Director of Payroll

Aspire Public Schools NorCal — Director of Payroll

Job Description 

About Aspire NorCal 

Founded in 1998, Aspire Public Schools has served scholars and communities across California for nearly three decades. With Aspire Los Angeles transitioning into an independent organization, the Bay Area and Central Valley regions are coming together to form Aspire NorCal, operating 22 schools serving approximately 10,000 scholars across Northern California (Oakland, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, and Ceres). 

This evolution comes at an important moment for Aspire. Changes in California’s funding, policy, enrollment, and operating environment have created an opportunity to rethink how the organization supports its schools and scholars in its next chapter. The formation of Aspire NorCal creates an opportunity to strengthen support for schools across teams previously organized by geography, improve the consistency and effectiveness of school support, and create clear accountability systems for organizational and scholar outcomes. The new model will require the organization to balance greater coherence across Aspire NorCal with responsiveness to the different communities and contexts of its schools. 

Aspire NorCal enters this transition with a long-standing mission focused on post-secondary success and a deep commitment to educational equity, along with decades of institutional knowledge across its schools and teams. Preserving those strengths while building Aspire NorCal as a unified region will be central to the work ahead. 

About the role 

The Director of Payroll, with strong problem-solving and system-building skills, manages the payroll team and takes ownership for the success of the payroll function, including payroll compliance, processing, reporting, and tax filing, and delivers clear, proactive payroll education to teammates across the organization.

In addition to ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of every payroll and payroll-related deadline, the Director of Payroll is a hands-on payroll technical leader who researches, recommends, and implements ways to streamline payroll processes and systems in accordance with federal and state regulations and Aspire's strategies and goals.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, build, and manage a high-performing payroll function and team to support internal teammates and external requirements.

• Manage 2-3 direct reports

• Develop training materials and deliver live training sessions on payroll compliance, industry updates, and best practices; maintain a robust set of payroll tools and Q&A materials.

• Foster a customer service culture within the payroll team, upholding service level agreements and success metrics; oversee the payroll service desk ticket system.

• Serve as the Payroll Service Level Agreement (SLA) lead between Aspire NorCal and Aspire LA, participating in SLA review meetings and delivering SLA performance reports.

• Collaborate with Employee Services and the Retirement Manager to resolve tax, benefit, and retirement questions, including retirement-related audits (403(b), CalSTRS, and CalPERS).

• Develop, own, and communicate the payroll calendar; ensure timely submission and payment of all payrolls, tax filings, retirement plan reporting and funding, and termination payments, and own the payroll year-end process.

• Be an expert in payroll and HRIS systems, and manage the full payroll cycle, including status changes, W-4 and direct deposit entry, leave processing, adjustments, retro payments, W-2 filings, off-cycle checks, garnishments, retirement deductions, fringe benefits, journal entries, and final pay calculations.

• Understand benefit taxation and ACA requirements and support reporting with the Employee Services team.

• Manage internal payroll controls and develop payroll audit reports, checks, and balances to ensure accurate payrolls and proactively mitigate errors.

• Ensure the payroll function is well documented, including a training manual and regular electronic filing of pay period adjustments.

• Hire, develop, coach, and retain a customer-focused, cross-trained payroll team; set priorities and balance workload.

• Build collaborative partnerships with HR leadership, Employee Services, Employee Relations, the HRIS Manager, Business Managers, and the Retirement Manager.

• Act as liaison between internal managers and Aspire's payroll provider, and lead payroll-related projects.

• Demonstrate knowledge of, and support, the Aspire Public Schools mission, vision, and values, including antiracism, and uphold confidentiality standards and the code of ethical behavior.

• Perform other related duties as required and assigned.

Qualifications 

Education and credentials

• FPC or CPP designation required; bachelor's degree in Accounting or Business preferred.

Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of payroll experience and 3 years of direct management experience.

• Experience with UltiPro (UKG) required, and ability to navigate HRIS systems.

• Working knowledge of accounting and benefit principles preferred.

• Experience in or strong interest in K-12 public education.

Skills and competencies

• Knowledge of federal and California labor laws, including FLSA and wage-and-hour.

• Deep payroll technical knowledge and a desire to stay on top of changing regulations.

• Strong customer service orientation, communication, and relationship-building skills; professional integrity.

• High attention to detail, organization, and follow-up; ability to manage multiple projects concurrently.

• Excellent critical thinking and problem-solving skills; good judgment.

• Advanced Excel and technology skills; ability to work with large databases and provide meaningful analysis.

• Ability to handle highly sensitive information; influence and partnering skills across HR, Finance, and Payroll.

Compensation and benefits

The salary range for this role is $119,773 to $153,754 annually in accordance with our salary schedule policy, commensurate with experience. This full-time, exempt position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Eligible for Aspire health benefits

• Retirement through CalSTRS or CalPERS, depending on the role's credential requirements, with a 403(b) option

• Paid time off and additional teammate benefits to be determined in accordance with updated employee value proposition to be shared prior to offer.  

Aspire NorCal is conducting a comprehensive study of our employee value proposition, which could lead to material changes in July 2027.

Location and work arrangement

• Work location and in-person expectations for this role are being finalized as part of our broader NorCal planning. We will share clarity with candidates in the coming weeks 

Aspire NorCal expects to provide Finance, Accounting, Payroll, and Retirement services to Aspire LA under a multi-year service agreement, and part of this department’s budget is expected to depend on that agreement.  If the agreement is not finalized, is not renewed, or ends early, Aspire NorCal may reduce the department’s size accordingly, and any position in the departments listed above may be impacted.  Employment with Aspire is at-will

Application Deadline: November 20, 2026.

Equal opportunity 

Aspire Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Aspire Public Schools provides reasonable accommodations during the application and interview process.

Disclaimer

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.