Senior Manager, Payroll Operations

Company: Highstreet Insurance Partners

Role: Senior Manager, Payroll Operations

Status: Full-Time

Location: Hybrid - Grand Rapids, MI

Company Overview

Highstreet Insurance Partners is a growing insurance brokerage organization built through the partnership of local agencies and shared corporate support. As the company continues to scale, we are focused on strengthening the operational infrastructure, service model, and employee experience needed to support our agency partners and team members across multiple states.

Role Overview

The Senior Manager, Payroll Operations, will lead a high-performing payroll team responsible for accurate, compliant, and timely payroll delivery in a fast-paced, multi-state environment. This role requires a strong people leader who can coach and develop payroll professionals, strengthen accountability and collaboration, improve scalable payroll processes, and provide a responsive, customer-focused service model for employees and agency partners.

Key Leadership Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a team of eight to ten Payroll professionals, creating a culture of accountability, engagement, and continuous learning.
• Conduct performance management activities, including goal setting, performance reviews, career development planning, and succession planning.
• Foster a positive and inclusive team environment that promotes collaboration, employee motivation, and retention.
• Establish clear expectations, performance standards, and service-level objectives for the payroll team.
• Recognize and reward team achievements while proactively addressing performance challenges.
• Drive employee engagement initiatives and create opportunities for professional growth and skill development.

Payroll Operations Leadership

• Provide strategic oversight for all payroll operations, ensuring accurate and timely processing of multi-state payroll.
• Develop and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure payroll accuracy, productivity, compliance, and service delivery.
• Manage payroll escalations and complex employee issues while serving as the senior point of contact for payroll-related matters.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local payroll regulations, tax requirements, garnishments, and benefit deductions.
• Partner with HR, Finance, Benefits, and agency leadership to align payroll services with organizational objectives.

Process Improvement & Strategic Initiatives

• Lead payroll transformation initiatives and continuous process improvement efforts to increase efficiency and scalability.
• Identify automation opportunities and implement best practices to optimize payroll operations.
• Oversee payroll system enhancements, testing, upgrades, and vendor relationships.
• Utilize payroll metrics and reporting to support strategic decision-making and resource planning.

Employee & Stakeholder Partnership

• Build trusted relationships with business leaders, HR partners, and agency stakeholders.
• Ensure a high-quality employee experience by promoting responsive, solution-oriented payroll service.
• Influence and guide stakeholders through payroll-related changes, process improvements, and compliance initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience

• 7+ years of progressive payroll experience.
• 3+ years of direct people management experience leading payroll professionals.
• Demonstrated success building, motivating, and developing high-performing teams.
• Experience managing multi-state payroll operations and payroll compliance.
• Experience leading payroll process improvement and system implementation initiatives.
• Paycor experience preferred.

Leadership Competencies

• Inspirational leadership and team-building skills.
• Strong coaching and mentoring capabilities.
• Ability to drive employee engagement and organizational change.
• Strong conflict resolution and interpersonal effectiveness.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Strategic thinking combined with operational execution.