How To Become A Payroll Examiner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a payroll examiner 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 payroll examiner. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.4 an hour? That's $56,995 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 13,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePayroll ExaminerUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $56,995

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.6

Growth Rate 21%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.35%

Asian 8.13%

Black or African American 7.77%

Hispanic or Latino 9.19%

Unknown 5.65%

White 68.90%

Gender

female 66.67%

male 33.33%

Age - 40

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 - 40

Stress Level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.4

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.0

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a payroll examiner

Explore payroll examiner education requirements

Most common payroll examiner degrees

Bachelor's

50.0 %

Associate

50.0 %

Start to develop specific payroll examiner skills

Skills	Percentages
Payroll Transactions	37.78%
Internal Controls	32.43%
Civil Service	29.79%

Complete relevant payroll examiner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New payroll examiners 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 payroll examiner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real payroll examiner resumes.

Research payroll examiner duties and responsibilities

Manage daily claims operations for Medicaid and Medicare plan.
Provide regulatory advice and reviews relating to compliance (including sanctions regimes), transactions, and litigation for depository institutions.
Provide regulatory advice and reviews relating to compliance (including sanctions regimes), transactions, and litigation for depository institutions.

Prepare your payroll examiner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your payroll examiner 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 payroll examiner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Payroll Examiner Resume templates

Build a professional Payroll Examiner 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 Payroll Examiner resume.

Apply for payroll examiner jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a payroll examiner 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