How To Become A Paymaster: What It Is and Career Path

What is a paymaster and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a paymaster. For example, did you know that they make an average of $33.29 an hour? That's $69,234 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -38,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePaymasterUS Average

Salary

5.4

Avg. Salary $69,234

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.6

Growth Rate -3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.52%

Asian 6.12%

Black or African American 8.89%

Hispanic or Latino 18.88%

Unknown 6.08%

White 58.51%

Gender

female 72.19%

male 27.81%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress Level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.9

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.9

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a paymaster

Explore paymaster education requirements

Most common paymaster degrees

Bachelor's

57.0 %

Associate

22.6 %

High School Diploma

8.6 %

Start to develop specific paymaster skills

Skills	Percentages
ADP	11.41%
Payroll Processing	11.05%
Payroll System	10.46%
Accruals	8.93%
Reconciliations	8.30%

Complete relevant paymaster training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New paymasters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a paymaster based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real paymaster resumes.

Research paymaster duties and responsibilities

Manage annual professional liability in PeopleSoft for faculty and fellows.
Assist in month end process including accruals and payroll journals.
Create and maintain record of expenses and payments, assisting in the preparation of various reports and reconciliations.
Perform monthly balance sheet account reconciliations including bank and payroll reconciliations.

Prepare your paymaster resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your paymaster resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a paymaster resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Paymaster Resume templates

Build a professional Paymaster resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Paymaster resume.

Apply for paymaster jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a paymaster job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do paymasters rate their job?