Senior Payroll Product Owner & Customer Support Manager

POSITION DESCRIPTION   Senior Payroll Product Owner & Customer Support Manager   Enterprise Systems | Payroll Product, Compliance, and Customer Experience   Reports to   VP of Systems   Location   Flexible / as assigned   Employment   Full-time   Travel   As required for implementations   Role type   Product ownership + support   Credential   CPP or FPC required   Mission   The Payroll Product Owner & Customer Support Manager owns the payroll product experience across Orion's operating companies. This role ensures employees are paid accurately and on time; payroll configuration remains compliant, controlled, and scalable; and payroll questions and defects are resolved with urgency and clear accountability. The role connects Payroll, Finance, Human Resources, Operations, and Systems to translate business and regulatory requirements into dependable system capabilities, repeatable processes, and effective support.   What This Role Owns   End-to-end payroll product ownership, including roadmap, requirements, configuration standards, testing, release readiness, adoption, and continuous improvement.   Accurate and  timely  payroll processing outcomes supported by effective controls, reconciliations, issue prevention, and root-cause resolution.   The payroll customer support model for employees, managers, payroll teams, and Operating Companies, including service levels, knowledge content, case quality, and customer communication.   Payroll configuration governance across earnings, deductions, benefits, taxes, garnishments, unions, prevailing wage, time collection, PTO/accruals, reimbursements, labor costing, and general-ledger integration.   Resolution of payroll risks and defects from identification through correction, validation, communication, and prevention of recurrence.   Key Outcomes   1. Reliable and Accurate Payroll   Payroll is processed accurately, completely, and on schedule across assigned populations and  jurisdictions  as verified by the  OpCo .   Payroll results, taxes, deductions, funding, labor costing, and general-ledger entries are reconciled using documented controls  and integrations.    Material payroll defects are  contained  quickly, corrected through an approved process, and followed by a documented root-cause and preventive action.   Support for integrations with the outside processors of payroll and ERP   2. Scalable Payroll Product   A prioritized payroll roadmap and backlog are  maintained  based on business value, compliance, customer impact, operational risk, and  implementation  demand.   Requirements and acceptance criteria are clear enough for configuration, integration, reporting, and development teams to execute without ambiguity.   Standard configuration is maximized while valid Operating  Company,  collective bargaining, jurisdictional, and business requirements are supported through governed exceptions.   3. High-Quality Customer Support   Payroll cases are owned through resolution with  timely ,  accurate , and understandable communication to the customer.   Support trends are converted into product fixes, training, knowledge articles, configuration improvements, and process changes.   Service levels, aged cases, repeat issues, customer satisfaction, and first-contact resolution are measured and improved.   4. Successful Implementations and Stabilization   New Operating Companies enter payroll with validated employee data, tax setup, calendars, rates, time rules, costing, interfaces, security, and approvals.   Parallel payroll, user acceptance testing, cutover ,  payroll  and employee data migration , first payroll, and post-go-live stabilization are completed against defined entry and exit criteria.   Payroll  remains  operational through acquisitions, implementations, conversions, upgrades, and organizational changes with no avoidable interruption to employees or financial reporting.   Primary Responsibilities   Payroll Product Management   Serve as the authoritative business owner for payroll capabilities within the enterprise technology ecosystem, including COINS, time-collection applications, HR/payroll platforms, banking, and finance integrations.   Develop and  maintain  the product roadmap, backlog, requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, configuration decisions, and release priorities.   Lead discovery with Payroll, HR, Finance, Operations, field teams, and Operating Companies; distinguish true requirements from local preference and design scalable solutions.   Approve payroll-related configuration and product changes within delegated authority and ensure decisions are documented, tested, and traceable.   Evaluate releases and regulatory changes,  determine  business impact, coordinate testing, and make evidence-based production-readiness recommendations.   Payroll Configuration, Controls, and Compliance   Own functional design and governance for pay groups, calendars, earnings, deductions, benefits, taxes, garnishments, direct deposit, PTO/accruals, reimbursements, retroactivity, corrections, and off-cycle payrolls.   Ensure time and labor rules correctly support job, service, and overhead charging; union and non-union populations; salaried and hourly employees; and mobile and employee self-service entry.   Govern payroll treatment for union agreements, certified payroll, prevailing wage, Davis-Bacon requirements, and the system's greater-of-rate logic across prevailing wage, union rates, and employee wages.   Partner with Payroll and Finance to  validate  labor costing, burden and accrual rates, intercompany charging, payroll journals, reconciliations, and period-close requirements.   Maintain configuration documentation, control evidence, approvals, segregation of duties, audit trails, and operating procedures suitable for a growing, control-focused enterprise.   Customer Su