Payroll Implementation Specialist

About Rise

Rise is a global payroll and workforce payments platform that enables companies to pay employees and contractors across borders through Employer of Record, Agent of Record, and direct contractor pay. Rise is launching US Direct Payroll, a new product that gives US businesses a modern way to run payroll and manage tax compliance.

Position summary

The Payroll Implementation Specialist owns the end-to-end onboarding of new clients onto Rise's Direct Payroll platform. This role is responsible for accurately configuring client accounts, migrating payroll data from prior providers, and ensuring each client is set up to run compliant, on-time payroll. The Specialist serves as the payroll subject matter expert throughout the implementation lifecycle, guiding clients from kickoff through their first successful payroll cycles and a smooth transition to ongoing operations.

As the first dedicated implementation hire for Direct Payroll, this position will also establish the implementation methodology, documentation, and quality standards that future onboarding will run on. The role is an individual contributor position with the opportunity to build and lead an implementation team as the product scales.

Key responsibilities

• Manage the full implementation cycle for new clients: requirements gathering, account configuration, data migration, validation, testing, and go-live

• Configure company-level setup, including entity information, federal, state, and local tax parameters, pay schedules, and ACH/banking authorization

• Set up employee profiles, including personal information, compensation, tax withholdings, deductions, and garnishments

• Migrate historical payroll data from prior systems, ensuring per-pay-date accuracy to support correct quarterly and year-end tax filings

• Validate and reconcile year-to-date earnings, taxes, and deductions prior to go-live

• Process initial payroll runs and verify accuracy before transitioning the client to standard operations

• Serve as the client's primary point of contact during implementation, setting clear expectations on timelines, data requirements, and deliverables

• Define and document repeatable implementation processes, workflows, and quality controls

• Partner with Product and Engineering to surface gaps, inform tooling, and drive automation of manual implementation steps

• Coordinate with Support to ensure a clean handoff and ongoing client success after go-live

• Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local payroll regulations throughout the implementation process

Required qualifications

• Minimum 3 years of experience implementing or converting clients onto a payroll platform, including account configuration and migration of payroll data from prior providers (for example at Gusto, ADP, Paychex, Justworks, or comparable). Hands-on payroll processing experience is a plus but does not substitute for implementation experience

• Strong working knowledge of US payroll mechanics, including multi-jurisdiction tax setup, deposit schedules, mid-year migrations, and year-to-date reconciliation

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent implementations against deadlines

• Excellent data management skills with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to guide clients through a complex, high-stakes process

• Proficiency with spreadsheets and comfort adopting new software platforms

• Ability to work independently and take ownership of projects in a fast-paced environment

Preferred qualifications

• CPP (Certified Payroll Professional) or FPC (Fundamental Payroll Certification)

• Experience building or significantly improving implementation processes from the ground up

• Exposure to global payroll, Employer of Record, or contractor payments