Payroll & Senior Accounting Specialist in Richmond, California at Making Waves Academy

Compensation: $42.25 - $45.68 / hour (DOE)

Status: Full-time, Non-exempt, Year-round

Location: Richmond, CA

You’ll be the financial heartbeat of our school operations. This is a non-management, highly execution-focused position where your passion for precision and your ability to connect with people come together. You’ll manage the day-to-day business office mechanics, ensuring our 150+ team members are paid accurately and on time, while maintaining a rock-solid general ledger.

As a vital bridge between the Business Office, People Operations (HR), and our Instructional Team, you will keep our school in excellent standing. You will ensure every dollar is spent legally, effectively, and in perfect balance so our educators can focus on what they do best: teaching.

💡 Note to Applicants: While experience in California K-12 school finance (SACS, CalSTRS) is a major plus, it is not required. We are seeking a rock-solid California payroll and general accounting professional who loves working with people. If you bring the foundational payroll and accounting expertise, we will fully train you on our school-specific compliance frameworks.

• Execute full-cycle bi-weekly payroll for over 150+ employees, meticulously verifying timesheets and tracking data.
• Manage specialized deductions including garnishments, stipends, and teacher summer hold-back payments.
• Streamline operations by maintaining internal checklists, workflows, and zero-defect systems.
• Protect compliance by calculating precise final paychecks and PTO payouts under strict California labor timelines.
• Partner deeply with People Operations/HR to maintain flawless data flow, managing retirement plan enrollments and distributing tracking reports (overtime, leave balances, headcount).

• Drive month-end and year-end closing tasks, posting journal entries and processing accruals for restricted/unrestricted funds.
• Prepare and post bi-weekly payroll journals directly into Sage Intacct.
• Reconcile and clear specific payroll-related balance sheet accounts (FSA, life insurance).
• Audit expense data by supporting the accurate coding of vendor invoices and employee reimbursements against approved budgets.
• Monitor daily cash positions and feed clean data to the finance team for cash flow projections.

You are tech-forward, highly analytical, and a systems-thinker. You love a structured checklist, but you also have a customer-service heart and genuinely enjoy helping employees solve problems.

• 3+ years of hands-on, full-cycle payroll processing for an organization with 150+ employees.
• 2+ years of general ledger accounting experience, including journal entries, month-end accruals, and balance sheet reconciliations.
• Strong command of California Wage & Hour rules (overtime, final check timelines, meal/rest break rules).
• Advanced tech literacy, including mid-to-enterprise accounting/payroll software (e.g., Sage Intacct, Rippling, Concur) and advanced Excel skills (VLOOKUPs, Pivot Tables).

• Experience in a fast-paced public school, charter school, or non-profit environment.
• Prior familiarity with California school systems like CalSTRS, SACS guidelines, or the CDE GMART/ConApp portals.

Employment eligibility will include fingerprints/Live Scan, TB screen, and other employment clearance. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our school.