Payroll Analyst

Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Employment Type: Contract-to-Direct Hire
Industry: Semiconductor
Compensation: $38.46-$43.27/hour ($85,000-$90,000 annually)
Schedule: 40 hours per week
Reports To: Payroll Manager

• Support biweekly payroll processing for approximately 3,500 employees across the US and Canada, ensuring accurate and timely payment.
• Research and resolve employee payroll inquiries received by email, phone, and in person.
• Respond to inquiries from internal teams, including HR Shared Services and Benefits.
• Partner with HR to maintain payroll data integrity and ensure accurate pay rates, tax withholding, and other payroll transactions.
• Prepare and maintain complex payroll reconciliation workbooks using intermediate-to-advanced Excel, including formulas, PivotTables, lookups, and data analysis.
• Reconcile payroll results, investigate discrepancies, identify trends and anomalies, and prepare audit and reconciliation reports.
• Support payroll-related general ledger reconciliations and resolve discrepancies between payroll records and financial reporting.
• Support federal, state, and local payroll tax compliance and regulatory reporting.
• Assist with year-end payroll activities, including W-2s, T4s, tax reconciliations, and required reporting.
• Support internal and external audits, including SOX, financial, regulatory, workers' compensation, 401(k), and state and local tax reviews.
• Troubleshoot payroll system issues, test system updates and enhancements, validate results, and support system maintenance.
• Participate in payroll system implementations, upgrades, integrations, testing, and year-end updates.
• Identify opportunities to improve payroll accuracy and efficiency through automation, standardization, technology, AI-enabled tools, and best practices.
• Work cross-functionally with HR, Benefits, Compensation, Finance, Accounting, Tax, IT, and payroll vendors to resolve issues and improve processes.
• Maintain payroll procedures and process documentation to support consistency and business continuity.
• Protect confidential employee, payroll, and financial information.
• Perform other payroll-related projects and duties as assigned.

• Supportive, team-driven culture that values collaboration, transparency, and accountability.
• Opportunity to grow your career with a global workforce solutions leader serving multiple industries.
• People-first environment that encourages employees to bring their authentic selves to work.
• Strong focus on partnership, innovation, and delivering meaningful results for clients and candidates.

• This role offers the chance to join a company that prioritizes both people and performance-where your contributions directly impact client success while giving you room to grow and develop professionally.

• Acara is a premier recruiting and workforce solutions provider-we help companies compete for talent. With a legacy of experience in various industries worldwide, we partner with clients, listen to their needs, and customize visionary talent solutions that drive desired business outcomes. We leverage decades of experience to deliver contingent staffing, direct placement, executive search, and workforce services worldwide.

• High School Diploma or GED.
• 4+ years of experience processing payroll in a large, multi-state environment, including pay data entry and data validation.
• 4+ years of experience with Excel Pivot table
• 4+ years of experience performing payroll reconciliations, audit support, and payroll data analysis in a complex payroll environment.

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Finance.
• Intermediate to Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel necessary, including Pivot Tables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, formulas, data validation, filtering, and analysis of large datasets.
• Strong Excel skills are essential, as Excel is a primary tool used for payroll reconciliations, audits, reporting, and data analysis.
• Strong familiarity with Federal, State and Local withholding and unemployment compliance requirements.
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC).
• Experience with ADP Vantage.
• Experience with Workday, UKG/Kronos, Oracle HCM, SAP SuccessFactors, or similar HCM/payroll platforms.
• Self-motivated, analytical, and detail-oriented with strong problem-solving, decision-making, prioritization, and multitasking abilities.
• Experience supporting payroll system implementations, upgrades, integrations, testing, and process improvement initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to lead meetings, facilitate discussions, present findings, and collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Ability to apply payroll best practices and a continuous improvement mindset to enhance operational effectiveness and support business objectives.
• Demonstrated interest in leveraging automation, emerging technologies, and AI-enabled tools as part of day-to-day work activities to improve business processes, efficiency, reporting, and decision-making.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong team orientation including recognition of the importance of respect, communication, compromise, reliability, knowledge-sharing, and engagement within the team and with other groups.
• Demonstrated commitment to customer service, continuous improvement, and delivering high-quality work in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience with Canadian payroll requirements.

• Upon offer of employment, the individual will be subject to a background check.