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People Operations / Payroll Specialist

Chicago, ILPeople OpsHybrid3+ YOE
Summary

Executes payroll, benefits, leave administration, and employee lifecycle operations for US and Canadian workforce at a tech company. Partners with leadership for compliance, process optimization, and data-driven insights using HR systems like ADP.

About the role

Responsibilities

Payroll (U.S. & Canada)

  • Own end-to-end payroll processing for U.S. and Canadian employees, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance across all pay cycles
  • Process payroll changes, including new hires, terminations, compensation updates, bonuses, and deductions
  • Partner with People Leadership to reconcile payroll each cycle, validate outputs, and ensure accuracy prior to finalization
  • Audit payroll data, investigate discrepancies, and proactively resolve issues
  • Identify trends or recurring issues across payroll cycles and recommend process improvements to enhance accuracy and efficiency
  • Ensure compliance with U.S. federal/state and Canadian federal/provincial payroll regulations
  • Support payroll reporting, accruals, and audit readiness

Benefits, Leave & Wellness Administration

  • Administer employee benefits programs (health, retirement, wellness) across the U.S. and Canada, ensuring accurate enrollment, employee support, deductions, audits, and reporting
  • Manage leave of absence programs in compliance with federal, state, and provincial regulations, partnering with employees and managers throughout the process
  • Support and execute open enrollment, including employee communications, vendor coordination, and system updates
  • Review and validate benefit invoices and ensure alignment with payroll and vendor data
  • Develop and enhance wellness initiatives that support employee well-being
  • Identify opportunities to improve benefits and leave processes, ensuring compliance while elevating the employee experience

People Operations & Administration

  • Manage and optimize the People Team service desk, delivering a high-quality, responsive support and track and report on metrics to ensure a five-star employee experience
  • Own onboarding and offboarding processes, ensuring a seamless, consistent, and heroic employee experience across the lifecycle
  • Maintain the org charts and ensure accurate employee data for integrity across HR systems
  • Ensure People Operations practices comply with U.S. federal and state employment laws and Canadian federal and provincial regulations, including proper documentation and recordkeeping
  • Partner with Legal, Finance, and People Leadership to support compliance initiatives, audits, and policy adherence
  • Serve as a trusted resource for employees and managers, providing timely, thoughtful support
  • Build and maintain people and payroll reports (headcount, turnover, compensation, etc.)
  • Translate data into insights to support People Team and business decisions
  • Develop expertise in HRIS and payroll systems; support ongoing optimization and enhancements
  • Identify inefficiencies and implement scalable, compliant process improvements across People Operations
  • Document and maintain clear SOPs to ensure consistency and operational excellence
  • Partner cross-functionally with Finance, IT, and Legal to streamline workflows and improve systems

Requirements

  • 3+ years of experience in People Operations, HR, or a related field in mid-sized SaaS, Technology, Marketing or similar industries
  • Direct experience processing multi-state, multi-country payroll (U.S. required; Canada strongly preferred and payroll certification a plus)
  • Experience administering benefits and managing leave of absence processes in conjunction with additional people programs (i.e. wellness, recognition)
  • Knowledge of U.S. payroll regulations and familiarity with multi-country requirements (Canada preferred)
  • Working knowledge of U.S. employment laws (federal and state) and exposure to employment regulations outside the US (Canada preferred)
  • Experience with Payroll, HR, and Benefits systems (ADP WorkforceNow and TeamPay strongly preferred)
  • Strong analytical skills and comfort working with data (Excel/Google Sheets required)
  • High attention to detail and a commitment to accuracy
  • Reliability with using sound judgement in handling sensitive and confidential information
  • Ability to communicate effectively in a clear, professional, and approachable way
  • Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

Compensation & Benefits

  • Excellent benefits: generous portion of Medical Premiums, 50% of Dental and Vision Premiums, company-sponsored Life Insurance, STD, and AD&D coverage, 401(k) with match and immediate vesting, comprehensive leave policies
  • Flexible PTO policy
  • Grubhub weekly lunch stipend for in-office days
  • Udemy License and Personal Learning Budget
  • Annual parking stipend
Skills
ADP WorkforceNowTeamPayExcelGoogle SheetsHRISPayroll ProcessingBenefits AdministrationLeave ManagementData AnalysisSOP Documentation