Senior Payroll and Accounts Payable Analyst

About Fordham:

Founded in 1841, Fordham is the Jesuit University of New York, offering an exceptional education distinguished by the Jesuit tradition to more than 16,000 students in its nine colleges and schools. It has residential campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan, a campus in West Harrison, N.Y., the Louis Calder Center Biological Field Station in Armonk, N.Y., and the London Centre in the United Kingdom.

The University offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance; flexible spending accounts; retirement plans; life insurance; short and long-term disability; employee assistance program ( EAP ); tuition remission; and generous time off.

Successful candidates should have a knowledge of and commitment to the goals of Jesuit Education.

Department: Controllers Office

Position Summary:

Reporting to the Senior Associate Vice President of Finance/Controller, with a dotted-line relationship to the Associate Controller, the Sr. Payroll and AP Analyst supports the modernization, accuracy, compliance, and operational efficiency of the University’s Payroll and Accounts Payable functions. The role is responsible for supporting internal controls, improving workflows, optimizing systems, and advancing the use of analytics, automation, and technology-enabled processes.

The role also supports the continuous improvement of payroll and Accounts Payable operations by identifying opportunities to streamline processes, strengthen controls, enhance data analysis and reporting, and leverage automation and emerging technologies, including AI-enabled tools, to improve accuracy, efficiency, and service delivery.

May be required to work evenings, weekends, holidays, and scheduled days off to support payroll/AP processing, system implementations, audits, fiscal year-end activities, and other operational or business needs.

Essential Functions:

Analyzes Payroll and Accounts Payable workflows and leads process improvement initiatives to reduce manual processes, improve accuracy, support internal controls, and enhance service delivery.

Supports Finance initiatives through process standardization, service delivery metrics, operational efficiencies, and implementation of best practices.

Prepares schedules, reconciliations, documentation, and supporting analysis for the financial statement audit, 403(b) audit, WFUV audit, and other internal or external audit requests. Serves as lead coordinator for the 403(b) and WFUV audits.

Supports the implementation, testing, and adoption of automation tools, AI-enabled solutions, reporting tools, and system enhancements to support forecasting, fraud detection, variance analysis, workload assessment, risk identification, trend analysis, and process efficiency.

Maintains accurate, compliant, and well-documented Payroll and Accounts Payable processes, including reconciliations, payment controls, payroll accounting activities, and compliance documentation.

Serves as a functional lead for payroll and accounts payable systems, including Banner, ADP , reporting tools, and related Finance technologies.

Develops, monitors, and reports KPIs, dashboards, and management analytics for Payroll and Accounts Payable, including processing timelines, exception activity, payment aging, error trends, and service levels.

Serves as coordinator for Payroll, Accounts Payable, Finance Shared Services, Human Resources, Procurement, and Information Technology initiatives.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Information Systems, or a related field.

Minimum of 3 years of experience in payroll accounting, accounts payable, financial operations, accounting operations, financial systems, or related finance functions.

Demonstrated knowledge of payroll processes, accounts payable operations, reconciliations, general ledger activity, internal controls, and financial reporting support.

Preferred Qualifications:

MBA or Master’s degree in Finance or related field.

Certified Public Accountant, Certified Payroll Professional, Project Management Professional, or similar professional certification.

Experience in higher education, nonprofit, or complex multi-entity financial environments.

Experience with Banner, ADP , Workday, or comparable ERP , payroll, HRIS , or financial systems.

Knowledge of internal control principles, audit documentation requirements, and financial operations compliance.

Ability to adapt to evolving payroll and Accounts Payable technologies and support the responsible use of system enhancements, automation, and AI-enabled tools to improve operations.

Minimum Salary: $90,000

Maximum Salary: $105,000