Payroll Administrator (Contract)

Contract Assignment: October 2026 – January 2027 | Hybrid – New York, NY | Immediate start SOCOTEC is seeking a detail-oriented and experienced Payroll Administrator for a contract assignment with our Human Resources and Finance team. In this role, you will own the end-to-end payroll process for salaried and hourly employees, ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant pay for every team member. Beyond day-to-day payroll operations, you will play a key role in payroll-related projects — including system implementations, process improvements, and cross-functional initiatives — helping the organization scale its payroll operations efficiently and reliably. The ideal candidate combines strong technical payroll expertise with excellent communication, analytical, and organizational skills. Key Responsibilities: Payroll Processing & Operations • Payroll Processing: Accurately process bi-weekly payroll for salaried and hourly employees, ensuring all earnings, deductions, and taxes are calculated correctly and disbursed on schedule. • Reporting & Analytics: Create specialized payroll reports for management, including labor cost summaries, headcount analyses, and ad hoc reports to support business decision-making. • Discrepancy Resolution: Proactively identify, investigate, and report payroll discrepancies, partnering with HR and Finance to resolve issues promptly and prevent recurrence. • Employee Support: Serve as the primary point of contact for employee payroll inquiries, providing clear, timely, and courteous responses regarding pay, deductions, and tax withholdings. • Employee Lifecycle Updates: Process new hires, terminations, salary changes, promotions, and other employment status updates within the payroll and ERP systems in a timely and accurate manner. • Regulatory Registrations: Complete and maintain payroll tax registrations with state and local municipalities as required, ensuring the organization remains compliant across all jurisdictions. • Cross-Functional Support: Partner with and assist the HR/Benefits Operations team on related projects and tasks, including open enrollment, audits, and compliance reporting. • Off-Cycle Payments: Process out-of-cycle payments, including state-mandated final pay, termination payouts, and other time-sensitive disbursements, in accordance with applicable law. • Team Backup Support: Provide reliable back-up coverage for other Payroll Administrators during absences or peak processing periods to ensure uninterrupted payroll operations. • Additional Duties: Perform other duties as assigned by your supervisor or manager, contributing flexibly to the broader goals of the payroll and HR function. Project Management Duties In addition to core payroll operations, this role will contribute to and, at times, lead payroll-related projects that improve the accuracy, efficiency, and scalability of the payroll function. • System Implementation & Migration: Lead or support the implementation and migration of payroll systems (e.g., Paylocity, ADP Workforce Now, or other HRIS/ERP platforms), including data validation, parallel testing, and go-live support. • Cross-Functional Coordination: Coordinate project timelines and deliverables with HR, Finance, and IT stakeholders to ensure payroll-related projects are completed on schedule and within scope. • Process Improvement Initiatives: Identify opportunities for payroll process improvements and automation; design, pilot, and implement enhanced workflows to reduce errors and processing time. • Milestone & Budget Tracking: Develop and maintain project plans, track milestones, deliverables, and budgets, and proactively flag risks or delays to project sponsors. • Stakeholder Communication & Reporting: Prepare and deliver clear status updates, dashboard