Payroll Project & Portfolio Manager

This is a Full Time Job

Position Overview

The Manager, Payroll Systems & Portfolio Management will lead a portfolio of payroll projects and strategic initiatives from intake through implementation, stabilization, and closeout. Develops integrated project plans, defines scope and deliverables, manages milestones, dependencies, resources, risks, and requirements, and drives cross-functional teams to deliver measurable outcomes.

This individual will partner with Payroll Operations, Payroll IT, HRIS, Finance, P&O, business leaders, and vendors to establish governance, facilitate decisions, and maintain alignment and accountability. Applies payroll and HCM platform knowledge - especially UKG - to translate operational needs into project requirements while remaining primarily accountable for portfolio governance, execution, and successful delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Portfolio & Project Management (35%)
• Own a portfolio of payroll projects from intake and prioritization through implementation, stabilization, and closeout.
• Develop integrated plans defining scope, deliverables, milestones, dependencies, resources, timelines, critical paths, and success measures.
• Drive execution through RAID and decision logs, change control, action tracking, escalation management, and recovery plans.
• Maintain the portfolio roadmap and recommend priorities based on value, risk, operational impact, capacity, and readiness.

Requirements, Planning & Delivery Governance (25%)
• Lead discovery and gather, analyze, validate, document, and prioritize business, functional, data, integration, reporting, and control requirements.
• Translate payroll needs into scope, process maps, use cases, acceptance criteria, implementation requirements, and workstream deliverables.
• Establish charters, governance, RACI matrices, meeting cadences, documentation standards, and decision protocols.
• Maintain traceability from approved requirements through design, testing, deployment, and benefit realization.

Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Leadership (20%)
• Build stakeholder engagement and communication plans for executives, sponsors, process owners, technical teams, vendors, and end users.
• Facilitate meetings, working sessions, design reviews, status reviews, and decision forums with clear outcomes, owners, and due dates.
• Influence participants without direct authority, secure commitments, address resistance, and reinforce accountability for deliverables.
• Provide transparent status reporting on progress, risks, dependencies, decisions, resource constraints, and executive actions required.

Testing, Change Management & Implementation Readiness (10%)
• Coordinate system, integration, UAT, regression, and parallel testing, including defect management and acceptance sign-off.
• Develop implementation, cutover, contingency, communication, training, and operational readiness plans with functional and technical partners.
• Track readiness criteria, defects, decisions, data conversion, controls, go-live dependencies, stabilization, and transition to operations.

Payroll & HCM Project Partnership and Continuous Improvement (10%)
• Apply payroll knowledge to improve decisions involving compliance, timekeeping, integrations, reporting, controls, and complex pay rules.
• Support UKG and HCM projects and partner with functional and technical experts to assess options, dependencies, operational impacts, and risks.
• Identify opportunities to simplify processes, strengthen controls, automate work, standardize practices, and improve portfolio delivery metrics.
• Maintain reusable templates, documentation repositories, delivery metrics, and governance practices that improve consistency and scalability.

Qualifications

Education, Specialized Knowledge and Skills
• Ability to manage concurrent payroll or HCM projects using strong planning, scheduling, dependency, resource, risk, and change-control practices.
• Strong requirements gathering, business analysis, process mapping, documentation, and acceptance-criteria skills.
• Exceptional facilitation, negotiation, conflict resolution, stakeholder management, and influence without direct authority.
• Ability to establish governance and communicate complex project information clearly to executives and delivery teams.
• Experience coordinating testing, change management, readiness, cutover, stabilization, and transition to operations.
• Working knowledge of payroll operations and HCM platforms (especially UKG Pro, Workday and Infor WFM).
• Proficiency with Smartsheet, Jira, Teams, SharePoint, or comparable project tools.

Required Experience:
• 5+ years of project or program management, including 3+ years managing concurrent payroll, HCM, enterprise-system, or operational projects.
• Demonstrated experience developing plans, governance routines, RAID logs, status reports, executive updates, and recovery plans.
• Experience gathering business and functional requirements and driving stakeholder decisions, approvals, and acceptance.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and influencing participants, vendors, and stakeholders without direct authority.

Preferred:
• 7+ years of project or program management experience, including payroll or HCM transformation and implementation projects.
• PMP, Agile, Prosci, or comparable project or change management certification.
• Project experience with UKG Pro and/or Workday, Infor WFM, Dayforce, or SAP experience is beneficial.
• Entertainment industry experience and familiarity with union environments, collective bargaining agreements, and specialized pay practices.
• Experience managing vendors, statements of work, budgets, resources, contractual deliverables, and portfolio reporting in Smartsheet or comparable tools.

What You Bring
• A structured, proactive approach that turns complex or ambiguous work into executable plans.
• The judgment to challenge assumptions, remove obstacles, escalate appropriately, and sustain accountability.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and presentation skills with a collaborative, accountable leadership style.
• A commitment to confidentiality, continuous improvement, disciplined execution, and successful delivery.