Payroll Compliance Manager

Company Description

WHO WE ARE

Equinox is a category of one, setting the global standard for luxury health, wellness, and hospitality. Our spaces are intentionally elevated, our standards uncompromising, and our expectations high. We attract people who take pride in excellence, care deeply about quality, and want to be part of something that feels different the moment you walk through the door.
We are builders, operators, and innovators who believe great environments and meaningful human connection change lives. Diversity, belonging, and ownership aren’t slogans here, they’re how we work. At Equinox, colleagues don’t just support the business; they shape the future of wellness. Because for us, it’s not fitness. It’s life.

WHAT WE DO

We create premium, immersive experiences where performance, hospitality, design, and human connection converge—and every detail matters. This is not a traditional fitness environment. It is a place where high standards, accountability, and pride in craft define the work.
Fueled by an entrepreneurial mindset, we trust our people with real responsibility and real impact. Growth is earned through action, learning is hands‑on, and careers are built by those who want to operate at the highest level. At Equinox, we don’t just offer opportunities—we offer long‑term pathways for people who want to do meaningful work in an environment that expects more and delivers more.

Job Description

Payroll Compliance Manager is responsible for developing, maintaining, and monitoring payroll compliance programs and internal controls across the organization. This role ensures payroll practices comply with federal, state, and local wage-and-hour, tax, garnishment, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements. 

The Payroll Compliance Manager will serve as the payroll subject-matter expert for audits, regulatory changes, system controls, policy development, and risk mitigation. The successful candidate must have strong hands-on experience with UKG Pro and UKG Workforce Management and demonstrated proficiency using artificial intelligence tools to improve payroll auditing, compliance monitoring, data analysis, documentation, and operational efficiency. 

Responsibilities  

Payroll Compliance and Governance 

• Monitor compliance with federal, state, and local payroll laws, including wage-and-hour, overtime, minimum wage, final-pay, pay-frequency, meal and rest-period, paid-leave, tax, and record-retention requirements. 

• Maintain a comprehensive payroll compliance calendar covering tax filings, regulatory deadlines, year-end activities, audits, reconciliations, and policy reviews. 

• Research regulatory changes and translate requirements into payroll policies, procedures, system configurations, and operational controls. 

• Partner with Legal, Human Resources, Finance, Tax, Benefits, Operations, and Internal Audit to address payroll compliance risks. 

• Review payroll policies and procedures to ensure consistent application across locations, business units, and employee populations. 

• Maintain documentation supporting payroll decisions, regulatory interpretations, and corrective actions. 

UKG System Compliance 

• Serve as a functional subject-matter expert for UKG Pro and UKG Workforce Management. 

• Evaluate UKG configurations to ensure compliance with company policies, wage-and-hour requirements, and payroll tax rules. 

• Review pay codes, deduction codes, accruals, work rules, overtime rules, rounding rules, holiday rules, security roles, workflows, and approval controls. 

• Partner with Payroll Operations, HRIS, IT, and UKG support teams to test and implement system changes. 

• Develop UKG queries, reports, dashboards, and exception reporting to identify payroll compliance issues. 

• Validate system updates, configuration changes, interfaces, and patches through documented testing and approval processes. 

• Maintain configuration documentation, test scripts, control matrices, and system-change records. 

Artificial Intelligence and Payroll Analytics 

• Use approved AI tools to enhance payroll compliance audits, exception analysis, trend identification, policy research, documentation, and process improvement. 

• Develop and maintain AI-assisted payroll audit prompts, compliance checklists, risk models, and standardized review procedures. 

• Use AI and data analytics to identify anomalies such as duplicate or unusual payments, excessive manual adjustments, repeated missed punches, unauthorized timecard edits, and overtime anomalies. 

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience. 

• Minimum of 5 years of progressive payroll experience, including at least 3 years in payroll compliance, audit, controls, or payroll management. 

• Strong hands-on experience with UKG Pro and UKG Workforce Management is required. 

• Demonstrated experience supporting complex, high-volume, multi-state payroll operations. 

• Strong knowledge of federal, state, and local wage-and-hour and payroll tax requirements. 

• Experience performing payroll audits, developing internal controls, and resolving compliance findings. 

• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, data validation, exception analysis, and large-data reconciliation. 

• Demonstrated proficiency using generative AI and AI-enabled analytics tools in a professional payroll, compliance, finance, audit, or HR environment. 

• Strong analytical, research, documentation, project-management, problem-solving, and communication skills. 

• Ability to handle confidential employee and payroll information with discretion.

Pay Transparency: $110k - $120k

Additional Information

AS A MEMBER OF THE EQUINOX TEAM YOU WILL RECEIVE:

• We offer competitive salaries, benefits, and industry leading commission opportunities for club employees
• Complimentary Club membership
• Perks and incentives with our products and services including Personal Training, Pilates, Spa and Shop

This job description is intended to describe the general requirements for the position. It is not a complete statement of duties, responsibilities, or requirements. Other duties not listed here may be assigned as necessary to ensure the proper operations of the department.

Equinox is an equal opportunity employer. For more information regarding our career opportunities, please visit one of our clubs or our website at https://careers.equinox.com/

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines. Must have a legal right to work in the United States.