Payroll & Benefits Coordinator

Who Are We? 

With a vision of a joyful region of shared prosperity, belonging, and justice, the Seattle Foundation (SeaFdn) works to support and sustain the ecosystem of community organizations who are most proximate to the issues we are trying to change. Through our work as a philanthropic advisor, grant maker, and convener, we invest in community-led solutions and ignite powerful and rewarding philanthropy to make Greater Seattle a stronger, more vibrant community for all.

Position Overview:

The SeaFdn’s People & Culture team is looking for a part-time, hands-on Payroll & Benefits Coordinator who will own payroll processing and benefits administration and compliance. Our compensation and benefits philosophy reflect our belief that people are at the heart of impact. Compensation is more than a transaction—it’s a trust-based function that reflects our commitment to equity, transparency, and respect for every team member’s contributions. We believe timely, accurate, and accessible payroll and benefits practices are foundational to a joyful and just workplace. This position will partner cross-functionally to ensure our payroll and benefits processes are robust and scalable to support SeaFdn's strategic goals and community impact.

This role is tactical and systems-heavy, focused on day-to-day payroll processing, benefits administration, employee data changes, and HRIS support to ensure employees are paid accurately and on time, employee records are maintained with precision, and payroll and benefits processes are increasingly standardized, well-documented, and operationally effective. This role will support semi-monthly payroll, employee onboarding and offboarding transactions, benefits administration, reporting, and audit support across SeaFdn and its supporting organizations and fiscal sponsors.

The ideal candidate is passionate about strengthening process consistency, maintaining audit-ready practices, and providing excellent customer service support to employees navigating payroll and benefits. This position requires a high level of accuracy, exceptional attention to detail, and the ability to be professional, ethical, and maintain confidentially in all business practices. This role is expected to operate with a high degree of independence, curiosity, and sound judgment. The person in this position should have an applied understanding of Federal and WA state laws related to payroll and benefits, and be able to research payroll, tax, and policy questions, develop practical recommendations, and escalate decisions appropriately for approval.

Responsibilities:

Payroll Processing

• Process semi-monthly payroll ensuring accurate handling of time, earnings, bonuses, leaves, deductions, benefits, taxes, garnishments, and other items that affect pay and company liability.
• Administer the day-to-day payroll cycle in the HRIS (SeaFdn uses Paycom), including timekeeping review, payroll preparation, approvals support, review follow-up, reconciliation, and post-payroll issue resolution.
• Ensure each pay cycle closes accurately and on time in collaboration with the Finance team.
• Resolve time tracking issues in partnership with managers and employees.
• Support payroll training for staff and provide responsive assistance with payroll questions.

Benefits Administration

• Administer open enrollment, including pulling census data and supporting the full enrollment process.
• Support employee onboarding and benefits enrollment administration, including helping new hires understand self-enrollment steps and answering general benefits questions.
• Manage leave administration processes, including FMLA and PFML, and help employees understand their leave benefits and time reporting requirements.
• Support benefit renewals, qualifying events, and related employee communications as needed.

Compliance, Tax and Audit

• Partner with the Finance team to process payroll taxes and benefit-related payments and support payroll, benefits, and retirement audits.
• Review and verify quarterly and annual tax audit reports, including ACA reporting and HRIS audit outputs, to ensure timely and accurate reporting.
• Research and respond to federal, state, and local changes affecting payroll, deductions, benefits, and pay; advise management as needed.
• Research, test, and resolve payroll tax issues with the IRS and state or local jurisdictions, including registering new local and state tax accounts as needed.
• Ensure timely and accurate W-2 preparation and review wage data submissions to state and local governments.
• Manage Washington State UI claims.
• Support annual financial and 403(b) audits by pulling and verifying required records.

HRIS, Reporting and Process Improvement

• Maintain employee records and process employee lifecycle transactions in the HRIS, including new hire setup, status changes, personnel action updates, terminations, and final pay coordination.
• Support and maintain HRIS and vendor portal workflows related to payroll and benefits issues, configurations, and upgrades.
• Pull payroll, W-2, retirement, and related records for audits, reporting, and internal review.
• Support reporting for benefit renewals, audits, government reporting, and internal HR reporting.
• Help standardize workflows by creating SOPs, job aids, and documentation that improves continuity, team backup coverage, and shared understanding of payroll and benefits processes.
• Identify opportunities to reduce errors, improve reporting, and strengthen process consistency across payroll, benefits, and HRIS administration.
• Partner with vendors to research issues, troubleshoot system limitations, and recommend practical solutions when internal configuration options are limited.

Employee Service, Cross-team Partnership and Communication

• Serve as the primary contact for employee questions related to payroll and benefits.
• Provide high-quality customer service to employees and managers regarding timecards, payroll, pay changes, deductions, and benefits of administration.
• Work with employees to help them understand their benefits, payroll issues, and how to navigate related processes.
• Complete employment verifications.
• Maintain strict confidentiality over employee data and information, ensuring full compliance with data protection laws.

• Partner effectively with HR, Accounting, Finance, and other cross-functional teams to update payroll practices and policies. Support implementation of policy changes, including changes related to leave, taxes, benefits, and payroll administration to ensure changes are processed and adhered to.
• Prioritize work effectively during payroll cycles, audit periods, open enrollment, merit/COLA processing, and other peak-volume periods.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience administering payroll, benefits administration, HR information systems and HR customer service in a complex, multi-state environment.
• 3+ years applied payroll accounting experience for example: understanding how payroll is calculated, recorded and reconciled; payroll taxes, deductions and benefit withholdings; accruals; compliance and audit readiness; data integrity and controls.
• Strong knowledge of payroll and benefits fundamentals, including federal and multi-state tax regulations, payroll taxes, timekeeping, employee data maintenance, and compliance-sensitive processing.
• High proficiency with HRIS, payroll, and timekeeping systems; Paycom experience preferred.
• Experience supporting employee onboarding, employee record changes, offboarding, and final pay processes.
• Excellent customer service skills, with the ability to respond calmly, clearly, and helpfully to repeated or time-sensitive employee questions and to explain complex processes in simple terms.
• Strong attention to detail, organization, and follow-through, with a commitment to accuracy and confidentiality.
• Ability to think ahead, anticipate problems, manage hard deadlines, and offer practical solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to research issues independently, ask strong questions, work effectively with vendors, and make sound recommendations.
• Familiarity with FMLA, WA PFML, ERISA, and FLSA.
• Experience supporting audits, reporting, retirement plan administration, and process documentation or SOP development.
• Successful experience partnering with Finance and other cross-functional teams.
• Comfort working in a highly tactical role that requires day-to-day system fluency, prioritization, and problem solving.
• Experience working with people from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, and professional backgrounds is valued.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

Seattle Foundation envisions a thriving region of shared prosperity, belonging, and justice, where all individuals and communities have equitable access and outcomes, regardless of race, place, or identity. We are committed to advancing racial equity using an intersectional lens, and integrate our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts into all that we do. We hold ourselves accountable to uphold our organizational values and strive to do better every day.

Physical Demands and Working Conditions:

The work is performed fully in-person or hybrid remote/in-person, in an office setting located in downtown Seattle. All positions require the capability of working at a PC for extended periods. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary functions of the role. This is a 20 hour per week part-time role with the potential for increased hours during peak times. Core availability during payroll and regular business workflow is important.