Payroll & Benefits Lead - 6 Month Contract

About the opportunity:

• Lead the Payroll & Benefits team, ensuring accurate, timely, confidential, and compliant payroll, pension, and benefits administration.
• Oversee complex payroll processing, benefits, pension, leaves, disability, terminations, severance, year-end activities, and statutory reporting.
• Ensure compliance with CRA, employment standards, pension legislation, internal policies, financial controls, and audit requirements.
• Provide subject matter expertise and advice to HR, management, employees, government partners, and external stakeholders on payroll, benefits, pension, compensation, and legislative matters.
• Manage external payroll, pension, benefits, and consulting providers, including service delivery, issue resolution, system changes, and vendor relationships.
• Identify and mitigate operational and financial risks, strengthen controls, investigate discrepancies, and drive continuous process and system improvements.
• Lead payroll and benefits projects, policy and legislative changes, system implementations, audits, reporting, and organizational initiatives.
• Develop payroll calendars, year-end processes, special payroll runs, financial accruals, and workforce planning requirements.
• Provide employee education and confidential support regarding payroll, pension, benefits, and employment-related matters.
• Coach, mentor, and develop the Payroll & Benefits team, managing workload, performance, priorities, and business continuity.
• Build strong relationships across HR, Finance, government, auditors, consultants, and service providers to support effective program delivery.

About you:

• Workday experience
• 5+ years of full cycle payroll and benefits experience, payroll lead experience
• Strong Communication skills
• PCP required

This position for employment is for a current vacancy with Highspring’s client. You must currently reside within the Greater Toronto Area and be permitted to work in Canada to be considered for this opportunity. A recruiter will be in touch with you if your profile meets our client’s requirements for this role.

By submitting to this position, you agree that you will be giving Vaco by Highspring the exclusive right to present you as a candidate for the foregoing position. Additionally, you agree to be included in our talent pool for future hiring for similarly qualified positions. You further agree that you have represented information about yourself accurately and have not affirmatively misrepresented your qualifications. Lastly, you also agree to maintain as confidential, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any information you learn from Vaco by Highspring about the position and you will limit disclosure of information about the position only to the extent necessary to perform any obligations in furtherance of your application. In exchange, Vaco by Highspring agrees to exercise reasonable efforts to represent you through all solicitation, job screening and resume dispersal.

Vaco by Highspring values a diverse workplace and strongly encourages women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply. The company is also committed to ensuring that persons who need them are provided with reasonable accommodations; if one is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact [email protected] .

Vaco by Highspring respects your privacy and is committed to providing transparent notice of our policies in English here and in French here. Additionally, the company uses AI to perform preliminary screenings, focused on ensuring minimum job requirements noted in the position are satisfied. Further assessment of candidates beyond this initial phase will be conducted by recruiters and hiring managers. Vaco/Highspring does not know and cannot opine on if its client’s use of AI products in hiring.

Pay Transparency Notice

Determining compensation for this role (and others) at Vaco by Highspring depends upon a wide array of factors including but not limited to:

• the individual’s skill sets, experience and training;
• licensure and certification requirements;
• office location and other geographic considerations;
• other business and organizational needs.

Having said that Vaco by Highspring believes that the salary range referenced reasonably estimates the base compensation for an individual hired into this position. The individual may also be eligible for discretionary bonuses and/or participation in medical, dental, and vision benefits as well as the company’s retirement plan (or similar retirement benefits).