Managed Payroll Lead

Overview

The organization is expanding its Managed Payroll offering in the US and is seeking a Managed Payroll Lead to own and scale the effort. This role will help define the operating model, establish service delivery standards, and build the foundation for a strong customer experience.

This is both a hands-on operator role and a people leadership role. In the near term, you will run payroll, own client relationships, and work closely with your team. Over time, you will develop the people, processes, and infrastructure needed for program growth without sacrificing service quality.

Responsibilities

• Lead, onboard, and develop a US Managed Payroll team; build capacity as the customer portfolio grows
• Set clear performance expectations, provide regular coaching and feedback, and create an environment where the team can do their best work
• Serve as the first point of escalation for the team, helping resolve complex accounts, difficult client situations, and edge cases
• Foster a culture of accuracy, ownership, and continuous improvement

Operating model & program development

• Own the design and documentation of the US Managed Payroll operating model (SOPs, playbooks, escalation frameworks, quality standards, and onboarding materials)
• Identify tooling and automation opportunities and partner with Product and Engineering to prioritize and implement them
• Build feedback loops between operations and product: surface patterns, flag risks, and advocate for improvements that scale effectively
• Define and track key metrics (SLAs, accuracy rates, client satisfaction, team capacity) and use them to drive decisions

Payroll execution & client delivery

• Maintain hands-on involvement in payroll execution, especially during the program’s early stage and when supporting complex or high-risk accounts
• Own a portfolio of strategic or escalated client relationships, ensuring service delivery meets the highest standards
• Oversee pre-validation, approval coordination, and post-run quality checks across the team’s accounts
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local payroll regulations across a multi-state client base

Cross-functional partnership

• Act as a primary operational stakeholder for Product and Engineering on Managed Payroll, representing the team’s needs, testing new features, and contributing to roadmap prioritization
• Partner with Sales and Implementation on client onboarding, account transitions, and escalations requiring senior involvement
• Work with Payroll Compliance and Legal when regulatory questions arise

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on US managed or outsourced payroll experience, including multi-state processing
• 2+ years in a team lead, supervisor, or manager role within a payroll service delivery environment
• Demonstrated experience standing up or materially improving a team, process, or service (not just maintaining an existing one)
• Strong working knowledge of federal and state payroll regulations, including tax withholding, garnishments, benefits deductions, and leave compliance
• Proven ability to manage client-facing relationships at a senior level, including navigating escalations and difficult conversations
• Comfort working in fast-moving, ambiguous environments; able to make decisions with incomplete information and course-correct quickly
• Builder’s mindset: document learnings, close gaps proactively, and improve systems over time
• Genuine comfort with technology and automation; experience contributing to tooling decisions or product feedback loops is a plus
• Proficiency in Google Workspace and/or Microsoft Excel; experience with Salesforce, JIRA, or similar tools is a plus

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a SaaS or HRIS environment
• FPC or CPP certification
• Experience working cross-functionally with Product or Engineering teams

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive salary + benefits + equity
• Pay range for this role:
  • 78,300 - 105,000 USD per year (US Tier 2)
  • 73,950 - 100,000 USD per year (US Tier 3)

Location

• Based in the US.
• This position will not be hired in the San Francisco Bay Area or New York City Metro.
• The organization values in-office work for collaboration: office-based employees (those who live within a defined radius of an office) are expected to work in the office at least three days a week under current policy, which is considered an essential function of the role.