Senior US Payroll Tax Specialist

About Stripe

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies—from the world’s largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups—use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone’s reach while doing the most important work of your career.

About Payroll 

Global Payroll is part of Stripe Finance Operations and plays a critical role in ensuring employees are paid accurately, on time, and in compliance with all regulatory requirements. The US payroll function is managed fully in-house, covering end-to-end processes including payroll processing, tax filing, remittance, accounting, and system configuration within Workday.

Globally, payroll operations are managed in partnership with external vendors, ensuring alignment with Stripe’s governance standards and financial controls.

The Payroll team partners closely with HR, Legal, Tax, Benefits, Equity, Compensation, and People Systems to deliver a seamless payroll experience. By maintaining accuracy, consistency, and compliance, the team provides peace of mind to employees and enables leaders to make informed business decisions.

What you’ll do

We are looking for a Senior US Payroll Specialist to support compliance with US federal, state, and local payroll tax regulations across nearly all 50 states. You will manage key aspects of payroll tax operations, including filings, reconciliations, remittances, jurisdiction registrations, and resolving agency inquiries. The role also involves researching new tax legislation, addressing complex payroll tax issues, and working closely with Payroll Analysts, Finance, HR, Legal, and external tax authorities. As this position supports US payroll operations, it will require working night shifts to align with US business hours.

Responsibilities

• Ensure compliance with US federal, state and local payroll tax regulations and labor laws in nearly 50 states
• Investigate, determine root cause of, and resolve incoming tax agency notices timely
• Work night shifts overlap with US business hours. This role requires frequent calls and interactions with people in the US, including stakeholders, fellow payroll team members, a third-party tax vendor, US tax authorities, employees, and auditors.
• Research tax compliance issues independently, demonstrating high analytical ability, knowledge of best practices, sound judgment, and a deep understanding of federal, state, and local payroll tax rules and employment laws
• Stay abreast of new tax legislation and compliance requirements. 
• Calculate and process retroactive multi-state tax adjustments, tax filing amendments, W-2c’s, etc.
• Register for new tax jurisdictions and deactivate old tax accounts as needed
• Partner with Payroll Analysts in the US and Latam in a variety of payroll operations using Workday US Payroll (e.g., assisting new hires, auditing employee data changes, processing inputs from third parties, and preparing or reviewing termination paychecks)
• Prepare payroll reporting for management, stakeholders, auditors, and regulatory agencies as needed
• Ensure external payroll tax vendor meets tax filing and remittance obligations and adheres to contractual SLAs
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders (People Team, Tax, Legal, Global Mobility) to improve processes and roll out new company policies
• Identify and implement process improvements and efficiencies that support company growth and evolving business needs - especially leveraging technology (AI, RPA, LLM)
• Improve the documentation of internal payroll policies and procedures
• Assist with payroll clearing account reconciliation, tracking payroll tax amendments and following up on tax authority refunds
• Prepare deliverables for internal and external auditors
• Resolve incoming employee inquiries, providing exceptional customer service 

Who you are

We’re looking for someone who meets the minimum requirements to be considered for the role. If you meet these requirements, you are encouraged to apply. The preferred qualifications are a bonus, not a requirement.

Minimum requirements

• 8+ years experience processing in-house multi-state US payroll or payroll tax filings for 3,000+ US employees
• Strong knowledge of Workday US Payroll and Workday HCM
• Demonstrated subject matter expertise in payroll tax regulations and labor laws across US federal, state, and local jurisdictions 
• Broad experience resolving tax notices, handling and communicating directly with US tax authorities
• Clear and friendly communication style, both written and verbal.
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, as well as collaborate closely with a dispersed team across time zones and cultures
• Strong Excel skills, Google Suite skills, and comfort with working on a mac
• Unquestionable ethics and discretion in dealing with sensitive and confidential data
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, time-sensitive, dynamic environment, balancing multiple priorities and deadlines 
• Experience supporting internal and external audits
• Eagerness to embrace AI technology and change to drive payroll efficiencies

You will also likely have (not required):

• • Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) preferred
  • Workday Payroll Fundamentals course completion or similar
  • Experience processing US equity transactions (NSO, RSU, ESPP)
  • Experience handling mergers and acquisitions
  • Accounting experience (journal entries, balance sheet reconciliations)
  • Experience processing payroll in a public company of 10,000+ employees