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Whisper Aero is a defense and aerospace company pioneering cleaner, quieter, and more efficient propulsion solutions for aircraft and air-moving products. The company is seeking a Payroll and Benefits Specialist to join the People team, reporting to the Head of People.
In this role, you will own accurate, timely payroll administration and benefits operations across the employee lifecycle in a U.S. Government contracting environment. You will serve as a trusted resource for employees and managers, maintaining payroll and benefits data in the HRIS, and administering timekeeping processes and internal controls to support compliant labor charging.
Key responsibilities include:
- Processing payroll accurately and on schedule, reviewing time records, earnings, deductions, taxes, benefits, bonuses, reimbursements, and adjustments
- Administering DCAA-aligned timekeeping and labor-charging processes, ensuring employees record hours worked accurately and against authorized contracts or cost objectives
- Monitoring timely employee submission and supervisor approval of timesheets; escalating late, missing, incomplete, or unusual entries
- Maintaining documented controls for timesheet corrections and adjustments with audit trails and required approvals
- Reconciling timekeeping records to payroll and labor-distribution reports; investigating variances
- Supporting DCAA, DCMA, customer, and internal reviews of timekeeping and labor-accounting systems
- Auditing payroll inputs and outputs; preparing payroll registers, period-end reports, and reconciliations in partnership with Finance
- Maintaining complete and accurate employee payroll and benefits records for hires, transfers, compensation changes, leaves, and separations
- Administering health, welfare, retirement, and leave programs, including enrollments and eligibility changes
- Serving as first point of contact for employee and manager questions about pay, deductions, taxes, timekeeping, leave, and benefits
- Coordinating with payroll providers, benefit carriers, brokers, and vendors to resolve issues and support renewals
- Supporting payroll tax filings, year-end activities, W-2 processing, and required federal, state, and local submissions
- Monitoring changes in payroll, tax, wage-and-hour, leave, and benefits requirements; recommending process updates
- Maintaining data integrity across HRIS, payroll, timekeeping, and benefits platforms; producing reports
- Creating and maintaining employee communications, process documentation, and standard operating procedures
- Protecting confidential employee information and following internal controls and privacy practices
- Partnering with Head of People and Finance on benefits planning, payroll budgeting, and vendor management
The ideal candidate combines strong attention to detail, sound judgment, discretion with confidential information, and a service-oriented approach in a fast-moving environment.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in human resources, accounting, business administration, or related field
- Minimum five years of progressively responsible payroll and benefits administration experience, including hands-on ownership of recurring payroll cycles
- Ability to prioritize competing work, document processes, and collaborate effectively with People, Finance, managers, employees, and external partners
- Working knowledge of payroll practices, payroll taxes, wage-and-hour requirements, benefits eligibility, and related recordkeeping obligations
- Working knowledge of Government contracting timekeeping and labor-charging controls, including accurate recording of hours, authorized charge codes, supervisor approvals, documented corrections, segregation of direct and indirect labor, and reconciliation of timekeeping, payroll, and labor-distribution records
- Experience with payroll, HRIS, timekeeping, and benefits administration systems; proficiency with spreadsheets including reconciliations, lookups, and data validation
- Demonstrated ability to review detailed information, identify discrepancies, perform accurate calculations, and meet fixed deadlines
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with ability to explain complex pay and benefit topics in clear, employee-friendly language
- High degree of discretion, integrity, customer focus, and sound judgment when handling confidential or sensitive information
BONUS QUALIFICATIONS:
- Payroll or benefits certification (FPC, CPP, CEBS, SHRM-CP)
- Experience administering multi-state payroll and benefits in growing, distributed, manufacturing, aerospace, or technology organizations
- Experience with payroll tax registrations, audits, retirement-plan administration, annual enrollment, ACA reporting, or leave coordination
- Experience implementing or optimizing HRIS, payroll, timekeeping, or benefits systems and documenting scalable processes
- Experience administering DCAA-compliant or DCAA-audited timekeeping and labor-accounting environments for federal Government contractors, including support for labor floorchecks, employee interviews, accounting-system reviews, or incurred-cost audits
- Experience supporting design, administration, and ongoing review of compensation programs, including job leveling, salary bands, market benchmarking, annual compensation cycles, bonus and incentive policies, pay-equity analysis
- Familiarity with accounting fundamentals, general-ledger mapping, payroll journals, and financial controls
