Edtech.com's Summary

Coursera is hiring a Payroll Specialist to manage end-to-end payroll processing for employees in the United States and Canada. The role involves ensuring accurate payroll execution, compliance with relevant regulations, and collaborating with multiple departments to support payroll operations and related financial processes.

Highlights

Process semi-monthly payrolls including timesheets, garnishments, benefits, and taxes for US and Canada employees.
Handle stock-based compensation transactions such as ESPP, NQSOs, ISOs, and RSUs.
Audit and maintain payroll documentation accuracy.
Respond promptly to employee payroll inquiries.
Collaborate with People Operations, Equity, Accounting, and Legal teams on payroll administration and compliance.
Support month-end close, annual audits, and year-end reporting.
Assist with international payroll processing in coordination with external vendors.
Require 3+ years of payroll experience, strong knowledge of payroll tax regulations, and SOX compliance experience.
Preferred skills include a bachelor's degree, CPP certification, and experience with Workday Payroll, ADP SmartCompliance, EY Payroll Operate, NetSuite, and Fidelity platforms.
US salary range: $75,000 - $107,000 USD depending on zone, with eligibility for bonus and equity RSUs.

Payroll Specialist Full Description

Coursera was launched in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 183 million registered learners as of June 30, 2025. Coursera partners with over 350 leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, and degrees. Coursera’s platform innovations enable instructors to deliver scalable, personalized, and verified learning experiences to their learners. Institutions worldwide rely on Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in high-demand fields such as GenAI, data science, technology, and business. Coursera is a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp.

Join us in our mission to create a world where anyone, anywhere can transform their life through access to education. We're seeking talented individuals who share our passion and drive to revolutionize the way the world learns.

At Coursera, we are committed to building a globally diverse team and are thrilled to extend employment opportunities to individuals in any country where we have a legal entity. We require candidates to possess eligible working rights and have a compatible timezone overlap with their team to facilitate seamless collaboration.

Coursera has a commitment to enabling flexibility and workspace choices for employees. Our interviews and onboarding are entirely virtual, providing a smooth and efficient experience for our candidates. As an employee, we enable you to select your main way of working, whether it's from home, one of our offices or hubs, or a co-working space near you.

Job Overview:

Financial management is crucial to the performance and success of any company. The roles and responsibilities of the Coursera Finance team include accounting, financial reporting, analysis, planning, budgeting, and compliance. Problem solvers at heart, this team works to fuel Coursera’s growth by developing creative solutions in response to accounting and finance challenges.

We are seeking a detail-oriented and reliable Payroll Specialist to join our team. This role will focus primarily on processing and supporting payroll for employees in the United States and Canada, ensuring accurate and timely payroll execution, compliance with all applicable laws, and exceptional customer service to employees. The ideal candidate has a solid understanding of end-to-end payroll processing in both countries, is comfortable working in a fast-paced environment, and is passionate about operational excellence and process improvement.

Responsibilities:

Process end-to-end semi-monthly payrolls for US and Canada employees, including but not limited to, timesheets, garnishments, benefits, taxes and variable payments, while ensuring compliance with federal, state/provincial, and local regulations
Process stock based compensation transactions (ESPP, NQSOs, ISOs, RSUs)
Audit and maintain accurate records of payroll documentation and transactions
Respond to employee inquiries regarding pay, taxes, and deductions in a professional and timely manner
Collaborate with People Operations, Equity, Accounting, and Legal teams in the administration of payroll and on payroll-related matters including benefits, taxation, and year-end reporting
Support month-end close, annual audits and other payroll-related projects, including year-end reporting preparation
Support end-to-end processing of international payrolls across multiple countries in coordination with external payroll vendors.

Basic Qualifications:

3+ years of experience with end-to-end payroll processing
Strong understanding of federal, state, and local payroll tax regulations and wage and hour laws
Payroll experience in a public company with stock plans and SOX experience
Experience with data analysis and creating pivot tables and v-lookups in Excel
Strong problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to interact with employees at all levels
Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

Preferred Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting, finance, or a related field
Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) certification or equivalent international certification
Experience with Workday Payroll, ADP SmartCompliance, EY Payroll Operate
Experience with NetSuite and Fidelity (or other ERP or equity platforms)

If this opportunity interests you, you might like these courses on Coursera:

[FOR US ROLES ONLY]

Compensation

US Zone 1

This role is not available in Zone 1

US Zone 2

$80,000 - $107,000 USD

US Zone 3

75,000 - $100,000 USD

The range(s) listed above is the expected annual base salary for this role, subject to change.

Salary is just one component of Coursera’s total rewards package. All regular employees are also eligible for a bonus program and equity in the form of RSU’s.

A number of factors are taken into account when determining pay, which includes: job level, location, training/education, business need, skill set and internal equity.

Current Zone Locations:

Zone 1- San Francisco Metro, New York City Metro or Seattle Metro
Zone 2 - CA (outside of SF Bay Area), CO, CT, DC, GA, IL, MA, MD, NY/NJ (other than NYC), OR, RI, TX, VA, WA (other than Seattle)
Zone 3 - all other US locations

#LI-CV1

Coursera is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected class.

If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, please contact us at accommodations@coursera.org.

For California Candidates, please review our CCPA Applicant Notice here.

For our Global Candidates, please review our GDPR Recruitment Notice here.

#LI-Remote

Original Job Description