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