Payroll Manager
at SoFi
Charlotte - NC, Jacksonville - FL
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The Role:
SoFi is searching for a North America Payroll Manager to lead and scale our payroll operations across the United States and Canada. This is a strategic Individual Contributor (IC4) role that blends deep technical expertise with operational leadership. You will be responsible for ensuring the accurate, timely, and compliant delivery of payroll for our growing workforce while serving as a subject matter expert in advanced payroll technologies and data analytics.
This role is critical to ensure a seamless employee experience, maintaining regulatory compliance, and enabling scalable growth through automation and operational excellence.
As an IC4-level professional at SoFi, you are expected to operate with autonomy, applying deep domain expertise to solve complex problems, influence functional strategy, and drive outcomes for cross-functional impact.
What You'll Do:
Payroll Operations & Compliance
- Oversee End-to-End Processing: Manage day-to-day payroll activities for the US and Canada, ensuring accurate payments, tax withholdings, and reporting.
- Regulatory Subject Matter Expert: Ensure strict compliance with federal, state, local, and provincial wage and hour laws (FLSA, etc.), and manage quarterly/annual tax filings including W-2 and T-4 preparation.
- Audit & SOX Control: Support internal and external audits by maintaining rigorous SOX controls, audit trail documentation, and payroll risk assessments.
- Proactively identifying compliance risks and implementing controls and process improvement to mitigate exposure.
- Ensure data integrity across payroll, HRIS, and downstream financial systems.
Technical Leadership & Innovation
- System Optimization: Serve as a functional owner for Workday Payroll, Time Tracking, and Absence. Collaborate on system upgrades, integrations, and bi-annual feature releases.
- Global Integration: Manage relationships with external providers like CloudPay for international payroll and Fidelity for 401(k) and equity administration.
- Data Transformation: Leverage ETL tools (Alteryx, SQL, Python) to automate manual workstreams, build advanced workforce dashboards, and provide actionable insights into labor costs and overtime trends.
- Continuously evaluate and implement technology solutions to modernize payroll operations and reduce manual intervention.
Strategy & Relationship Management
- Influence Strategy: Help create and drive functional strategy within the payroll team based on business needs.
- Cross-Functional Partnership: Build trust and common ground with stakeholders in HR, Finance, IT, and Legal to ensure seamless data flows and resolve complex discrepancies.
- Team Mentorship: While an Individual Contributor role at the IC4 level, you will provide guidance, training, and "informal leadership" to payroll processors and specialists to upskill the function.
What You'll Need:
Experience & Education
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
- Experience: 7+ years of progressive experience in multi-state and Canadian payroll functions.
- Certifications: Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or equivalent is strongly preferred.
Technical Skills
- Core Systems: Deep proficiency in Workday Payroll administration and configuration (Business Processes, Report Writer).
- Advanced Analytics: Hands-on experience using Alteryx, SQL, or Python for data manipulation and process automation.
- Third-Party Tools: Experience with CloudPay and Fidelity NetBenefits preferred.
- Strong understanding of payroll accounting, general ledger impacts, and reconciliation processes.
Competencies
- Complexity: Ability to solve unique problems of significant, complex scope and generate innovative approaches to resolution.
- Independent Judgement: Ability to operate autonomously in setting priorities and executing solutions with minimal guidance on overall department strategy.
- Communication: Skilled at distilling complex concepts and facilitating dialogue among senior leadership and cross-functional partners.
- High attention to details and commitment to accuracy in a highly regulated environment.
- Demonstrated ability to influence and drive alignment across cross-functional stakeholders.