SAP HCM / Payroll Test Lead

The work
The SAP HCM / Payroll Test Lead will oversee the planning, coordination, and execution of all testing activities for an SAP SuccessFactors Payroll implementation. This role is responsible for defining the overall testing strategy, establishing governance, managing test cycles, and ensuring end‑to‑end readiness for deployment. A critical component of this position is leading payroll parallel testing—planning cycles, coordinating payroll execution and reconciliation, driving variance analysis through resolution, and supporting payroll stakeholders in determining production readiness. The Test Lead partners closely with functional teams, technical teams, and client payroll SMEs to ensure coverage across functional, integration, regression, and payroll‑specific testing. This role requires a strong understanding of payroll processing, exceptional coordination skills, and the ability to guide teams through complex test execution in a high‑visibility environment.

Key responsibilities:

Test Strategy & Leadership

• Develop and manage the overall test strategy, plan, scope, schedule, and entry/exit criteria
• Coordinate testing across payroll functional, HCM functional, technical, integration, conversion, and business teams
• Establish and manage functional, integration, end‑to‑end, regression, and payroll‑specific test cycles
• Oversee creation of test scenarios, test scripts, test data, expected results, and requirements traceability
• Monitor test progress, defects, risks, dependencies, and overall readiness
• Facilitate defect triage and coordinate issue resolution across functional and technical teams
• Provide clear test status, risk updates, and readiness reporting to leadership

Payroll Parallel Testing

• Develop and lead the payroll parallel testing strategy for SAP Payroll / Employee Central Payroll
• Define parallel test cycles, scope, employee populations, data requirements, reconciliation approach, and acceptance criteria
• Coordinate payroll execution in legacy and new SAP payroll systems for side‑by‑side comparison
• Lead reconciliation and variance analysis across payroll results (gross‑to‑net, earnings, deductions, taxes, employer contributions, etc.)
• Establish processes for categorizing, documenting, and resolving payroll variances
• Work closely with payroll functional consultants, conversion teams, technical teams, and client SMEs to resolve issues
• Track payroll results across cycles to demonstrate progress toward payroll readiness
• Provide leadership with data and insights to determine production readiness

Here’s what you need:

• 4+ years leading testing for SAP HCM and/or SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll (ECP) implementations
• Demonstrated experience planning and leading payroll parallel testing
• Strong understanding of end‑to‑end payroll processing and payroll results
• Experience reconciling payroll differences between legacy and target systems
• Ability to distinguish expected differences from true defects (configuration, integration, conversion, or calculation)
• Experience managing multiple test cycles, defect triage, regression testing, and readiness assessments
• Strong understanding of dependencies across payroll, HR data, time, benefits, integrations, conversions, and downstream processes
• Experience coordinating functional, technical, business, and third‑party teams through complex testing activities

Eligibility requirements:

• U.S. Citizenship required
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a government security clearance