Payroll Operations Lead (12 Month Contract)

Lush North America supports retail and manufacturing operations across Canada and the United States. Payroll is a critical operational function that relies on clean upstream processes, accurate data flow, and strong controls.

We are hiring a Payroll Operations Lead to strengthen payroll operations through end-to-end process ownership, cross-functional partnership, and measurable continuous improvement across North America. 

In this role, as an individual contributor, you will lead and partner closely with People and Culture, Finance, and Lush business units to own and improve critical people-to-pay workflows impacting payroll accuracy, compliance, and team workload. You will advocate for payroll requirements in upstream decisions, align stakeholders on standards, timing, and accountability, and design practical, audit-ready controls that reduce risk and support sustainable ways of working.

Reporting to the Assistant Controller, the Payroll Operations Lead, North America undertakes the following RESPONSIBILITIES:

Operational Improvements And Payroll-Adjacent Services:

In collaboration with People and Culture, Compliance and impacted business units:

• Improve the termination process end-to-end: standardized intake forms, approval points, and timely updates in ADP to reduce overpayment and compliance risk.
• Improve processing of change forms for job changes and rate changes with clear approval flows and a complete audit trail.
• Improve seasonal onboarding workflows, including effective coordination with third-party services where appropriate.
• Improve processes around reporting and payment for payroll-adjacent obligations such as workers’ compensation, employer health tax, and other state withholding taxes through stronger tracking, calendarization, reconciliation, and follow-up.

Payroll System Integrations and Onboarding (Payroll Lead Liaison):

• Partner with Talent Acquisition, People, and Systems teams to define payroll requirements for the US Greenhouse to ADP onboarding integration
• Define source-of-truth decisions, required fields, approval timing, and validation rules
• Lead payroll-side readiness for go-live, including test scenario design, payroll cutover alignment, and reconciliation approach
• Build the operating model that ensures the new workflow is adopted consistently and does not drift back to manual workarounds

Ticketing, KPIs, And Workload Visibility (Solarwinds Service Desk):

• Establish standardized intake and routing for payroll work, including bonus requests, required fields, SLAs, and status definitions.
• Implement payroll KPIs and reporting through SolarWinds Service Desk to improve visibility into workload, volume trends, cycle times, and exception rates.
• Create a centralized operational hub for payroll task planning and tracking. SolarWinds highlights reporting and analytics as a key service desk capability and the quality of reporting depends on consistent categorization and disciplined workflows.

Documentation And Communication:

• Maintain and continuously improve payroll SOPs, playbooks, and training materials
• Ensure processes are easy to follow and audit 
• Provide stakeholders with updates on progress, risks, and key decisions

You bring the following QUALIFICATIONS:

Required

• 5+ years of experience in payroll operations, HRIS-adjacent operations, people operations, or a related function with direct payroll impact
• Experience working with ADP Workforce Now or a similar payroll platform
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional process improvement initiatives (from problem definition through implementation and stabilization)
• Strong understanding of payroll controls, audit requirements, and data sensitivity
• Comfort learning system configuration concepts
• Strong systems-thinking mindset with the curiosity to trace upstream and downstream impacts of payroll changes across people, systems, and controls
• Strong analytical skills with experience using metrics to improve operational performance
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to influence stakeholders without formal authority, and push back constructively when payroll risk is introduced upstream.

Preferred

• Experience supporting ATS to HRIS or ATS to payroll integrations, particularly Greenhouse and ADP
• Experience supporting cross-border payroll operations across Canada and the United States
• Experience implementing service desk workflows, operational dashboards, and ticketing systems

Thriving with a diverse company culture, celebrating the uniqueness of our staff and committed to inclusion. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

We thank all interested applicants; however, only qualified candidates will be contacted.

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Job Type: 12 Month Contract, Full Time. Hybrid. (2-days onsite)

Office Location: 35 Jutland Road, Etobicoke, Ontario, M8Z 2G6

Recruitment Process Overview:

Application Deadline: Friday, May 1st at 5:00 pm PST

 

Late Internal Applications:

This internal posting will close on Friday, May 1st, 2026 at 5:00pm PST. After this date, the role may no longer appear on the internal job board. However, if you are still interested in applying after the posting closes, please reach out to Talent Acquisition Partner, Diana Calero (dcalero@lush.com) to let us know you’d like to be considered as a late internal applicant.

 

Please note: Consideration for late internal applications will depend on the stage of the interview process at the time your request is received.