Payroll Lead, Enterprise Time and Attendance System

Contribute to the City of Hamilton, one of Canada’s largest cities - home to a diverse and strong economy, an active and inclusive community, a robust cultural and dining scene, hundreds of kilometers of hiking trails and natural beauty just minutes from the downtown core, and so much more. Join our diverse team of talented and ambitious staff who embody our values of sensational service, courageous change, steadfast integrity, collective ownership and being engaged empowered employees. Help us achieve our vision of being the best place to raise a child and age successfully. #BeTheReason

• Job ID #32091: Payroll Lead, Enterprise Time and Attendance System
• Union: Non-Union
• Job Description ID #: 7895
• Close date: Interested applicants please submit your application online at www.hamilton.ca/city-council/jobs-city by 4:00 p.m. on July 22, 2026.
• Duration:  Up to 24 months
• Vacancy type: New position
• Internal applicants should apply with your work e-mail address. External applicants are considered only after the internal posting process has been completed. Only applicants chosen for an interview will be contacted.

SUMMARY OF DUTIES

Reporting to the Manager, HR Technology & Analytics, the Payroll Lead is the functional owner and subject matter expert (SME) for Payroll and Pension processes supporting the implementation and optimization of the enterprise Workforce Management (WFM) system, UKG Pro Workforce Management (WFM).

The Payroll Lead is responsible for ensuring accurate payroll processing, compliance, and seamless integration between Time & Attendance, Payroll, and HR systems. This role leads payroll design, validation, and optimization activities, ensuring that pay rules, earnings, deductions, and integrations are correctly configured and aligned with collective agreements, legislation, and organizational policies. The role provides end-to-end leadership of the payroll workstream, including requirements definition, documentation, system design, testing, reporting, and post-implementation stabilization. The role works closely with stakeholders and system implementers to deliver a scalable, standardized, and compliant payroll solution aligned with enterprise workforce management objectives.

GENERAL DUTIES

Serve as the primary functional lead and SME for Payroll and Pension processes across the enterprise. Participate in design workshops, fit-gap analysis, and solution configuration sessions for enterprise time & attendance system, UKG Pro Workforce Management (WFM).

Lead payroll-related activities for the UKG Pro WFM implementation, including design, configuration, and optimization aligning with time & attendance and workforce management practices.

Translate business requirements into functional specifications and system configurations. Define and govern payroll frameworks, including pay code structures, pay rules, earnings, deductions, retroactivity, pay cycles, pay export, and pension processing.

Collaborate with HR, Payroll, Finance, Operations, and union representatives to gather requirements and validate solutions. Engage diverse business units (e.g., Transit, Police, LTC, Public Works) to ensure needs are captured and addressed.

Facilitate workshops, design sessions, and decision-making forums. Act as a trusted advisor and liaison between internal teams and external vendors.

Oversee the configuration and validation of time-to-pay processes and rules including collection, approvals, overtime, premiums, shift differentials, and accrual payouts.

Ensure compliance with collective agreements, labour laws, and organizational payroll policies. Maintain high standards of data integrity, confidentiality, and audit readiness. Respond to and resolve audit inquiries (internal and external).

Lead current-state payroll assessments and design optimized future-state processes. Drive process improvements to increase payroll efficiency, automation, and compliance.

Identify opportunities to standardize processes across the organization and implement best practices.

Ensure proper integration and alignment of timekeeping, scheduling, and absence data into payroll.

Partner with implementation partners, IT, and stakeholders to support configuration and integrations.

Manage integrations between payroll, UKG Pro WFM, HRIS (e.g., Oracle Fusion HCM, PeopleSoft), and financial systems.

Support troubleshooting of inbound/outbound interfaces, data flows and integration points (e.g., FTP, APIs, batch processing).

Act as liaison between technical teams and business users during system changes and upgrades.

Lead payroll testing activities including System Integration Testing (SIT), User Acceptance Testing (UAT), and parallel payroll validation.

Validate payroll outputs (earnings, deductions, etc.) against legacy systems to ensure accuracy and compliance. Validate pay calculations meet regulatory requirements (e.g., overtime, statutory holidays).

Validate end-to-end payroll processing accuracy, including retro pay and adjustments. Develop payroll reconciliation processes to ensure data integrity.

Support payroll during hypercare and stabilization phases. Identify and troubleshoot payroll discrepancies and production issues and provide resolution guidance.

