Payroll Specialist - Finance

at Pima County Government in Tucson, Arizona, United States

Job Description

Department - Finance and Risk Management

OPEN UNTIL FILLED

Job Type: Classified

Job Classification: 5701 - Payroll Specialist - Finance

Salary Grade: 8

Pay Range

Hiring Range: $47,756 - $56,118 Annually 

Pay Range: $47,756 - $64,480 Annually 

Range Explanation:

• Hiring Range is an estimate of where you can receive an offer. The actual salary offer will carefully consider a wide range of factors, including your skills, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, training, and internal equity.

• Pay Range is the entire compensation range for the position.

First review of applications will be on 9/12/2025.

The Pima County Department of Finance & Risk Management is seeking a motivated and skilled professional to join our team as a Payroll Specialist. This position assists in processing bi-weekly payroll for nearly 7,000 employees. You will also audit time cards by following Federal and State payroll laws as well as County Merit and Administrative procedures, adjust leave accruals as needed, ensure accurate employee payouts, and provide customer service to our employees and vendors.

If you take pride in your work, enjoy challenges, and appreciate a collaborative environment, this may be a great opportunity for you to join our team.

Essential Functions:

As defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, this classification may include any of the following tasks, knowledge, skills, and other characteristics. This list is ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY and is not a comprehensive listing of all functions and tasks performed by incumbents of this class. Work assignments may vary depending on the department’s need and will be communicated to the applicant or incumbent by the supervisor.

• Processes bi-weekly payroll transactions by entering and verifying employee pay data in the County’s payroll system following established guidelines;

• Reviews timesheets and payroll entries for completeness and compliance with applicable policies and procedures;

• Prepares basic payroll-related journal entries and reconciliations as directed by senior staff;

• Assists with compiling payroll data used in monthly, quarterly, and annual summaries;

• Provides routine support to departmental staff and system users by answering basic payroll-related questions or referring them to the appropriate resource;

• Reviews manual payroll warrant requests for completeness and routes for approval and processing;

• Assists with year-end payroll documentation by organizing files and assembling routine reports;

• Follows updates to payroll procedures as provided by higher-level staff and assists with implementing routine changes;

• Runs standard payroll reports to verify data entry accuracy and flags discrepancies for review;

• Performs account verifications related to payroll and reports unresolved issues to senior or supervisory staff.

Minimum Qualifications:

Associate’s degree from an accredited college or university with a major in accounting or closely related field as determined by the department head at the time of recruitment.

(Relevant experience and/or education from an accredited college or university may be substituted.)

Qualifying education and experience must be clearly documented in the "Education" and "Work Experience" sections of the application. Do not substitute a resume for your application or write "see resume" on your application. 

Preferred Qualifications: (Be specific in describing your experience in your application. Ensure the descriptions provided illustrate your competencies, specifically addressing the required and preferred qualifications.):

• Minimum two (2) years experience in payroll management, including but not limited to processing electronic time cards, applying human resource policies to time cards, reviewing and adjusting employee accrual banks, processing 941 returns, processing garnishments, retirements, and employee benefits.

• Minimum two (2) years experience utilizing an electronic payroll platform (Workday, ADP, Kronos, PeopleSoft, etc.).

• Minimum one (1) year experience utilizing Excel.

• Minimum one (1) year customer service experience.

Selection Process:

Pima County Human Resources Department reserves the right to admit to the selection process only those candidates that meet the minimum qualifications. All applications will be assessed based on an evaluation of the listed education and experience. Candidates meeting the minimum qualifications may be further evaluated/scored against any advertised Preferred Qualifications. The hiring authority will interview and select the successful candidate from a referral list provided by Human Resources. Additional assessments/testing may be required as part of the selection process.