Advanced Specialist, Payroll - Corporate Human Resources

Job Title: Advanced Specialist, Payroll – Corporate Human Resources

Description: As an Advanced Specialist, Payroll – Corporate Human Resources, you will play a critical role in ensuring accurate, compliant, and reliable payroll operations across the United States. This is a senior individual contributor role designed for an experienced payroll professional who thrives in complexity, exercises strong judgment, and operates with a high degree of autonomy.

You’ll wake up excited to solve complex payroll challenges, support large and diverse employee populations, and act as a trusted subject‑matter expert across the business. In your first six months, your impact will be visible through reduced payroll risk, improved issue resolution, and stronger confidence from internal stakeholders. What makes this role different is the opportunity to move beyond transactional payroll processing and contribute meaningfully to compliance, optimisation, and continuous improvement in a global organisation.

The Role

This role exists to provide advanced payroll expertise and operational leadership within Pearson’s global payroll organisation. You’ll support U.S. payroll operations across multiple entities and jurisdictions, partnering closely with HR, Tax, Finance, IT, and external vendors to deliver accurate and compliant outcomes.

What You’ll Own

Success in this role is defined by ownership, judgment, and impact:

• Payroll expertise & compliance leadership: Serve as a senior subject‑matter expert for U.S. payroll, supporting complex scenarios including tax research, wage and hour interpretation, and compliance‑related issue resolution.
• Complex payroll support: Independently manage payroll complexity for large, hourly, and seasonal employee populations, particularly during peak payroll cycles.
• Cross‑functional partnership: Collaborate with Tax, HR, Finance, IT, and external payroll vendors to resolve escalations and ensure accurate, compliant payroll outcomes.
• Risk identification & mitigation: Proactively identify payroll risks, inefficiencies, and recurring issues, applying sound judgment and documenting rationale where ambiguity exists.
• Process optimisation: Contribute to process improvements, documentation, and standard operating procedures that clarify expectations and strengthen payroll controls.
• Audit & year‑end support: Support audits, year‑end activities, and ad‑hoc reviews with strong analytical rigor and attention to detail.
• Systems & data collaboration (nice to have): Partner with HRIS and payroll transformation teams on upstream time and attendance data, testing, validation, and system optimisation initiatives.

You’ll operate with end‑to‑end ownership, balancing accuracy, compliance, and continuous improvement.

About You

You bring deep U.S. payroll expertise, strong judgment, and a proactive mindset aligned to Pearson’s essential behaviours.

• You bring 5+ years of U.S. payroll experience, with responsibility beyond processing, including compliance support, tax research, and complex issue resolution.
• You have experience supporting multi‑state, multi‑entity payrolls, ideally for large, hourly, or seasonal employee populations.
• You have a strong understanding of U.S. payroll tax concepts, wage and hour requirements, and payroll controls.
• You’re comfortable working independently, managing competing priorities, and operating effectively in a distributed, global team.
• You communicate clearly and confidently, building trust across functions and time zones.
• You bring a continuous improvement mindset and are comfortable navigating ambiguity with sound judgment.

Nice‑to‑have experience includes:

• Exposure to Oracle Time & Labor, ADP Global View, SAP, or Oracle Fusion
• Experience supporting Canadian payroll
• Participation in payroll transformation, system implementation, or process redesign initiatives
• FPC or CPP certification

What You’ll Get

This is an opportunity to grow your career as a senior payroll specialist within a global organisation.

• Ownership of complex, high‑impact payroll activities.
• The chance to influence payroll practices, controls, and optimisation efforts.
• Collaboration with global HR, Finance, Tax, and Technology teams.
• Exposure to enterprise payroll systems and transformation initiatives.
• Professional growth in a role that values expertise, judgment, and continuous improvement.

Ready to Make an Impact?

Apply now and help ensure accurate, compliant payroll operations that support Pearson’s people and purpose.