Payroll Accountant

Harness is led by technologist and entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal, founder of AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco for $3.7B). The company has raised ~$570M in Series E venture funding, is valued at $5.5B, and backed by top investors including Goldman Sachs, Menlo Ventures, IVP, Google Ventures, J.P. Morgan, Capital One Ventures, Citi Ventures, ServiceNow, Splunk Ventures and more. Harness is building the industry’s leading AI-powered software delivery platform, enabling teams worldwide to build, test, and deliver software faster, safer, and more reliably. Writing code is only 30–40% of the engineering lifecycle — the rest involves testing, deployments, security, compliance, and optimization. Harness brings AI and automation to this outer loop, turning complex, time-consuming workflows into streamlined processes at massive global scale.

The platform includes industry leading products in CI/CD, Feature Flags, Cloud Cost Management, Service Reliability, Chaos Engineering, Software Engineering Insights, Internal Developer Experience, and API discovery, observability, governance, and runtime protection. Over the past year, Harness powered 128M deployments, 81M builds, 1.2T API calls protected, and $1.9B in cloud spend optimized, helping customers like United Airlines and Choice Hotels accelerate releases by up to 75% and achieve 10x DevOps efficiency. With employees in over 25 countries, Harness is shaping the future of AI-driven software delivery — and we’re looking for exceptional talent to help us move even faster.

We are seeking a detail-oriented and proactive Payroll Accounting Accountant to join our Payroll team. This role will be responsible for ensuring accurate payroll accounting, performing payroll-related reconciliations, supporting monthly close activities, and partnering closely with HR, Payroll, and Benefits teams to maintain compliance and streamline processes. The ideal candidate is organized, analytical, and comfortable working in a fast-paced environment

• Prepare and record payroll journal entries for U.S. and international entities.
• Reconcile payroll-related balance sheet accounts, including wages payable, benefits, taxes, and other deductions.
• Support monthly, quarterly, and annual close activities related to payroll expenses.
• Partner with General Ledger, HR and Benefits teams to ensure payroll data accuracy and proper accounting treatment.
• Review payroll registers, identify discrepancies, and ensure corrections are recorded timely.
• Assist in implementing and documenting payroll-related process improvements and internal controls.
• Support audits (financial, SOX, tax) by preparing schedules and providing required documentation.
• Maintain compliance with federal, state, and local payroll tax regulations.
• Prepares supporting documentation and reports for payroll, payroll tax returns, benefits, cost centers, and bonus plans.
• Participate in special projects, including system integrations, process optimization, and cross-functional initiatives.
• Assist with semi-monthly payroll with accuracy and timeliness that includes salaried, hourly, and contract employees.
• Assist with year-end reporting including W-2s, 1099s, L&I, benefits, and multi-state filings.
• Upload and reconcile data between multiple software applications and payroll systems. 
• Coordinate and execute company registrations in new tax jurisdictions to ensure compliance with local payroll regulations.
• Prepare, review, and manage payroll tax amendments, ensuring accuracy and timely submission to relevant authorities.
• Assist with annual 401(k) and financial audits

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• 2–4 years of payroll accounting experience. 
• Understanding of payroll accounting concepts.
• Experience with payroll and accounting systems (e.g., Paylocity, Hi-Bob, NetSuite, Benapass) is a plus.
• Proficiency in Excel; ability to work with large data sets.
• Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and ability to meet deadlines.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment

• We are looking for someone who currently resides within the Eastern timezone. The role can be fully remote or work from our NYC or BOS office. 

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive healthcare benefits
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Flexible Time Off and Parental Leave
• Quarterly Harness TGIF-Off / 4 days
• Monthly, quarterly, and annual social and team-building events
• Recharge & Reset Program
• Monthly internet reimbursement
• Commuter benefits

The anticipated base salary range for this position is between $100,000 and $120,000 annually. Salary is determined by a combination of factors including location, level, relevant experience, and skills. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations.  The compensation package for this position may also include equity, and benefits. More details about our company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.harness.io/company/careers. 

• Accelerating Our Mission to Bring AI to Everything After Code
• Goldman Sachs leads investment in software delivery startup Harness at $5.5 billion valuation
• How Harness runs 16 “startups within a startup” at scale | Jyoti Bansal
• Harness Research Shows AI Visibility Crisis Fueling Security Nightmare
• Harness has been named to the Inc. Power Partner list for software delivery success

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Note on Fraudulent Recruiting/Offers

We have become aware that there may be fraudulent recruiting attempts being made by people posing as representatives of Harness. These scams may involve fake job postings, unsolicited emails, or messages claiming to be from our recruiters or hiring managers. 

Please note, we do not ask for sensitive or financial information via chat, text, or social media, and any email communications will come from the domain @harness.io. Additionally, Harness will never ask for any payment, fee to be paid, or purchases to be made by a job applicant. All applicants are encouraged to apply directly to our open jobs via our website. Interviews are generally conducted via Zoom video conference unless the candidate requests other accommodations.

If you believe that you have been the target of an interview/offer scam by someone posing as a representative of Harness, please do not provide any personal or financial information and contact us immediately at [email protected]. You can also find additional information about this type of scam and report any fraudulent employment offers via the Federal Trade Commission’s website (https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams), or you can contact your local law enforcement agency.