Payroll and Benefits Manager in Houston, Texas at ZT Motors of Texas LP

The Payroll and Benefits Manager owns both the payroll and the employee benefits functions for the entire company, multi-state payroll across multiple legal entities and pay frequencies, and full administration of the group's health, welfare and retirement plans. The role is hands-on and supervisory, leads a team of payroll and benefits administrators. It sets the standard for every store rather than administering a single rooftop, works directly with store Controllers and the executive team, and leads payroll and benefits onboarding each time the group acquires.

Payroll

• Manage the complete payroll cycle for all 18 rooftops and management companies across semi-monthly, bi-weekly and weekly pay groups
• Review and approve payroll registers, pre-process audits, gross-to-net variance reports and funding requests before each transmission
• Administer the full range of dealership pay plans, flat-rate and hourly technician pay with efficiency bonuses and guarantee true-ups; service advisor and manager commissions; sales and management commissions with unit, volume and CSI bonuses; F&I commissions and chargebacks; recoverable and non-recoverable draws; manufacturer and vendor spiffs; and taxable fringe including demonstrator vehicle use
• Serve as the control point for pay plan changes verify authorization, confirm effective dates and validate entry before the pay period closes
• Administer off-cycle payrolls, manual checks, retroactive adjustments and terminations per each state's final-pay requirements
• Own payroll tax compliance for each FEIN deposits, Forms 941, 940, W-2 and W-3, state withholding and unemployment filings, agency notices, and reconciliation to the general ledger
• Administer garnishments, child support orders and tax levies

Benefits

• Administer all group health and welfare plans across every entity, medical, dental, vision, life, disability and voluntary products
• Own eligibility and enrollment waiting periods, qualifying life events, dependent verification, waivers and terminations
• Manage annual open enrollment end to end: system build and testing, employee communications and meetings across all markets, election capture, deduction setup and post-enrollment audit
• Reconcile monthly carrier invoices and self-bill statements to payroll deductions and enrollment; recover overbillings and terminated-employee premiums
• Monitor eligibility file feeds and EDI connections between the HCM platform and carriers
• Administer the 401(k) plan deferrals, loans, per-payroll contribution and match funding, timely remittance, and reconciliation to the recordkeeper
• Coordinate annual compliance testing, Form 5500 and the annual plan audit
• Own ACA compliance measurement and stability period tracking, offer-of-coverage determinations, affordability testing, and Forms 1094-C and 1095-C
• Administer COBRA, FMLA, military, personal and applicable state leave programs, including pay treatment and benefit continuation during leave
• Manage PTO accrual configuration, carryover and payout at termination per each state's requirements
• Support workers' compensation administration and annual premium audits
• Serve as primary contact for the benefits broker and carriers, and support the CFO at annual renewal with census data, cost analysis and plan design modeling

Systems, Accounting and Leadership

• Serve as group administrator for the HCM platform across payroll, benefits, ACA and time and attendance modules
• Own the interface between the HCM platform, the dealer management system and carrier systems, including journal entry mapping by store and department
• Reconcile payroll clearing, accrued wages, accrued commissions, accrued PTO, benefit liability and payroll tax accounts monthly, supporting Controllers through close
• Produce recurring headcount, payroll cost, benefit cost and overtime reporting by store, department and position group
• Enforce internal controls over the payroll and benefits master file, segregation of duties, dual approval for rate, deduction and bank changes, and documented change logs
• Lead payroll and benefits onboarding for newly acquired stores, including successor employer wage base treatment and first-payroll validation
• Supervise, train and develop the payroll and benefits team with documented cross-training
• Act as the escalation point for employee and management pay and benefit inquiries

Minimum, candidates must meet all of the following:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Human Resources or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• Five or more years covering BOTH payroll and benefits administration, with direct hands-on ownership of each
• Multi-entity, multi-state payroll experience
• Two or more years supervising payroll and/or benefits staff
• Working knowledge of the FLSA, multi-state wage and hour law, payroll tax deposits and filings by FEIN, and year-end reporting
• Working knowledge of ERISA, Section 125, COBRA, HIPAA, FMLA and ACA reporting requirements
• Has served as the responsible administrator through at least one complete annual open enrollment cycle
• Experience reconciling carrier invoices and self-bill statements to payroll deductions and enrollment records
• Hands-on configuration experience in a full-service HCM platform across both payroll and benefits modules, building and controlling the system, not data entry alone
• Advanced Microsoft Excel, pivot tables, lookups and large-volume data reconciliation
• Legally authorized to work in the United States and able to work on-site in Houston, Texas

Preferred, not required, but prioritized:

• Automotive dealership or dealer group experience, with direct exposure to flat-rate technician pay, commission structures and draw administration
• Paylocity experience
• CDK Global (Dealer Management System) experience
• CPP or FPC certification
• CEBS, SHRM-CP or PHR certification
• Experience integrating acquired locations or converting payroll and benefits platforms
• Working knowledge of Texas, Florida, Alabama and Georgia employment, wage payment and benefits continuation requirements
• Bilingual English/Spanish

Skills and competencies:

• Accuracy and attention to detail, treats a payroll error or a missed enrollment as a material event, not a routine correction
• Ownership - drives issues to resolution without prompting and follows through across stores, carriers and agencies
• Confidentiality and integrity - handles compensation data and protected health information with absolute discretion
• Communication - explains pay calculations and benefit elections clearly to employees, managers and executives
• Process discipline - documents, standardizes and controls rather than improvising
• Composure - performs reliably in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment