JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Summary

The Vice President, Payroll, Benefits & Workforce Operations is an enterprise leader responsible for building the operational foundation that enables League One Volleyball (LOVB) to grow with confidence, consistency, and care. This leader oversees payroll, benefits, compensation administration, HCM operations, employee lifecycle administration, workforce compliance, HR technology, reporting, and operational service delivery across LOVB's business units and legal entities.

This role is responsible for creating scalable processes, strengthening governance and controls, and delivering exceptional employee and manager experiences through operational excellence. The Vice President will lead a team responsible for the administration of workforce operations while partnering closely with Finance, Legal, Technology, People Success, and business leaders across the ecosystem.

Success in this role requires equal parts operational discipline and strategic thinking—building infrastructure that is efficient today while scalable for tomorrow.

Payroll Leadership & Governance

• Serve as LOVB's executive leader and subject matter expert for payroll operations, payroll tax, wage and hour compliance, and payroll governance.
• Lead the accurate, timely, and compliant delivery of payroll across LOVB's multi-state, multi-entity workforce.
• Establish and maintain payroll controls, reconciliations, approval processes, tax registrations, filings, remittances, audits, and year-end reporting.
• Partner with Finance on payroll accounting, reconciliations, accruals, funding, and financial reporting.
• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local payroll laws and regulatory requirements.
• Identify operational risks and implement proactive solutions that strengthen payroll accuracy, compliance, and internal controls.
• Lead payroll vendor relationships and continuously improve payroll processes through automation and operational efficiencies.

Benefits Administration

• Oversee the administration of health and welfare plans, retirement programs, leave administration, voluntary benefits, and annual Open Enrollment.
• Manage relationships with benefit brokers, carriers, third-party administrators, and other benefits partners.
• Partner with Finance and People Success on annual renewals, budgeting, vendor performance, and benefits-related planning.
• Support compensation administration, including salary actions, incentive administration, annual merit processes, and related workforce transactions.
• Ensure benefit programs are administered accurately, efficiently, and in compliance with applicable regulations.

Workforce Systems & Administration

• Serve as the executive owner of LOVB's Human Capital Management platform (Rippling) and supporting workforce technologies, including Jira and related operational tools.
• Develop and execute the workforce systems roadmap to improve compliance, automation, data integrity, operational efficiency, and employee self-service capabilities.
• Oversee HCM configuration, workflows, integrations, security, testing, releases, and change management.
• Lead workforce administration processes, including onboarding, employment changes, transfers, promotions, compensation changes, leaves of absence, and offboarding.
• Establish consistent intake, documentation, workflow, issue resolution, and escalation practices.
• Evaluate and implement system enhancements, automation, AI-enabled capabilities, and emerging technologies that improve operational effectiveness and reduce manual effort.

Compliance, Risk & Governance

• Lead operational compliance across payroll, benefits administration, workforce records, employee transactions, and workforce data.
• Establish compliance calendars, documentation standards, audit procedures, internal controls, and governance practices.
• Coordinate workforce-related audits, regulatory reporting, government inquiries, due diligence requests, and remediation efforts.
• Partner with Legal, Finance, Technology, and People Success to monitor regulatory changes and implement required operational updates.
• Identify, assess, escalate, and resolve compliance risks, control gaps, and operational issues with sound judgment and transparency.

Workforce Intelligence & HR Technology

• Lead the organization's workforce analytics strategy by developing meaningful reporting, dashboards, and insights that support executive decision-making.
• Build labor analytics capabilities that provide visibility into headcount, labor costs, overtime, turnover, span of control, vacancy trends, and workforce productivity.
• Partner with Finance and business leaders on workforce planning, budgeting, forecasting, and organizational modeling.
• Develop predictive reporting that helps leaders anticipate workforce needs and identify emerging risks and opportunities.
• Establish enterprise standards for workforce data governance, data quality, and reporting consistency.
• Serve as executive owner of HR technology, ensuring systems effectively support business operations while enabling automation and scalable growth.
• Lead system enhancements, integrations, testing, and process optimization across the HCM ecosystem.
• Identify opportunities to leverage technology, AI, and automation to improve operational efficiency and employee service delivery.
• Provide timely and accurate workforce data to Finance, People Success, Legal, and executive leadership to support informed decision-making.

Vendor Management & Operational Excellence

• Manage relationships with payroll providers, benefit brokers, HCM vendors, compensation consultants, and other strategic operational partners.
• Establish vendor performance expectations, governance routines, service reviews, and escalation protocols.
• Lead vendor implementations, contract renewals, service transitions, and issue resolution.
• Manage the operating budget for payroll, benefits, workforce systems, and related vendor relationships.
• Drive continuous process improvement, automation, operational standardization, and scalable practices that improve service quality, reduce risk, and support organizational growth.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with People Success to support organizational initiatives through reliable payroll, workforce administration, HCM capabilities, and operational compliance.
• Collaborate with Finance, Legal, and Technology to align payroll operations, workforce systems, compliance, data governance, security, and integrations.
• Engage leaders across LOVB Inc., LOVB Pro, and LOVB Clubs to understand operational needs and deliver scalable workforce solutions.
• Lead cross-functional planning, communication, training, and change management for payroll, workforce systems, and operational initiatives.
• Communicate operational insights, risks, recommendations, and priorities clearly to executive leadership and cross-functional partners.

Required Skills & Abilities

Required

• Recognized expertise in payroll operations, payroll tax, wage and hour compliance, multi-state employment requirements, and payroll governance.
• Deep knowledge of benefits administration, workforce systems, HCM platforms, workforce reporting, and operational compliance.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise payroll and workforce operations within a complex, multi-state organization.
• Experience leading HCM platforms, preferably Rippling, including workflows, integrations, security, governance, reporting, and data management.
• Strong understanding of internal controls, audit readiness, regulatory compliance, operational risk management, and workforce data integrity.
• Ability to connect payroll, workforce administration, and HCM operations with broader financial and organizational priorities.
• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, reporting, vendor management, and operational planning.
• Proven experience leading leaders and specialized operational teams through growth, transformation, and systems implementations.
• Excellent judgment, discretion, and integrity when managing confidential employee, payroll, financial, and organizational information.

Preferred

• Experience supporting a high-growth, multi-entity organization.
• Experience within sports, entertainment, media, technology, or other rapidly evolving industries.
• Experience supporting executive reporting, audits, investor requests, fundraising, or due diligence.
• Experience implementing automation, AI-enabled capabilities, or emerging workforce technologies.
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) designation or other relevant certifications in payroll, benefits, finance, HR, or project management.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, Operations, or a related field.
• Ten or more years of progressive leadership experience in payroll, workforce administration, benefits, HCM, finance operations, compliance, or related operational disciplines.
• At least five years of experience leading managers, functional leaders, or multidisciplinary operational teams.
• Demonstrated experience building scalable operational processes, systems, governance frameworks, and internal controls.
• Experience supporting a complex, multi-state and multi-entity workforce strongly preferred.
• Experience managing significant vendor relationships, contracts, budgets, system implementations, and external service providers.