Payroll Manager (Contract) - JOB ID: PHR

Here at Ascendis we pride ourselves in Exceptional science, visionary leadership, skilled and passionate colleagues.

We are a dynamic, growing biopharma company with offices in Denmark, Germany, and the United States. Today, we’re advancing programs in Endocrinology Rare Disease, Oncology, and Ophthalmology. We currently have five product candidates in clinical development: three in Endocrinology Rare Disease and two in Oncology. Recently, we announced new pre-clinical programs in Ophthalmology.

Our culture fosters a place where skilled, adaptable, and highly resourceful professionals can truly make their mark.

We are a dynamic workplace for employees to grow and develop their skills. We are passionate about patients and science, and we work together to achieve our vision and goals. As a member of our global team, you will influence the direction of the company and help us create new therapies to improve patients’ lives.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and we believe that diversity and inclusion among our workforce is critical to our success as a global company.

We promote a trusting and appreciative company culture and value colleagues of diverse backgrounds and their abilities to contribute unique viewpoints and perspectives to all aspects of the business, from drug development to marketing.

A diverse workforce offers a more personal understanding of our customers’ needs and concerns. Diverse teams may more likely be collaborative, more accepting of differences, and more apt to embody a balance between prudence and risk-taking. Furthermore, we see diverse teams as more effective in a global environment, supporting our business in discovering, developing, and marketing rare disease drugs to the benefit of the patients.

We are looking for a proactive individual to join our team to execute and manage our Equity Plans and function as a local payroll partner for our US operations. The successful candidate will be responsible for hands-on, end-to-end support in the administration of our global equity programs, will partner closely within Legal team, Finance, and HR to ensure that processes are aligned to support the Company and will be responsible for approving and controlling US payroll in close collaboration with our external payroll provider. The Administrator will also serve as primary point of contact for internal inquiries related to payroll processes, errors, adjudications, etc.

The ideal candidate will have at four years of payroll administrations within a public company. The candidate should be exceptionally organized, self-motivated, dependable, detail-oriented, and resourceful. This position will report to the US HR Operations team and based in Palo Alto, CA.

Responsibilities:

• Liaise with HR Ops and ADP the US payroll through input, approvals, and controls
• Assist US employees with payroll issues and inquiries
• Prepare custom reports and reconciliations to assist in the Monthly Review of equity and payroll financial transaction data in close collaboration with Finance DK
• Monthly review and comments on salary development in the US companies. Explanation on major variances to prior period and general development in the figures
• Maintain effective SOX controls and supporting documents for internal/external SOX auditors and respond accurately, thoroughly, and timely to requests for data
• Assist with the preparation of certain sections of the annual Proxy Statements.
• Ensure that all forms of equity compensation are administered in accordance with the terms and conditions of the plan(s) under which they are granted
• Collaborate and partner with Finance, Payroll, Legal and HR teams on the design and implementation of new programs, reporting, and compliance
• Work closely with outside service providers, including but not limited to external governing agencies (e.g., local EDD, other state employment agencies), benefit carriers, Worker’s Compensation reporting, filing, and employee cases, etc.
• Manage the calendar of various stock administration related activities
• Provide a superior level of customer service to employees and others
• Support the implementation of educational sessions, presentations, and communication materials for the global employee base to support understanding of equity programs and policies
• Perform other duties and ad hoc requests as requested

Requirements

• 4+ years of experience in payroll administration with extensive ADP knowledge and experience. Workday platform experience desirable.
• Bachelor’s degree required. CEP certification strongly preferred.
• Self-motivated, reliable, flexible, and have a strong attention to detail.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, manage competing priorities, adhere to tight deadlines, and collaborate with cross functional teams.
• Experience with European-based headquarter company a plus.
• Knowledge of regulatory and compliance matters as they relate to state registrations and tax filings for HR-related requirements.
• Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, V-lookups, sumifs).
• An effective communicator using any medium with a variety of levels of internal employees, business partners, external vendors, etc.
• Team-oriented, dependable, and able to maintain strict confidentiality
• $40-100/hr DOE

A note to recruiters:

We do not allow external search party solicitation.  Presentation of candidates without written permission from the Ascendis Pharma Inc Human Resources team (specifically from: Talent Acquisition Partner or Human Resources Director) is not allowed.  If this occurs your ownership of these candidates will not be acknowledged.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• 401(k)
• Paid maternity leave
• Paid paternity leave
• Commuter benefits
• Disability insurance