How to hire a payroll analyst

How to hire a payroll analyst, step by step

Here's a step-by-step payroll analyst hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a payroll analyst job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new payroll analyst
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a payroll analyst do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your payroll analyst job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a payroll analyst for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

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   Hiring the perfect payroll analyst also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of payroll analyst salaries for various roles:

   Type of Payroll Analyst	Description	Hourly rate
   Payroll Analyst	Financial clerks do administrative work for many types of organizations. They keep records, help customers, and carry out financial transactions.	$18-35
   Timekeeper	A Timekeeper works in various industries and organizations and is typically hired as the acting liaison between payroll coordinators and employees. This is to make sure the pay distribution process runs smoothly... Show more	$14-33
   Payroll Supervisor	A payroll supervisor ensures employee salaries are released in a timely manner and accounts for all payrolls and cash released by the company. The payroll supervisor organizes all financial transactions and generates reports for accounting... Show more	$22-42

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Customer Service
   • Payroll System
   • Payroll Data
   • Human Resources
   • Reconciliations
   • Data Entry
   • Calculation
   • HRIS
   • Kronos
   • Process Improvement
   • Multi-State Payroll
   • W-2
   • Journal Entries
   • Payroll Operations

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage all activities relate to base pay, overtime, PTO, garnishments and payroll tax.
   • Perform monthly accounting functions including journal entries, general ledger account reconciliations, benefit and salary accruals, and headcount reconciliations.
   • Create PowerPoint slides to train new timekeepers and managers in KRONOS.
   • Lead functional tester in support of timekeeping, payroll and labor upgrades and conversion projects.
   • Support the third-party web applications like KRONOS and custom-built time entry systems to input the time data
   • Enter new hires, terminations, and employee maintenance changes into HRIS & ADP including process employee benefit elections.

   More payroll analyst duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the payroll analyst job description is a good way to get more applicants. A payroll analyst salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a payroll analyst in New Mexico may be lower than in Washington, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level payroll analyst. Additionally, a payroll analyst with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average payroll analyst salary

   $54,217yearly

   $26.07 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level payroll analyst salary

   $39,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 22, 2026

   Average payroll analyst salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Washington	$66,081	$32
   2	District of Columbia	$64,156	$31
   3	Alaska	$63,896	$31
   4	California	$62,934	$30
   5	Massachusetts	$62,476	$30
   6	Illinois	$60,779	$29
   7	Colorado	$58,190	$28
   8	New York	$57,999	$28
   9	Oregon	$57,960	$28
   10	Minnesota	$56,607	$27
   11	Maryland	$56,542	$27
   12	Nevada	$56,173	$27
   13	Virginia	$54,940	$26
   14	Kansas	$54,772	$26
   15	Pennsylvania	$54,650	$26
   16	Texas	$52,967	$25
   17	Maine	$52,283	$25
   18	Georgia	$51,670	$25
   19	Arizona	$50,820	$24
   20	Iowa	$50,348	$24

   Average payroll analyst salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Varian Medical Systems	$94,137	$45.26
   2	Apple	$86,985	$41.82	1
   3	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$86,526	$41.60	2
   4	Invesco	$85,442	$41.08	1
   5	Visa	$83,814	$40.30
   6	Snowflake Computing	$80,412	$38.66
   7	Sumo Logic	$77,917	$37.46
   8	Evercore	$76,047	$36.56
   9	Adobe	$74,946	$36.03	3
   10	Vista Equity Partners	$74,124	$35.64
   11	Discover	$72,311	$34.76
   12	Grainger	$71,775	$34.51
   13	Franklin Templeton	$66,800	$32.12
   14	Gardner Denver	$66,544	$31.99
   15	Morgan Stanley	$66,398	$31.92
   16	Bridgestone	$65,820	$31.64	2
   17	Verisign	$65,545	$31.51
   18	NW Natural	$65,416	$31.45
   19	Novo Nordisk	$65,405	$31.44
   20	Hoffmann-LA Roche Inc	$65,253	$31.37

4. Writing a payroll analyst job description

   A job description for a payroll analyst role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a payroll analyst job description:

   Payroll analyst job description example

   The Analyst will relay information between the team and the HRIS/Payroll Manager. For this role, it is crucial to have the ability to communicate effectively and deliver strong internal customer service while working in a deadline-driven environment.
   Here's What You'll Do: • Partner with internal stakeholders to develop and implement technology solutions that help to streamline and automate HR processes.
   • Evaluates HR systems to identify points of improvement
   • Perform system testing to ensure patches, upgrades and updates do not impact functionality and accuracy of payroll
   • Serves as point of contact for questions regarding Payroll. Go-to subject matter expert for the system (UKG). Support end users regarding system problems, requests, issue resolution, facilitating process improvements
   • Provides backup to Manager HRIS/Payroll
   • Process payroll Bi-weekly and Semi-monthly pay groups
   • Run and review audit reports to ensure accuracy of payroll data
   • Other duties and projects as required.
   Here's What You'll Need: • 7-10 years of experience in Payroll
   • Minimum education of a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration or Accounting
   • Experience working in an agile delivery environment.
   • Experience with UKG software or other Payroll applications
   • Excellent skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
   • Exceptional interpersonal communication, collaborative, and customer-service skills
   • Ability to effectively multi-task, demonstrate organizational skills and maintain a high level of attention to detail
   • Ability to develop solutions to complex problems using expertise, creativity and sound judgment
   • CPP Certification is a plus
   • Ability to maintain confidentiality
   Our highly competitive compensation package and outstanding benefits include: Benefits starting Day 1 Competitive starting pay On-the-job training A culture that strongly believes in promoting from within Medical Dental Vision 401k with company matching & retirement contribution Employee Stock Purchase plan Life Insurance Disability Insurance Paid vacations and holidays Employee Assistance Program Invitation to Apply: If you are ready to build your career in a company that thrives on growth, a safe work environment, rewarding work, challenge, and opportunity, come build your career with us at West Fraser: www.westfraser.com/careers We thank all candidates for their interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Please apply through our online application process. Be sure to attach your resume to your online profile as resumes will not be accepted at the site. No phone inquiries, please. West Fraser is a diversified wood products company producing lumber, OSB, LVL, MDF, plywood, pulp, newsprint, wood chips, and energy with over 60 facilities in Canada, the United States, and Europe. We are the largest lumber producer in North America, a leading global manufacturer of wood-based panels, and the world's largest producer of oriented strand board (OSB). We are a growing company, believe strongly in promoting from within, and pride ourselves on providing a challenging environment with continuous development. The successful candidate should be interested in future growth opportunities within the company West Fraser is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V/D & Drug-Free Workplace (DFW)

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5. Post your job

   To find payroll analysts for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any payroll analysts they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level payroll analysts with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your payroll analyst job on Zippia to find and recruit payroll analyst candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting payroll analysts requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new payroll analyst

   Once you've decided on a perfect payroll analyst candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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