• Own end-to-end US PEO payroll operations, including on-cycle, off-cycle, and correction payrolls. • Ensure accurate handling of multi-state payroll, including work-state vs residence-state taxation under a co-employment model. • Oversee PEO-specific compliance areas, including: • Federal, state, and local tax withholdings and filings • SUTA/FUTA and state unemployment complexities • Workers’ compensation and benefits-related payroll deductions • Co-employment risk and client responsibility boundaries. • Act as the final escalation point for high-risk payroll, tax, or compliance issues. • Lead and develop a team of PEO payroll specialists, providing coaching, feedback, and performance guidance. • Establish clear expectations around accuracy, timeliness, documentation, and ownership. • Review payroll outputs, reconciliations, and risk items to ensure operational quality. • Support onboarding, training, and skill progression for PEO payroll team members. • Define and maintain PEO payroll operating standards, SOPs, and control frameworks. • Identify operational gaps, risk patterns, and scalability issues; drive process improvements and automation where possible. • Partner with cross-functional teams to improve payroll workflows, controls, and client experience. • Ensure strong documentation, audit readiness, and evidence quality. • Partner closely with Product and Engineering to inform PEO payroll system enhancements and roadmap priorities. • Collaborate with Tax, Benefits, Legal, and Finance teams to resolve complex PEO issues. • Provide subject-matter guidance on US PEO feasibility, risk, and scalability. • Support go-to-market, sales, or implementation teams as an advisor on PEO payroll capabilities and limitations. • Provide regular updates on operational health, risks, escalations, and performance metrics. • Own incident management for PEO payroll issues, including root cause analysis and corrective action plans. • Ensure compliance with internal controls and external regulatory requirements.