Payroll Analyst at Manulife in Waterloo

Payroll Analyst

Location: Waterloo, Ontario

We are seeking an experienced Payroll Analyst to support complex Canadian payroll operations for approximately 13,000 employees across all provinces and six legal entities. This role helps deliver accurate and compliant payroll while strengthening controls, reducing risk, improving processes, and enhancing the employee experience.

The successful candidate will bring strong payroll expertise, sound judgment, analytical curiosity, and the ability to work across Payroll, Human Resources, Finance, Benefits, Tax, Technology, vendors, and business teams to solve complex problems.

Top candidates will have a record of preventing errors, identifying root causes, leading testing, improving controls, reducing manual work, and delivering measurable results. The best Payroll Analysts do more than process payroll. They improve it.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Operations, Compliance & Analysis

• Independently process, audit, and validate complex, high-volume Canadian payroll accurately and on time across multiple provinces, legal entities, pay groups, and payroll cycles.
• Research and resolve complex payroll, tax, benefits, employee, and vendor issues; investigate discrepancies, identify root causes, evaluate risks and alternatives, and implement sustainable solutions that prevent recurrence.
• Lead complex payroll activities, including executive compensation, equity, bonuses, taxable benefits, disability, leaves, mobile employees, and special payments.
• Lead quarterly and year-end payroll activities, including reconciliations, adjustments, audits, reporting, and amended filings.
• Investigate payroll discrepancies, determine root causes, and recommend sustainable solutions.
• Analyze payroll impacts related to benefits programs, including short and long term disability, paid and unpaid legislated leaves, taxable wages and taxable benefits, imputed income, and year-end reporting.
• Identify trends, risks, and opportunities through payroll, benefits, tax, and reporting data.

Testing, Controls & Continuous Improvement

• Lead structured testing of payroll system, configuration, integration, and process changes, including test planning, edge cases, end-to-end validation, defect documentation, and confirmation of business requirements.
• Identify and implement opportunities to automate, simplify, standardize, and strengthen payroll processes and controls, reducing errors, risk, manual effort, and rework.

Technology & AI Enablement

• troubleshoot payroll system, data, and integration issues in partnership with Technology, Benefits, Finance, Tax, vendors, and other business teams.
• Use approved technology, automation, reporting, and AI tools responsibly to improve payroll analysis, testing, controls, documentation, and delivery while protecting confidential information and validating results.
• Support inbound and outbound payroll-related integrations, including retirement plans, deferred compensation, benefits, withholding, garnishments, tax filings, and workers' compensation reporting.
• Apply sound judgment when using AI by protecting confidential employee information, validating outputs, and ensuring all payroll decisions remain human-reviewed and compliant.

Partnership & Team Impact

• Build strong partnerships with Benefits, Pension, Compensation, Finance, Tax, Technology, and external vendors.
• Communicate complex payroll concepts in clear, business-friendly language.
• Share knowledge, support teammates, and contribute to a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
• Influence positive change through expertise, credibility, and collaboration.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive Canadian payroll experience with increasing levels of responsibility.
• Strong analytical thinking, curiosity, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis skills, including the ability to independently research and solve complex or unfamiliar payroll, tax, and benefits issues.
• Experience with payroll audits, reconciliations, quarterly and year-end activities, adjustments, taxable benefit reporting, and employee year-end reporting.
• Experience developing test scenarios, testing payroll system or configuration changes, validating end-to-end results, documenting defects, and identifying unintended impacts.
• Experience contributing to payroll projects and documenting business requirements, decisions, risks, controls, and test results.
• Experience with ADP GlobalView, SAP, or a similar enterprise payroll system, with strong knowledge of gross-to-net payroll processing, statutory requirements, employer liabilities, funding, general ledger impacts, and payroll accounting reconciliations.
• Advanced Excel and data analysis skills, including the ability to analyze large data sets, reconcile results, identify exceptions and trends, and explain findings clearly.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, work independently with minimal direction, and collaborate effectively across teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Canadian payroll certification or a comparable payroll designation (PLP, PCP)
• Experience supporting payroll operations across multiple countries.
• Experience with cross-border or mobile-employee payroll and benefits programs that affect payroll taxation, disability payments, paid leave, taxable wages, or year-end reporting.
• Experience serving as a lead tester, project contributor, subject matter expert, mentor, or escalation resource for complex payroll work.

When you join our team:

We’ll empower you to learn and grow the career you want.

We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words.

As part of our global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see.

#LI-Hybrid

If you are applying to this role in Massachusetts, please note the salary range is $61,875. - $103,125. USD. Additionally, employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.

The role being advertised is an existing vacancy.

About Manulife and John Hancock

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html.

Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer

At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law.

It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact hr@manulife.com.

Referenced Salary Location

Waterloo, OntarioHybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$59,100.00 CAD - $98,500.00 CAD

Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance. The actual salary will vary depending on local market conditions, geography and relevant job-related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training. If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact hr@manulife.com for the salary range for your location.

Manulife offers eligible employees a wide array of customizable benefits, including health, dental, mental health, vision, short- and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, and employee/family assistance plans. We also offer eligible employees various retirement savings plans (including pension and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources. Our generous paid time off program in Canada includes holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence. If you are applying for this role in the U.S., please contact hr@manulife.com for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.

We use data and analytics technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and automated processing tools, to analyze and process the information you provide to us or third parties in the application process. For more information, please refer to our personal information collection statement.