HR Specialist - Pension & Payroll
At a glance
Mid-level HR Business Partner & Generalist role at The City of Red Deer. Red Deer · CA$90,495–CA$113,084 base.
hrroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Review difficult payroll and pension cases, untangle discrepancies, and advise on escalated issues
- Check payroll and pension records through reconciliations, financial analysis, and internal controls
- Apply legislation, workplace policies, collective agreements, and plan rules to complex questions
- Spot compliance risks and control weaknesses, then recommend fixes and process or system changes
- Help with audits, year-end reporting, system testing, and regulatory questions
What you bring
- A post-secondary diploma or degree in payroll, accounting, finance, HR, or another listed discipline
- At least five years of progressive payroll work, including complex cases and preferably substantial pension administration
- Strong working knowledge of payroll law, employment standards, tax, pension rules, and organizational policies
- Advanced Excel and data analysis skills, plus experience with payroll, HRIS, pension, and financial systems
Who this fits
This mid-level specialist role suits someone who can handle complex payroll and pension work independently and make recommendations. It is a term, full-time position anticipated to last up to two years, with weekday hours and some evening or weekend work possible. You will work with Total Compensation, People Services, Finance, management, employees, and outside providers.
From the employer
The Opportunity:
The HR Specialist – Pension and Payroll role provides specialized expertise in the administration, compliance, analysis, and continuous improvement of payroll and pension programs and processes. The position is responsible for reviewing complex payroll and pension matters, ensuring the integrity of payroll and pension data, conducting financial and compliance reconciliations, interpreting legislation and plan provisions, identifying risks, and developing recommendations for management.
The position will work closely with the Total Compensation team and, serve as a subject-matter resource to People Services, Finance, management, employees, and external service providers on complex payroll and pension matters. The Payroll & Pension Specialist exercises independent judgment and provides recommendations to the Payroll Supervisor on matters involving compliance, financial risk, policy interpretation, system functionality, process improvement, and program administration.
Top Key Responsibilities:
- Provide expert oversight of payroll and pension processes to ensure accuracy, compliance, and consistency.
- Resolve complex payroll and pension issues, discrepancies, and escalations.
- Interpret legislation, policies, collective agreements, and pension plan provisions.
- Monitor compliance and identify risks, control gaps, and process improvement opportunities.
- Oversee reconciliations, financial analysis, and internal controls to support accurate reporting.
- Support audits, year-end reporting, and regulatory inquiries.
- Participate in system upgrades, testing, data integrity reviews, and process improvements.
- Serve as a subject matter expert and provide guidance to Payroll, HR, Finance, management, and external stakeholders.
- Recommend corrective actions, system enhancements, and risk mitigation strategies.
- Provide occasional backup support for benefits administration and maintain health and safety compliance.
As our preferred candidate, you will have:
- Post-secondary diploma or degree in Payroll, Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Business Administration, Pension/Benefits Administration, or a related discipline.
- Professional payroll certification, such as the Payroll Compliance Professional (PCP) designation, is strongly preferred.
- The Payroll Leadership Professional (PLP) designation or equivalent advanced payroll education is considered an asset.
- Pension or benefits administration education, certification, or coursework is considered an asset.
- 5+ years of progressive payroll experience, preferably including significant pension administration or pension program experience.
- Demonstrated experience handling complex payroll and pension matters rather than primarily transactional processing.
- Strong knowledge of payroll legislation, employment standards, taxation, pension requirements, and applicable organizational policies.
- Strong understanding of pension plan provisions and pension administration practices.
- Advanced analytical, reconciliation, and problem-solving skills.
- Experience interpreting legislation, policies, plan provisions, and collective agreement provisions where applicable.
- Strong experience with payroll, HRIS, pension, and financial systems.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel and data analysis skills.
- Experience participating in system implementations, process improvement, audits, or compliance reviews.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Demonstrated ability to exercise independent judgment and provide sound recommendations.
Affiliation:
Exempt
Status:
Term Full-time
Remuneration:
$46.23 to $57.77 per hour
$90,495.23 to $113,084.78 per annum
Hours of Work:
75 hours biweekly; Monday to Friday. Some evening and weekend work may be required.
Additional Information:
The term of this position is anticipated to be up to two years.
This position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.
The City of Red Deer does not permit the use of unauthorized internet resources or Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (for example, Copilot, ChatGPT or any other form of AI) during interviews or any supervised or timed assessments. Any violation may be investigated and result in serious consequences, including the rejection of your application.
We thank you for your application. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.