Ensure high data integrity and quality across payroll and integrated systems.

Develop payroll reports and dashboards (earnings, deductions, T4s, pension reporting) using tools such as Power BI, UKG Pro Analytics, or other reporting platforms.

Analyse payroll data, trends, and variances to provide insights and recommendations to support decision-making and compliance monitoring.

Support organizational change management (OCM) initiatives and user adoption. Develop procedures, training materials, and user documentation.

Deliver or support end-user training and promote adoption of new payroll processes. Facilitate knowledge transfer sessions post-implementation.

Establish governance frameworks for payroll processes, enhancements, and releases. Monitor system performance, compliance, and payroll accuracy.

Stay current with emerging technologies and recommend system improvements. Identify and implement payroll and pension best practices.

Conduct post-implementation reviews, cost-benefit analysis, and optimization initiatives.

Identify and mitigate payroll risks throughout implementation and go-live.

Perform other duties as assigned which are directly related to the responsibilities of the position.

QUALIFICATIONS

• University degree in Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, Information Systems, Business Administration, or related field or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• 5+ years of progressive payroll experience, including implementation of enterprise workforce management system. Hands-on experience implementing or supporting UKG Pro WFM (Dimensions or Workforce Central).
• Proven experience leading enterprise T&A implementations for large and complex organizations (3,000+ employees preferred). Experience in unionized or public sector environments is an asset.
• Experience working with payroll systems, or integrated HCM platforms (e.g., Oracle Fusion HCM, PeopleSoft HR).
• Deep knowledge and understanding of:
  • Payroll processing, taxation, and compliance regulations.
  • Earnings, deductions, retro pay, accruals, and compliance frameworks (overtime, union agreements, etc.).
  • Time-to-pay integration, APIs, data interfaces, FTP, relational databases, and web technologies.
• Proven ability to translate business requirements into system configurations. High attention to detail and ability to manage complex requirements.
• Experienced working with various tools, technologies, and modules within Oracle Cloud HCM, PeopleSoft       HCM, and UKG Pro WFM. Experienced troubleshooting inbound and outbound integrations and an understanding of APIs or batch processing. Proficient with Oracle OTBI, PeopleSoft Query, UKG Pro Analytics, and/or other HCM reporting solutions.
• Experience in working with common technologies such as relational databases (MS SQL preferred), query languages like T-SQL, networking, and web technologies. Experience in working with analytical tools like MS Fabric, and Power BI is preferred.
• Understanding of Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), testing methodologies, and system implementations.
• Previous experience working with sensitive information and hold a high regard for confidentiality. Knowledge of legislation and standards relevant to the position – Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA), Employment Standards Act (ESA), Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act AODA.
• Proven analytical and problem-solving abilities. Proactive and systematic troubleshooting abilities to investigate system issues and develop effective solutions. Able to break down complex problems and interpret large datasets to make sound, data-driven recommendations.
• Highly developed interpersonal skills with the ability to interact and communicate effectively at all organizational levels.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills, including the ability to analyse complex situations, distil issues, develop insights, and synthesize recommendations to present information in concise meaningful ways and in a non-technical manner.
• Has proven ability to build, manage and foster a team-oriented environment. Has the ability to develop, maintain, strengthen, and repair partnerships with others inside or outside of the organization to elicit cooperation.
• Excellent organizational, time management and multi-tasking skills. Works effectively under time pressure to meet deadlines, highly result driven, balance work priorities, and resolve problems in a timely manner.
• Strong project management skills, knowledge of change management concepts and strategies and ability to develop supporting tools and materials. Demonstrated experience in agile management or other related methods is considered an asset.

HOURS:

35 per week

Disclaimer:

Be advised that Human Resources frequently audits resumes of internal/external applicants to ensure/validate information provided is consistent and trustworthy. Falsification of information provided at any time throughout the recruitment process may be grounds for disqualification, and for internal applicants, subject to discipline up to and including termination.

Terms:

The City is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusive, barrier-free recruitment and selection processes. Consistent with our Values and Corporate Culture Pillars, the City of Hamilton is committed to providing equitable treatment to all with respect to barrier-free employment and accommodation without discrimination. The City will provide accommodation for applicants in all aspects of the hiring process, up to the point of undue hardship.  If you have an accommodation need, please contact Human Resources as soon as possible to make appropriate arrangements.