[Remote] Payroll and Benefits Specialist

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Velir is an established mid-sized agency focused on supporting their people through accurate payroll and benefits management. As a Payroll & Benefits Specialist, you will manage US payroll, coordinate with international partners, and oversee benefits administration while ensuring compliance and process improvement. Responsibilities • Run end-to-end US payroll in Rippling with accuracy and consistency • Audit changes carefully — new hires, comp updates, bonuses, terminations • Coordinate payroll submissions and approvals with UK and Canada EOR partners • Oversee global contractor payments and documentation • Maintain multi-state compliance and partner with Finance on reconciliations • Manage year-end processes (W-2s, 1099s, EOR coordination) • Serve as the trusted, calm point of contact for payroll questions and issue resolution • Own eligibility, enrollments, and life event changes in Rippling • Administer medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and voluntary programs • Lead Open Enrollment execution end-to-end • Partner closely with brokers and carriers on reconciliations, renewals, and issue resolution • Translate complex benefits information into practical, clear guidance for employees when they are hired and on-going • Support FMLA, state leaves, disability, and other leave programs • Ensure coordination between leave tracking, payroll adjustments, and benefits continuation • Respond to employee questions with professionalism, empathy, and strong follow-through • Troubleshoot issues across payroll systems, carriers, and vendors — owning resolution from start to finish • Maintain organized, audit-ready documentation • Identify inefficiencies and strengthen payroll and benefits workflows • Improve controls, reporting, and documentation • Help fine-tune our recently implemented HRIS (Rippling) — improving configuration, data integrity, and usability • Proactively suggest smarter ways to operate as we scale domestically and internationally Skills • 3–5 years of payroll, benefits, or People Operations experience in a small organization • Strong exposure to multi-state US payroll • Comfortable interfacing directly with employees and external vendors/brokers • Highly detail-oriented — you catch what others miss • A self-starter who figures things out without waiting for instructions or answers…you enjoy the search for answers • Confident and composed when problem-solving with employees • Bold enough to identify improvements — disciplined enough to execute them well • Experience with Rippling is a plus • EOR experience a plus • Experience participating in or refining an HRIS implementation strongly preferred Company Overview • Velir is a full-service Digital Agency that designs and develops enterprise web solutions for experience-driven websites. It was founded in 2000, and is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA, with a workforce of 201-500 employees. Its website is https://www.velir.com/.