable latitude for exercising independent judgment and initiating corrective action where needed regarding payroll issues.

Machine, Tools, Equipment, Software, Hardware Required

• Microsoft Office products (Excel, Access, Word, Outlook, Visio, and PowerPoint)
• Adobe Acrobat Pro
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system

Supervisory Responsibility

Supervises work of others, including planning, assigning and scheduling work, reviewing work and ensuring quality standards, training staff and overseeing their productivity. May offer recommendations for hiring, termination and pay adjustments, but does not have responsibility for making these decisions.

Minimum Education

• Associate's degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Relations, Business Administration or a related field.
  • In Lieu of Associate's degree, a high school diploma or GED with two (2) years of experience in processing, administration, analysis and/or supervision of payroll and the maintenance of payroll records using automated financial systems.

Minimum Experience

• Four (4) years of progressively responsible, direct experience in the processing, administration, analysis and/or supervision of payroll and the maintenance of payroll records using automated financial systems.

Minimum Certification/Licensure

• N/A

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Relations, or Business Administration
• Four (4) years in a supervisory or management role in Payroll
• Expertise using large enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, such as PeopleSoft, Oracle, or SAP.
• Experience supervising and/or processing payroll in an organization of comparable size and complexity.
• Experience processing payroll in a unionized environment and in the interpretation and application of collective bargaining agreements.
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP)
• Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC)