Senior Payroll & Benefits Manager

Description

About Us:

DOXA was founded in 2016 to bring a refreshing change to the specialty insurance industry. Our mission is to create specialized programs and operations through business development and accretive acquisitions. DOXA’s award-winning approach accelerates growth and satisfaction of MGAs, MGUs, agents, carriers, wholesalers, affinity companies and start-ups.

DOXA offers a dynamic and evolving work environment that provides employees with an opportunity for development and visibility into many aspects of the business.

Description: 

The Senior Payroll and Benefits Manager is a critical leadership role responsible for owning and advancing DOXA’s payroll, benefits, and total rewards operations. This is a hands on role that owns the day-to-day workflows within payroll and benefits including; ensuring payroll accuracy and compliance, building competitive and scalable compensation and benefits programs, and driving operational excellence across Total Rewards and related systems.

This role provides an opportunity to build and scale the payroll and benefits foundation that will carry the company into its next phase of growth.  Success in this role requires operational rigor, sound judgment, attention to detail and strong internal controls, an execution mindset that is comfortable with ambiguity and a deep understanding of how decisions impact the employee experience. The Senior Payroll and Benefits Manager is the final approver for payroll and a trusted partner to People & Culture, Finance, and business leaders.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Ownership & Compliance

· Own end-to-end payroll processing, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance across all pay groups. 

· Serve as the final review and last approval for payroll prior to submission. 

· Maintain strong controls, audit practices, and documentation for payroll processes while balancing the employee experience. 

· Partner closely with Finance and Accounting on payroll reconciliations and reporting. 

· Leverage and continuously optimize payroll workflows both within and outside of HRIS. 

HRIS Optimization & Systems Partnership

· Partner with Director, People Strategy & Execution and other stakeholders to optimize HRIS and payroll system configuration, data integrity, and reporting. 

· Support ongoing HRIS enhancements, process automation, and system integrations. 

· Ensure employee-facing systems are intuitive, accurate, and aligned with operational needs.

Benefits Strategy & Administration

· Help design, evaluate, and administer competitive and scalable benefit programs, including health, welfare, retirement, wellness and leave offerings. 

· Manage vendor relationships and renewals in partnership with brokers and carriers, balancing cost, competitiveness and employee experience. 

· Oversee accurate, compliant benefits administration and timely employee support, ensuring issues are resolved efficiently and thoroughly. 

· Develop and deliver employee education and communication strategies that improve understanding, utilization, and appreciation of benefit programs. 

· Support and evolve employee wellness initiatives that promote physical, financial, and emotional well-being while aligning with business priorities and culture.

Leadership & Team Development

· Lead, coach and develop a team of two by modeling ownership, urgency and an execution mindset. 

· Set clear expectations, priorities and deadlines while emphasizing the employee impact of their work and the importance of accuracy, responsiveness and service. 

· Act as a working leader, balancing hands-on execution with leadership when needed.

· Build a culture of accountability, attention to detail and follow-through by holding oneself and the team responsible for outcomes, not just effort. 

· Provide regular feedback, coaching and development aligned to individual strengths and role expectations. 

Operational Leadership, Excellence & Employee Experience

· Drive operational excellence and process improvement through disciplined execution, strong controls, and a bias toward speed while maintaining accuracy and compliance. 

· Lead with employee experience top of mind, anticipating the downstream impact of payroll, compensation, benefits, and system changes. 

· Translate complex decisions and changes into clear, timely communication, ensuring employees and leaders understand changes, timelines, and outcomes. 

· Apply sound judgment, critical thinking, and decisiveness while balancing risk, accuracy, employee impact, and business needs. 

· Take full ownership from decision through delivery, ensuring issues are resolved thoroughly and improvements are implemented effectively.

Requirements

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will possess:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher (Business, Management, or related field preferred)
• 8+ years of progressive experience in Total Rewards, Payroll, or People Operations, including leadership responsibility

· Proven experience owning payroll processing, with strong attention to detail and accountability. 

· Experience with Paylocity preferred. 

· Strong understanding of compensation and benefits program design and administration. 

· Operationally minded, with a track record of process improvement and execution excellence. 

· Highly detail-oriented with the discipline to serve as final payroll approver. 

· Ability to anticipate downstream impacts and manage change thoughtfully. 

· Clear, confident communicator with strong follow-through. 

· Demonstrates sound judgment, critical thinking, and ownership in decision-making.

Hybrid Expectations

Candidate should be able to work out of the Fort Wayne, IN headquarters on occasion.

Benefits & Work Environment

DOXA Insurance Holdings offers a dynamic work environment and a collaborative culture. Our headquarters is located on the 10th floor of the Indiana Michigan building at 101 E. Washington in the revitalized downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.