Senior Payroll Manager

Job Application for Senior Payroll Manager at Anthropic

Senior Payroll Manager San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA

About Anthropic

Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About the role

You'll own US and Canada payroll operations end-to-end — hands-on in Workday, close to the details — while also managing and developing 1–2 direct reports on the US team. You'll report directly to the Head of Global Payroll and be a key leader in making sure North American payroll keeps pace with Anthropic's growth.

Strategic importance: You'll be a key contributor to our compliance initiative — our framework for managing payroll tax obligations across US & Canada. You'll also be part of the team driving AI adoption within payroll: we're actively building out how AI tools can improve reconciliation accuracy, error detection, and reporting workflows. This isn't a future initiative — it's happening now.

Responsibilities

US Payroll Operations

Own full-cycle payroll processing for all US entities — multi-state, multi-frequency, exempt and non-exempt populations

Process complex equity compensation including RSUs, ISOs, and NSOs, ensuring accurate tax withholding and timely reporting

Manage high-volume payments: bonuses, commissions, severance, and equity events

Oversee quarter-end, W-2 preparation, year-end reconciliations, and resolution of federal and state tax notices

Maintain and continuously improve Workday payroll configuration — identify automation opportunities and lead optimization initiatives

Canada Payroll Management

Oversee Canada payroll operations in partnership with our PwC Global Payroll Platform, developing expertise in CRA compliance, T4s, Records of Employment, and multi-province processing

Partner with our international payroll team to ensure Canada stays integrated into our global compliance posture

Build out Canada payroll SOPs as the function matures

Team Leadership & Development

Manage and develop 1–2 direct reports on the US payroll team — set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, and invest in their growth

Build a team culture of accuracy, accountability, and continuous improvement

Serve as the escalation point for complex payroll issues and employee inquiries

Cross-Functional Partnership & Compliance

Partner with Corporate Accounting on payroll journal entries, accruals, and month-end close

Work closely with Tax, Benefits, People Systems, and Employment Legal to ensure data integrity and compliance

Support audit readiness and internal & systems controls

AI Adoption & Process Improvement

Champion the use of AI tools within the payroll function — identify high-value use cases for reconciliation, anomaly detection, and reporting

Lead or support process improvement projects that reduce manual effort, increase accuracy, and improve the employee payroll experience

Document processes, build SOPs, and contribute to the team's knowledge infrastructure

You may be a good fit if you have

8+ years of payroll experience, with at least 3 years in a senior or manager-level role owning US multi-state payroll end-to-end

Hold a CPP (Certified Payroll Professional) certification

Direct people management experience — you've managed at least one FTE directly, not just contractors or mentorship relationships

Strong Workday experience — payroll module preferred; HCM with direct payroll involvement and a clear path to Workday Payroll ownership is considered

Deep familiarity with equity compensation processing (RSUs, ISOs, NSOs) and the tax implications at both federal and state levels

Demonstrated ability to thrive in fast-moving, ambiguous environments — you build structure where none exists and don't wait for someone to hand you a playbook

Strong cross-functional instincts — you know how to build trust quickly, influence without authority, and communicate clearly across Finance, HR, Legal, and beyond

Strong candidates may also have

Canada payroll experience — even introductory exposure is valued; willingness to learn and grow into the function matters more than deep expertise on day one

Experimented with AI or automation tools to improve payroll workflows (reconciliation, error detection, reporting)

Been part of a Workday payroll implementation or major system migration

Worked at a company that scaled rapidly — from 500 to 2,000+ employees — and built payroll infrastructure to match

Experience in or exposure to IPO readiness, SOX compliance, or building financial controls from scratch

The annual compensation range for this role is listed below.

For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonuses target and annual base salary for the role.

Annual Salary: $230,000 - $300,000 USD

Logistics

Minimum education: Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience

Required field of study: A field relevant to the role as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience

Minimum years of experience: Years of experience required will correlate with the internal job level requirements for the position

Location-based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.

Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas! However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.

We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification as listed. Research shows that people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more prone to experiencing imposter syndrome and doubting the strength of their candidacy, so we urge you not to exclude yourself prematurely and to submit an application if you're interested in this work. We think AI systems like the ones we're building have enormous social and ethical implications. We think this makes representation even more…