Description

Aspire Public Schools NorCal — Senior Specialist, Payroll

Job Description 

About Aspire NorCal 

Founded in 1998, Aspire Public Schools has served scholars and communities across California for nearly three decades. With Aspire Los Angeles transitioning into an independent organization, the Bay Area and Central Valley regions are coming together to form Aspire NorCal, operating 22 schools serving approximately 10,000 scholars across Northern California (Oakland, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, and Ceres). 

This evolution comes at an important moment for Aspire. Changes in California’s funding, policy, enrollment, and operating environment have created an opportunity to rethink how the organization supports its schools and scholars in its next chapter. The formation of Aspire NorCal creates an opportunity to strengthen support for schools across teams previously organized by geography, improve the consistency and effectiveness of school support, and create clear accountability systems for organizational and scholar outcomes. The new model will require the organization to balance greater coherence across Aspire NorCal with responsiveness to the different communities and contexts of its schools. 

Aspire NorCal enters this transition with a long-standing mission focused on post-secondary success and a deep commitment to educational equity, along with decades of institutional knowledge across its schools and teams. Preserving those strengths while building Aspire NorCal as a unified region will be central to the work ahead. 

About the role 

The Senior Payroll Specialist executes and supports the process of Aspire's payroll and supports the payroll team and department. The Senior Payroll Specialist also provides excellent customer service and support to all internal teammates and external stakeholders, working with all levels of the organization, including schools, the home office, and the regional office, as well as outside consultants and vendors.

Key Responsibilities

• Run bi-monthly payroll processes as directed by the Lead Payroll Specialist and/or Director of Payroll.

• Assist the payroll team to ensure approval of semi-monthly timesheets and paycheck distribution to all school sites.

• Respond to payroll questions and inquiries, including W-2 requests and Zendesk and phone requests, within service level agreements.

• Email principals and office managers regarding unapproved timesheets and timesheet errors.

• Enter data and audit changes made in the HRIS system by the Human Resources team, including status changes and new hires.

• Ensure the accuracy of payroll documents for processing (for example, teacher calculations and retro pay).

• Distribute paychecks to school sites.

• Calculate and enter blended overtime information into the payroll system, and correct partial time-off entries imported from the time and attendance system.

• Communicate with school site Business Managers and leaders to clarify and gather missing information.

• Enter timesheets, time-off forms, and pay adjustments, and audit entries against the Pay Check Register.

• Enter employee garnishments, send necessary responses, and process garnishment orders to the state and employee.

• Process off-cycle checks and complete employment verifications.

• Calculate teacher final payouts and PTO/sick time for leaves of absence; calculate and process sick-time transfers to and from other districts.

• Support payroll requests for information from HR and Finance, and year-end tax preparation (tax liability reporting, negative wage adjustments, quarterly and year-end files).

• Follow up on stale-dated checks, collect teacher work calendars from all school sites, and maintain payroll files.

• Ensure terminated employees are paid on time and their Option Pay form has been received.

• Provide excellent customer service.

• Demonstrate knowledge of, and support, the Aspire Public Schools mission, vision, and values, including antiracism, and uphold confidentiality standards and the code of ethical behavior.

• Perform other related duties as required and assigned.

• Support the new Service Level Agreement (SLA) under which Aspire NorCal will provide finance, accounting, and payroll services to Aspire LA.

Qualifications 

Education

• Associate's degree preferred but not required.

Experience

• 2-4 years of payroll experience.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Excel and Word.

• Experience or strong interest in K-12 public education.

Skills and competencies

• Strong communication and organizational skills.

• Knowledge of federal and California labor laws; general knowledge of payroll functions.

• Ability to deal with highly sensitive information.

• Strong time management, follow-up, and attention to detail.

• Ability to quickly learn new software packages.

• Ability to balance the needs of compliance with a strong commitment to customer service.

Compensation and benefits

The salary range for this role is $74,990 to $96,266 annually in accordance with our salary schedule policy, commensurate with experience. This full-time, exempt position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Eligible for Aspire health benefits

• Retirement through CalSTRS or CalPERS, depending on the role's credential requirements, with a 403(b) option

• Paid time off and additional teammate benefits to be determined in accordance with updated employee value proposition to be shared prior to offer.  

Aspire NorCal is conducting a comprehensive study of our employee value proposition, which could lead to material changes in July 2027.

Location and work arrangement

• Work location and in-person expectations for this role are being finalized as part of our broader NorCal planning. We will share clarity with candidates in the coming weeks

Aspire NorCal expects to provide Finance, Accounting, Payroll, and Retirement services to Aspire LA under a multi-year service agreement, and part of this department’s budget is expected to depend on that agreement.  If the agreement is not finalized, is not renewed, or ends early, Aspire NorCal may reduce the department’s size accordingly, and any position in the departments listed above may be impacted.  Employment with Aspire is at-will

Application Deadline: November 20, 2026.

Equal opportunity 

Aspire Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Aspire Public Schools provides reasonable accommodations during the application and interview process.

Disclaimer

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.