Posted August 17, 2026
Senior Payroll Specialist
Imagine Staffing Technology
Buffalo, NY, US
Full Time
Job Description
Job Description
Job Title: Senior Payroll Specialist
Location: Buffalo, NY
Hire Type: Contingent
Pay Range: $33.00/hour
Work Type: Full-Time
Work Model: Remote
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8am – 5pm
Recruiter Contact: Natalie Dunn | 443.345.3303| [email protected]
Sean Craft | 443.345.3305 | [email protected]
Nature & Scope:
Positional Overview
The Imagine Group is recruiting for a Senior Payroll Specialist on behalf of our client, a leading financial institution in Buffalo, New York, serving individuals, businesses, and communities across the eastern United States. Known for its strong regional presence, commitment to community engagement, and focus on long-term customer relationships, the organization offers a stable and collaborative work environment with opportunities for growth.
In this role, you will be responsible for supporting the activities of payroll and all tasks necessary to accomplish the organization's payroll and compensation processing; assists leadership in dealing with complex payroll problem resolution, while balancing assigned workloads and requiring comprehensive knowledge of payroll process steps, statutory and government regulations, and Company policies. Responsible for supporting biweekly payroll function in the HR system, with a high focus on accuracy, timeliness, and accounting of all job functions. Completes work of a non-routine nature with comprehensive understanding of time and attendance practices.
Role & Responsibility:
Tasks That Will Lead to Your Success:
- Complete all necessary payroll activities as assigned based on procedure and suggest updates to procedures as needed.
- Provide accurate and timely payroll processing of employees' pay, time, leave and other time off.
- Review and make necessary adjustments to terminated employees' final pay; verify completion of timesheets and accuracy of dates, complete payment for accrued time off and severance as needed.
- Partner with HR Service Team on resolving employee cases independently.
- Process off-cycle pay as requested; review retroactive pay transactions, etc., independently.
- Complete activities related to employee overpayment management including legally compliant recoupment/correction of overpayment calculations.
- Review and ensure the accuracy of leave of absence dates and payroll related to leaves.
- Work with third party to communicate, set up, reconcile and troubleshoot employee garnishments.
- Process refunds for ACH rejects and work with employees to correct payment election details.
- Create and reconcile payroll upload files for one-time adjustments to pay and benefits while adhering to audit and approval flow requirements.
- Sort and distribute payroll mail items.
- Complete taxable stock transactions while adhering to audit and approval flow requirements.
- Adjust time off accruals for scheduled hours changes.
- Maintain a comprehensive knowledge of the regulations and policies affecting the payroll process.
- Train and mentor less experienced Payroll team members.
- Assist with projects and system testing as assigned.
- Understand and adhere to the Company's risk and regulatory standards, policies and controls in accordance with the Company's Risk Appetite. Identify risk-related issues needing escalation to management.
- Promote an environment that supports a culture of belonging and reflects the brand.
- Maintain internal control standards, including timely implementation of internal and external audit points together with any issues raised by external regulators as applicable.
- Complete other related duties as assigned.
Skills & Experience
Qualifications That Will Help You Thrive
- Associates degree and a minimum of 2 years payroll experience, or in lieu of a degree, a minimum of 4 years higher education and/or work experience, including a minimum of 2 years payroll experience.
- Minimum of 2 years proven relevant customer experience.
- Experience working under pressure.
- Detail oriented.
- Proficiency working in pertinent word processing and spreadsheet applications.
