Payroll Specialist

Your opportunity

At Schwab, you’re empowered to make an impact on your career.  Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us “challenge the status quo” and transform the finance industry together.

Our HR team is committed to delivering an exceptional employee experience that fosters engagement, productivity, and strong company performance. Within Payroll Operations, our mission is to ensure accurate and timely compensation for all employees while maintaining compliance across 17 FEINs in all 50 states and U.S. territories. We support this through monthly GL reconciliation, regulatory filings, and alignment with our Employee Experience Guiding Principles—emphasizing self-service tools, automation, and continuous service level improvement.

As a Payroll Specialist, you will manage daily and bi-weekly payroll processes, ensuring accuracy and adherence to strict timelines. You’ll compute wages, validate gross-to-net calculations, and resolve payroll inquiries. You’ll also contribute to team projects and support continuous improvement efforts.

Key Responsibilities

• Administer payroll using Workday; validate pay/tax data changes (e.g., state transfers, company/tax updates).
• Communicate with employees, managers, and business partners to verify and clarify payroll information.
• Manage garnishments: initiate ADP files, process WRIT orders, and handle employee refunds.
• Analyze payroll reports, correct discrepancies, and ensure compliance.
• Process off-cycle payments (e.g., new hires, terminations, LOAs, severance, deceased wages) per policy and state law.
• Distribute paychecks using verified mailing addresses.
• Identify and resolve overpayments in collaboration with stakeholders.
• Escalate complex issues to payroll leadership.
• Review ACH reject reports; verify and correct impacted pay runs.
• Maintain compliance with SOX and internal RCSA standards.
• Address help requests and errors; determine corrective actions and process reversals or payment stops.
• Generate and analyze monthly payroll metrics.
• Resolve cases related to earnings, taxes, and deductions.
• Run daily settlement processes in Workday.
• Support special projects and perform other duties as assigned.

What you have

Required Qualifications

• 2–3 years of experience managing full-cycle, multi-state payroll processes.
• Hands-on experience with Workday Payroll.
• Proficiency in payroll systems and data querying tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) designation.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Business, or a closely related field.
• Advanced Excel skills, including VLOOKUPs, pivot tables, and complex formulas.
• Strong knowledge of state and federal payroll laws and regulations.
• Proven ability to build and maintain effective internal and external partnerships.
• Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to high-quality work.
• Demonstrated ability to set ambitious goals and consistently achieve them.
• Experience driving process improvements to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and productivity.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to evaluate and resolve complex issues.
• Track record of success working both independently and collaboratively in team environments.