Description

Aspire Public Schools NorCal — Lead 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 

Under the supervision of the Director of Payroll, the Lead Senior Payroll Specialist leads the functions of the payroll department. This position holds a high level of knowledge and expertise in ensuring that payroll workflows and processes are managed accurately and on time.

The Lead Senior Payroll Specialist supports the Director of Payroll and the Retirement Manager by ensuring deadlines are met, and engages with key stakeholders in schools and the home office, as well as outside consultants and vendors, with a high level of professionalism.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, monitor, guide, and supervise (under the guidance of the Director of Payroll) the payroll team to achieve goals and department targets, including sharing feedback with the team.

• Oversee and/or run bi-monthly payroll processes as directed by the Director of Payroll, and lead team meetings in the Director's absence.

• Lead payroll audits, overseeing completion and accuracy, and assist the Retirement Manager with retirement-related audits as needed.

• Work with the Retirement Manager to ensure New Hire Reports are complete with retirement placement, and prepare import files for retirement (new hires and status changes).

• Work with the Director of Payroll to train payroll team members on compliance items and processes.

• Ensure approval of semi-monthly timesheets from all school sites and lead communication with Principals and Business Managers regarding pending timesheets or errors.

• Ensure the accuracy of payroll documents for processing (for example, teacher calculations and retro pay), and audit status changes and new hires submitted by HR.

• Calculate and enter blended overtime; correct partial time-off entries; enter timesheets, time-off forms, and pay adjustments; process off-cycle checks.

• Lead and maintain all garnishments and garnishment payments through UKG payment services.

• Calculate teacher final payouts and PTO/sick time for leaves of absence; complete employment verifications and sick-time transfers.

• Support or assign payroll requests for information from HR and Finance; answer payroll Zendesk and phone requests in a timely manner.

• Prepare year-end tax filings (tax liability reporting, negative wage adjustments, quarterly and year-end files), assign the US Department of Labor headcount statistics report, and complete the wage portion of benefit audits for EDD.

• Follow up on stale-dated checks, collect teacher work calendars, maintain payroll files, and ensure terminated employees are paid on time.

• 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; APA desired but not required.

Experience

• 5+ years of payroll experience.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Excel and Word; strong knowledge of UKG software.

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

Skills and competencies

• Strong communication and organizational skills; flexibility; ability to promote positive communication.

• 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 $84,564 to $108,556 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.