Director, Payroll

Job Description

The Director, Payroll is responsible for the strategic leadership, operational excellence, and transformation of payroll services across Extendicare’s national footprint. This role ensures accurate, compliant, and timely payroll delivery for a large, unionized workforce while advancing a standardized, efficient, and technology-enabled payroll function.

Reporting to the Senior Director, Payroll, Benefits & Total Rewards, the Director will lead the evolution of payroll into a high-performing, service-oriented function, leveraging Workday and continuous improvement practices to enhance both operational efficiency and employee experience.

This role will be based at our head office in Markham Ontario. Extendicare offers a hybrid working environment.

What you will do:

• Provide strategic direction for payroll operations across multiple provinces and business units

• Align payroll delivery with organizational priorities such as growth, acquisitions, and workforce transformation

• Position payroll as a value‑added function by delivering insights that support workforce strategy

• Serve as the senior subject matter expert on payroll governance, compliance, and best practices

• Oversee full‑cycle payroll processing (bi‑weekly, multi‑entity, union and non‑union)

• Ensure accurate administration of earnings, deductions, retroactivity, and complex pay rules

• Manage payroll for diverse employee groups including hourly, salaried, and shift‑based staff

• Maintain strict adherence to payroll deadlines, internal controls, and service commitments

• Oversee statutory remittances and year‑end activities (T4s, ROEs, T2200s, benefits and pension reconciliations)

• Ensure compliance with federal and provincial legislation, CRA requirements, Employment Standards, and collective agreements

• Support internal and external audits and lead resulting action plans

• Lead process redesign, simplification, and standardization across business units and jurisdictions

• Identify and implement automation, digitization, and process optimization opportunities

• Establish and monitor KPIs and SLAs to drive performance and continuous improvement

• Apply lean methodologies to reduce cycle times, eliminate waste, and improve accuracy

• Drive standardized payroll processes within Workday and minimize manual workarounds

• Partner with HRIS to enhance system integrations (time and attendance, scheduling, finance)

• Maintain strong internal controls, audit processes, and risk mitigation strategies

• Lead, coach, and develop the payroll team, ensuring capability in Workday, compliance, and continuous improvement

• Support workforce planning within the payroll team, including role clarity, development pathways, and succession planning

• Partner with HR, Finance, Operations, and Labour Relations on payroll‑related matters

• Act as the escalation point for complex payroll issues impacting employees or the business

• Support cross‑functional initiatives involving workforce planning, compensation, and benefits

• Deliver payroll metrics, dashboards, and insights to senior leadership

• Leverage Workday reporting to support decision‑making and workforce analytics

• Analyze trends such as overtime, absenteeism, and labour costs to identify optimization opportunities

• other duties as required.

What you bring to the role:

• 8–12+ years of progressive payroll experience, including leadership roles

• Experience in large, complex, multi-site, and unionized environments (healthcare preferred)

• Deep expertise in Canadian payroll legislation and compliance

• Strong experience with Workday payroll, including optimization and transformation initiatives

• Demonstrated success leading operational excellence and process improvement initiatives

• PCP/PLP designation preferred

At Extendicare, we believe that working as a team creates an environment that allows us to reach our potential. We value each employee, encourage equal opportunity for growth and recognize achievement. As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

• Continuous mentorship, support for life-long learning and growth opportunities

• Opportunities for advancement and career growth within the organization

• A rewarding and meaningful work experience where you can enrich your life and the lives of others through your work.

• Employee Family Assistance Program.

• Robust benefits package

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Compensation Details

At Extendicare, we’ve spent more than 50 years dedicated to enhancing quality of life for the people we serve across Canada. When you join Extendicare, you become part of a compassionate, mission-driven team committed to supporting care delivery in homes and communities nationwide. Our corporate roles play a vital part in enabling front-line teams to provide exceptional experiences for clients and families. Together, we foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability—creating solutions that strengthen our services and improve lives every day.​

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We are committed to providing competitive compensation that reflects the value of this role and the unique qualifications each candidate brings. This opportunity is a replacement for an existing role and to support transparency, a hiring range may be included with this posting. However, final salary offers are based on a variety of factors such as your skills, experience, education, and alignment with the responsibilities of this position.

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Base salary is one component of our broader total rewards package. We offer a comprehensive suite of benefits designed to support your health, financial well-being, and long-term career growth. Your recruiter can provide more details about our total rewards offerings during the hiring process.​

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We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support certain stages of the recruitment process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing candidate responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment — every application is reviewed by a member of our team to ensure thoughtful and equitable consideration. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.​

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Extendicare is committed to fostering an accessible, inclusive, and equitable hiring process. We gladly accommodate the needs of applicants throughout all stages of recruitment and selection upon request.​