Why AAA Life?

What You'll Do

The Senior Payroll Administrator is primarily responsible for end-to-end payroll administration and processing.  This includes responding to inquiries from AAA Life associates, management, vendors, and external reporting agencies; developing and maintaining procedures, policies, guidelines, and forms; creating and maintaining necessary payroll and time/attendance reports to ensure compliance with state and federal legislation and in support of the organization.  

This role operates with a high degree of independence and serves as a key control point for payroll accuracy, compliance, and continuity in a regulated environment.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Ownership & Execution

• Own end-to-end payroll accuracy, timeliness, and delivery across all regular, off-cycle, and special payrolls.
• Perform payroll reconciliations, variance analysis, and reporting to ensure data integrity.
• Investigate and resolve payroll discrepancies and respond to associate and leadership inquiries.
• Apply sound judgment in complex, high-volume, or time-sensitive payroll situations.

Compliance, Controls & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local wage and hour regulations.
• Proactively identify and mitigate payroll, compliance, and audit risks.
• Maintain and enforce payroll controls and support internal and external audits.
• Prepare audit documentation and partner with leadership to remediate control gaps.

Systems & HRIS Partnership

• Serve as the primary payroll user and subject matter expert within the HCM/payroll system (e.g., Dayforce).
• Partner closely with HRIS on system configuration, enhancements, and issue resolution.
• Validate payroll system changes prior to processing.
• Support payroll-related testing, upgrades, and implementation activities.

Process Discipline & Operational Continuity

• Document payroll calendars, processes, controls, and key dependencies.
• Maintain procedures that ensure uninterrupted payroll operations.
• Reduce single-point-of-failure risk through strong documentation and knowledge transfer.
• Adhere to standardized processes while continuously improving efficiency and control.

Senior-Level Judgment, Communication & Continuous Improvement

• Operate independently with minimal supervision as a senior-level individual contributor.
• Demonstrate accountability, discretion, and confidentiality in handling sensitive payroll and compensation data.
• Communicate payroll matters clearly and effectively to associates and leaders.
• Identify root causes of issues and implement sustainable process, system, and control improvements.

Basic Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• Minimum of 8 years of progressive payroll experience.
• Proven experience independently managing end-to-end payroll in a regulated environment.
• Elaborate working knowledge of federal, state, and multi-state payroll tax and wage and hour regulations.
• Demonstrated understanding of payroll controls, compliance, and audit requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) designation.
• Experience supporting payroll audits and compliance reviews in highly regulated industries.