Senior Payroll Tax Analyst

Location: Houston Texas 77041
Hybrid: 2-3 days onsite
Hours: M - F, 7am to 4pm or 8am to 5pm. Overtime as needed

Job Description
The Sr Payroll Tax Professional is the subject matter expert for US payroll taxes, responsible for end-to-end ownership of payroll tax compliance, reporting, and governance across federal, state, and local jurisdictions. This role plays a key part in the
organization’s ERP transformation, ensuring payroll tax requirements are clearly defined, tested, and embedded into new systems and processes. The position goes beyond processing. Reporting to the US Payroll Manager and acting as a key support, the role drives tax accuracy, leads training and capability building within the payroll team, supports complex employee scenarios (including expatriates and gross ups), and acts as the primary point of contact for employee tax queries.

Responsibilities
Payroll Tax Ownership & Compliance

• Own and execute all US payroll tax activities including federal, state, and local filings (941, 940, W-2, W-3)
• Manage quarterly and year-end processes, amendments, and corrections
• Ensure compliance across all jurisdictions
• Reconcile payroll tax balances and align with General Ledger
• Manage tax notices and agency correspondence
• ADP SmartCompliance

Subject Matter Expertise & Advisory

• Act as the go-to expert for payroll tax matters
• Provide guidance on complex scenarios and regulatory changes
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of tax legislation
• Employee Support & Complex Cases
• Respond to employee payroll tax queries
• Manage expat taxation, gross-ups, and multi-state taxation issues
• Partner with HR, Employment Tax and Global Mobility teams
• Training & Capability Building
• Train and upskill payroll team members
• Develop SOPs and training materials
• Act as escalation point for tax-related issues
   

ERP & Transformation

• Act as payroll tax SME for ERP implementation (e.g., Oracle Fusion, PeopleSoft)
• Define tax requirements and ensure accurate system configuration
• Support testing, validation, and issue resolution
• Partner with project teams to ensure compliant payroll tax processes in the new system
  
  Process Improvement & Controls
• Drive continuous improvement in processes and controls
• Perform audits and enhance documentation
• Support system changes and enhancements

Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate with Payroll, HR, Accounting, Tax, Legal, and Audit teams
• Partner with external providers (e.g., Dayforce)
• Support reporting for leadership

Operational Payroll Support

• Support payroll processing as required
• Ensure accuracy of inputs and outputs

Requirements/Qualifications

• High school diploma, General Education Degree (GED), Accounting degree and/or an associate’s degree preferred.
• Minimum seven (7) years of knowledge and work experience of payroll, tax, or combination of education and experience.
• Ability to prepare and file payroll tax returns and reports, including Federal Forms 941,940, W-2, W-3, State and Local filings.
• Extensive multi-state and multi-jurisdictional payroll tax compliance experience.
• PeopleSoft/Oracle Software experience.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics

• Knowledge of appropriate steps to analytical problem solving.
• Ability to train and influence others.
• Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships.
• Ability to work in a team environment, remaining attentive to ideas, recognizing responsibilities, and actively participating with others to accomplish assignments and achieve desired goals.

With over 90 years' combined experience, NES Fircroft (NES) is proud to be the world's leading engineering staffing provider spanning the Oil & Gas, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Construction & Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Mining and Manufacturing sectors worldwide. With more than 80 offices in 45 countries, we are able to provide our clients with the engineering and technical expertise they need, wherever and whenever it is needed. We offer contractors far more than a traditional recruitment service, supporting with everything from securing visas and work permits, to providing market-leading benefits packages and accommodation, ensuring they are safely and compliantly able to support our clients.