Director of Payroll

R1 is the leading provider of technology-driven solutions that transform the patient experience and financial performance of hospitals, health systems and medical groups. We are the one company that combines the deep expertise of a global workforce of revenue cycle professionals with the industry’s most advanced technology platform, encompassing sophisticated analytics, AI, intelligent automation, and workflow orchestration. 

As our Director of Payroll, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for enterprise payroll operations, ensuring accurate, timely, compliant, and employee-centered payroll delivery across a large, complex workforce. This role oversees payroll governance, regulatory compliance, financial controls, technology strategy, vendor management, and organizational capability development. The Director partners closely with HR, Finance, Tax, Legal, HRIT, and executive leadership to mitigate risk, drive operational excellence, enhance the employee experience, and lead payroll transformation initiatives that support scalability, efficiency, and long-term business objectives.

Here’s what you will experience working as a Director of Payroll:

• Leads end-to-end payroll operations for a large, complex, multi-state employee population, ensuring accurate, timely, compliant, and resilient payroll delivery. 
• Develops and executes the enterprise payroll strategy, operating model, governance framework, and capability roadmap. 
• Establishes payroll service levels, performance metrics, escalation processes, and governance routines that drive operational excellence. 
• Leads, develops, and retains payroll leaders and team members through effective organizational design, succession planning, and capability building. 
• Own the payroll compliance and control framework, ensuring adherence to federal, state, and local payroll regulations and tax requirements. 
• Provides executive oversight of SOX controls, audits, risk assessments, compliance monitoring, and issue remediation efforts. 
• Oversees payroll tax operations, agency relationships, reconciliations, and payroll-to-general-ledger integrity in partnership with Finance and Tax. 
• Identifies, assesses, and mitigates payroll-related financial, operational, and regulatory risks across the enterprise. 
• Lead payroll technology strategy, including system enhancements, integrations, testing, data governance, and implementation initiatives. 
• Serve as the business owner for payroll-related requirements involving payroll, time tracking, leave administration, and absence management capabilities. 
• Drives automation, process standardization, continuous improvement, and transformation initiatives that improve efficiency and reduce risk. 
• Manages strategic payroll vendor relationships, ensuring service quality, compliance, contract performance, and continuous improvement. 
• Delivers executive reporting and actionable insights on payroll performance, trends, risks, workforce impacts, and transformation progress. 
• Owns payroll policies, procedures, controls documentation, governance standards, and business continuity planning. 
• Provides payroll leadership for enterprise initiatives, including mergers and acquisitions, organizational restructuring, geographic expansion, and workforce transformation activities. 

Required Skills:

• Bachelor's - Equivalent experience will be considered in lieu of a degree
• Minimum of 10 years of experience, including at least 5 years in a management role
• CPP (Certified Payroll Professional) certification. 
• Experience with global payroll, centralized or shared-services models, and large-scale operating model transformation. 
• Experience supporting mergers and acquisitions, organizational restructuring, geographic expansion, or global mobility. 
• Background in healthcare or another large, highly regulated enterprise environment. 
• Demonstrated experience leading managers and senior professionals and building scalable organizational capability. 
• Deep knowledge of payroll regulations, tax compliance, wage-and-hour considerations, SOX controls, and audit requirements. 
• Proven ownership of enterprise payroll strategy, governance, vendor performance, and major transformation or system implementation initiatives. 
• Strong experience with Workday or a comparable enterprise payroll/HRIS platform. 
• Executive-level communication, judgment, influence, and decision-making skills, with the ability to translate complex payroll matters into clear business recommendations. 
• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity, manage enterprise risk, and balance operational delivery with long-term transformation. 

For this US-based position, the base pay range is $111,079.00 - $147,768.37 per year . Individual pay is determined by role, level, location, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

This job is eligible to participate in our annual bonus plan at a target of 20.00%

The healthcare system is always evolving — and it’s up to us to use our shared expertise to find new solutions that can keep up. On our growing team you’ll find the opportunity to constantly learn, collaborate across groups and explore new paths for your career.

Our associates are given the chance to contribute, think boldly and create meaningful work that makes a difference in the communities we serve around the world. We go beyond expectations in everything we do. Not only does that drive customer success and improve patient care, but that same enthusiasm is applied to giving back to the community and taking care of our team — including offering a competitive benefits package.

R1 RCM Inc. (“the Company”) is dedicated to the fundamentals of equal employment opportunity. The Company’s employment practices , including those regarding recruitment, hiring, assignment, promotion, compensation, benefits, training, discipline, and termination shall not be based on any person’s age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Furthermore, the Company is dedicated to providing a workplace free from harassment based on any of the foregoing protected categories.

If you have a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the job application process, please contact us at 312-496-7709 for assistance.

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To learn more, visit: R1RCM.com

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