Payroll Supervisor

Company Description

Thank you so much for considering our company in your career search Classic Fire + Life Safety is a leader in the fire protection and life safety industry because of our talented, knowledgeable, and motivated staff. We know that it is our people who make the difference, and we are looking to grow our team of passionate professionals. Interested in joining us?

Our goal is to partner with our customers, to ensure their buildings, and the people in them are safe, from new building construction activities, modernization activities, and demand for system upgrades, through to preventative maintenance and service.

Why join the Classic team?

• CFLS is a caring company who values our staff.
• CFLS is local and is part of the community.
• CFLS is a full-service fire protection contractor.
• A great working environment with opportunities for career advancement.
• Comprehensive Group benefits.
• Educational assistance program.
• Employee referral bonus program.
• Social events: Building camaraderie and fostering a sense of community is essential.

Job Description

The Payroll Supervisor is responsible for managing all aspects of the company's payroll operations across Canada, supporting approximately 800 employees in both field and office environments. This includes hourly unionized (with multiple unions), hourly non-union, and salaried staff, all paid weekly.

This role ensures the accurate and timely delivery of payroll while maintaining full compliance with federal and provincial regulations and collective agreements. This position also plays a critical role in system and process improvement initiatives, leading post-acquisition payroll integrations that support the company's continued growth.

The ideal candidate combines hands-on payroll expertise with strong systems knowledge and priority setting capabilities, and thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced, growing, multi-entity, and multi-union environment.

Task & Responsibilities

Payroll Operations

• Manage full-cycle weekly payroll processing for approximately 800 employees across multiple provinces and business units.
• Ensure accurate application of pay rules, overtime, shift premiums, travel pay, union dues, benefits, and statutory deductions.
• Oversee payroll reconciliations, journal entries, and coordination with Finance for labour costing and GL accuracy.
• Ensure compliance with collective agreements, including wage rate changes and dues remittances.
• Responsible for all employee-related tax, benefit, and compliance calculations and payments.
• Manage year-end payroll activities including T4/RL-1 preparation, reconciliations, and government filings.

Compliance & Governance

• Maintain compliance with CRA and provincial employment standards across all jurisdictions.
• Serve as the main contact for payroll-related audits, remittances, and government inquiries.
• Maintain and document payroll policies, procedures, and internal controls to support consistent, audit-ready processes.

Systems, Process Improvement & Implementation

• Partner with HR, Finance, and IT to improve integration between payroll, HRIS, time tracking, and accounting systems.
• Identify opportunities to automate manual processes, improve accuracy, and enhance reporting capabilities.
• Develop and maintain dashboards and standardized reports to support management decision-making.
• Support the evaluation, selection, and implementation of any potential new payroll systems which will ensure scalability for continued acquisitions and workforce growth.
• Participate in configuration, data migration, testing, and change management.
• Deliver system training and post-implementation support.

Post-Acquisition Integration

• Lead payroll integration activities for newly acquired companies across Canada.
• Assess inherited payroll processes and systems, align pay practices, and consolidate into company standards.
• Ensure smooth employee transitions by harmonizing pay frequencies, benefits deductions, and system access.
• Work closely with HR, Finance, and IT on data conversion, onboarding, and compliance.
• Provide communication and training to acquired teams during transition.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Supervise, coach, and develop payroll team members, fostering a culture of accuracy, accountability, and service.
• Collaborate with HR on employee lifecycle activities, including new hires, terminations, pay changes, and benefits.
• Partner with Finance for payroll reporting, labour cost analysis, and budgeting.
• Build strong relationships with operations leaders and branch managers to ensure payroll accuracy and responsiveness to payroll-related queries.

Qualifications Education & Certification

• Diploma or degree in Accounting, Business Administration, or related field.
• Payroll Compliance Practitioner (PCP) designation from the National Payroll Institute (NPI) required; Payroll Leadership Professional (PLP) designation preferred.
• 7+ years of progressive payroll experience
• Experience supervising payroll in multi-entity, multi-province organizations with unionized and field-based employees.
• Participated in payroll system implementation.
• Experience with post-acquisition payroll integration in a growing or acquisitive environment preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of major payroll systems (e.g., ADP Workforce Now, Ceridian Dayforce, UKG, WorkDay) and advanced Excel/data analysis skills.
• Experience with Jonas as a payroll system is advantageous.

Key Skills & Attributes:

• Deep knowledge of Canadian payroll legislation, taxation, and unionized pay structures.
• Demonstrated ability to lead system and process transformation initiatives.
• Proven ability to develop, coach, and mentor a team.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a focus on process optimization.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills across both office and field environments.
• Proven project management capability and attention to detail.
• High integrity and discretion when handling sensitive employee information.