Payroll Specialist (Contractor)

🏆 Great Place to Work® Certified | USA Harbor Compliance is a leading technology platform for entity compliance, helping more than 80,000 businesses and nonprofits manage licensing, tax registration, and legal entity requirements nationwide. Founded in 2012 and recognized repeatedly by the Inc. 5000 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500, we've grown through five strategic acquisitions — and are now backed by a 2026 majority growth investment from Bregal Sagemount to accelerate product, AI, and customer experience. We're a passionate team making compliance simpler and smarter for every organization we serve. Harbor Compliance is seeking an experienced Payroll & Multi-State Tax Compliance Specialist for a 6-month independent contract engagement ($50/hr). In this role, you will assume full ownership of our end-to-end payroll operations, processing 30+ complex monthly runs for domestic employees, global contractors, commissions, and bonuses. Your primary focus will be managing multi-state tax compliance, mitigating audit risks, and standardizing our processes through robust documentation. This dedicated contract role provides critical coverage during an upcoming maternity leave and serves to restore strategic capacity to our core People Operations team. Responsibilities End-to-End Payroll Processing: Execute all multi-cadence domestic payroll runs (salaried, hourly, contractors, commissions) and coordinate global contractor pay. Off-Cycle Management: Administer ad-hoc and off-cycle runs including bonuses, retroactive adjustments, and termination pay inline with state timelines. Multi-State Tax Compliance: Own the setup, maintenance, and closure of state payroll tax accounts, directly interacting with state agencies to remediate issues. System Administration: Serve as the hands-on administrator for Rippling payroll configurations, workflow automations, and credential hygiene (MFA/TPA access). Deductions & Reconciliations: Maintain 401(k) deferrals, benefits, and garnishments in the HRIS, ensuring zero-variance reconciliation against carrier invoices each cycle. M&A Integration Support: Onboard acquisition payrolls within strict integration timelines, handling historical data imports and retroactive rectifications without disruption. People Operations Partnership: Support the broader team with payroll reporting, people analytics, offer letter variable calculations, and compensation band refreshes. Process Documentation: Build and maintain a current, comprehensive runbook for all pay-run types and state tax accounts to ensure seamless operational continuity. Experience Multi-State Payroll: 2–4 years of direct experience managing high-volume, multi-state payroll processing across various employment types. Tax Agency Interaction: Proven track record handling state tax registrations, remittances, filing-frequency rules, and resolving state agency notices. Benefits & Court Orders: Hands-on experience administering 401(k) match processing, complex garnishments, and benefits deduction reconciliations. HRIS Platform Depth: Deep operational familiarity with modern HRIS platforms, specifically managing configurations and system limits. Year-End Operations: Demonstrable experience executing year-end processing, W-2 reconciliations, and avoiding amended filings. Data & Tools: Proficient with intermediate Excel functions (VLOOKUPs, pivot tables) to audit large datasets and manage payroll reporting. Preferred Skills Rippling Expertise: Advanced, hands-on experience with Rippling payroll configuration and a strong understanding of its TPA and Contractor of Record (COR) models. M&A Payroll Exposure: Direct experience managing payroll integrations, historical data migrations, or account setups related to corporate acquisitions. Compliance Knowledge: Solid foundational knowledge of FLSA rules, multi-state wage and hour laws, and independent contractor compliance limits. Accommodations: Harbor Compliance is committed to providing any reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities within our application and interview process. To request an accommodation due to a disability, please inform your recruiter. Compensation: Compensation is set to $50/hr for this 6-month contractor engagement. Pay Transparency Policy Statement Harbor Compliance will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by Harbor Compliance, or (c) consistent with Harbor Compliance’s legal duty to furnish information. Equal Opportunity Statement Harbor Compliance is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, or any other basis protected by law. Notice Regarding the Use of Selection Technology Harbor Compliance uses third-party automated tools and skills assessments (such as Testlify and Rippling) to help evaluate job applications and streamline our hiring workflow. These tools assist our recruitment team in reviewing qualification trends and scheduling, but all final employment decisions are made solely by humans on our Talent Success team, and all tools are subject to human oversight. Depending on your location, local laws may grant you specific disclosure rights or the option to request an alternative evaluation process. If you require a reasonable accommodation or wish to opt out of automated assessment steps due to regional regulations, please notify your recruiter. Opting out will not negatively impact your application.