Payroll Analyst

Key Responsibilities

• Payroll Operations, Compliance & Analysis
• Independently process, audit, and validate complex, high-volume Canadian payroll accurately and on time across multiple provinces, legal entities, pay groups, and payroll cycles.
• Research and resolve complex payroll, tax, benefits, employee, and vendor issues; investigate discrepancies, identify root causes, evaluate risks and alternatives, and implement sustainable solutions that prevent recurrence.
• Lead complex payroll activities, including executive compensation, equity, bonuses, taxable benefits, disability, leaves, mobile employees, and special payments.
• Lead quarterly and year-end payroll activities, including reconciliations, adjustments, audits, reporting, and amended filings.
• Investigate payroll discrepancies, determine root causes, and recommend sustainable solutions.
• Analyze payroll impacts related to benefits programs, including short and long term disability, paid and unpaid legislated leaves, taxable wages and taxable benefits, imputed income, and year-end reporting.
• Identify trends, risks, and opportunities through payroll, benefits, tax, and reporting data.
• Testing, Controls & Continuous Improvement
• Lead structured testing of payroll system, configuration, integration, and process changes, including test planning, edge cases, end-to-end validation, defect documentation, and confirmation of business requirements.
• Identify and implement opportunities to automate, simplify, standardize, and strengthen payroll processes and controls, reducing errors, risk, manual effort, and rework.
• Technology & AI Enablement
• troubleshoot payroll system, data, and integration issues in partnership with Technology, Benefits, Finance, Tax, vendors, and other business teams.
• Use approved technology, automation, reporting, and AI tools responsibly to improve payroll analysis, testing, controls, documentation, and delivery while protecting confidential information and validating results.
• Support inbound and outbound payroll-related integrations, including retirement plans, deferred compensation, benefits, withholding, garnishments, tax filings, and workers' compensation reporting.
• Apply sound judgment when using AI by protecting confidential employee information, validating outputs, and ensuring all payroll decisions remain human-reviewed and compliant.
• Partnership & Team Impact
• Build strong partnerships with Benefits, Pension, Compensation, Finance, Tax, Technology, and external vendors.
• Communicate complex payroll concepts in clear, business-friendly language.
• Share knowledge, support teammates, and contribute to a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
• Influence positive change through expertise, credibility, and collaboration.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive Canadian payroll experience with increasing levels of responsibility.
• Strong analytical thinking, curiosity, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis skills, including the ability to independently research and solve complex or unfamiliar payroll, tax, and benefits issues.
• Experience with payroll audits, reconciliations, quarterly and year-end activities, adjustments, taxable benefit reporting, and employee year-end reporting.
• Experience developing test scenarios, testing payroll system or configuration changes, validating end-to-end results, documenting defects, and identifying unintended impacts.
• Experience contributing to payroll projects and documenting business requirements, decisions, risks, controls, and test results.
• Experience with ADP GlobalView, SAP, or a similar enterprise payroll system, with strong knowledge of gross-to-net payroll processing, statutory requirements, employer liabilities, funding, general ledger impacts, and payroll accounting reconciliations.
• Advanced Excel and data analysis skills, including the ability to analyze large data sets, reconcile results, identify exceptions and trends, and explain findings clearly.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, work independently with minimal direction, and collaborate effectively across teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Canadian payroll certification or a comparable payroll designation (PLP, PCP)
• Experience supporting payroll operations across multiple countries.
• Experience with cross-border or mobile-employee payroll and benefits programs that affect payroll taxation, disability payments, paid leave, taxable wages, or year-end reporting.
• Experience serving as a lead tester, project contributor, subject matter expert, mentor, or escalation resource for complex payroll work.
• When you join our team:
• We’ll empower you to learn and grow the career you want.
• We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words.
• As part of our global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see.
• #LI-Hybrid
• If you are applying to this role in Massachusetts, please note the salary range is $ 61,875. - $103,125. USD. Additionally, employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.
• The role being advertised is an existing vacancy.

About Manulife and John Hancock