Director, Payroll Business Lead (DRI)

Justworks; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 240,000 - 263,500; Full time

Job summary

Justworks is seeking a strategic leader to own the Payroll business, drive revenue, margin and lifetime value growth. You’ll set commercial strategy, influence pricing, and shape operating models to scale the business profitably while staying accountable for outcomes in a highly collaborative, entrepreneurial environment.

You will report within the CMO organization and partner with Marketing, Technology, Operations, Product, Finance, Revenue and Risk & Insurance to execute a reproducible growth

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience with ownership of a business line, P&L, or comparable end-to-end commercial outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience as a co-founder, General Manager, DRI or business owner—personally accountable for revenue, margin, or growth.

Responsibilities

• Ownership and Accountability — acting as the DRI with full accountability for outcomes.
• Business Insight — applying unit economics and market knowledge to advance goals.
• Strategic Mindset — forecasting trends and crafting credible value propositions.
• Drives Results — delivering outcomes even without direct reports.
• Financial and Commercial Acumen — pricing, monetization, and investment trade-offs.
• Plans and Aligns — breaking objectives into actionable steps and aligning teams.
• Executive Communication and Influence — aligning leadership across functions.

Skills

P&L ownership

Pricing strategy

Unit economics

LTV/CAC

ARPC growth

Cross-functional leadership

Data analysis

Excel

SQL

Tools

Excel

SQL

Job description

Who We Are

At Justworks, you’ll enjoy a welcoming and casual environment, great benefits, wellness program offerings, company retreats, and the ability to interact with and learn from leaders in the startup community. We work hard and care about our most prized asset - our people.

We’re helping businesses get off the ground by enabling them to focus on running their business. We solve HR issues. We’re data-driven and never stop iterating. If you’d like to work in a supportive, entrepreneurial environment, are interested in building something meaningful and having fun while doing it, we’d love to hear from you.

We're united by shared goals and shared motivations at Justworks. These are best summed up in our company values, which are reflected in our product and in our team.

Our Values

If this sounds like you, you’ll fit right in.

Who You Are

The Director, Payroll Business Lead is the Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) for the successful execution of the Payroll FY27 plan. You own the outcome — the bookings, the LTV, the margin trajectory, and the decisions that get us there.

You are a business owner first with strong General Management instincts. You treat Payroll as a P&L and a growth engine to run, not a function to coordinate. You are comfortable setting commercial strategy, informing the pricing decisions, and getting into the operational detail when the numbers are off track. You thrive in creation environments where product, pricing, and operating models are still taking shape, and you bring the structure, discipline, and financial rigor to scale the business profitably. You lead through ownership and influence rather than headcount, and you are trusted to run a business line and deliver its results.

You will report to the leader with oversight of our Acquisition System and Payroll business line, in the CMO organization.

Your Success Profile

What You Will Work On

• Owning the Payroll Business and Financial Outcomes

  • Serve as DRI for the Payroll annual plan, accountable for its revenue, expansion, and margin commitments.
  • Orient the business around LTV, ARPC growth, and Payroll's contribution to platform-level customer and revenue growth.
  • Own the commercial strategy to scale customer acquisition against the defined ICP, across both marketing-driven inbound and partnerships.
  • Own the monetization, bundling, and expansion agenda, including pricing, packaging, and new paid services.
  • Own the path to gross-margin break-even on cost-to-serve without compromising service quality.
  • Make the trade-off and prioritization calls the plan requires, and answer for the results.

• Driving Cross-Functional Execution

  • Direct execution of Payroll initiatives across Marketing, Technology, Operations, Product, Finance, Revenue and Risk & Insurance.
  • Keep roadmap priorities informed by partner-facing GTM and ICP signals, with clear lead time for teams to plan against.
  • Own the outcomes of the Payroll-to-PEO expansion pathway, from surfacing upgrade-ready customers to reducing migration friction.
  • Land pricing and packaging into the financial plan, with new add-ons integrated naturally into acquisition and expansion.
  • Identify gaps and risks in execution and drive resolution through collaboration and influence.
  • Build and maintain cross-functional operating systems to keep partners and stakeholders aligned.

• Business Storytelling and Structure

  • Represent Payroll in platform-level and leadership forums, grounding discussions in data, financial impact, and customer outcomes.
  • Bring structure to ambiguous problems and produce the artifacts that keep the organization aligned to the plan.
  • Reinforce a culture of ownership and accountability as the business matures.

Success looks like: Our Payroll business delivers its fiscal year commitments, runs on a reproducible growth motion, and operates as an owned, accountable business line.

How You Will Do Your Work

• Ownership and Accountability — operating as the DRI: full accountability for outcomes, not effort.
• Business Insight — applying knowledge of the business, unit economics, and marketplace to advance commercial goals.
• Strategic Mindset — anticipating trends and articulating credible visions that create sustainable value.
• Drives Results — achieving results even under tough conditions and with no direct functional reporting lines; owning the number and the path to it by influencing throughout our matrixed organization.
• Financial and Commercial Acumen — making sound pricing, monetization, and investment trade-offs.
• Plans and Aligns — breaking objectives into actions and aligning teams around shared commitments.
• Executive Communication and Influence — driving alignment across functions and leadership without direct authority.

In addition, all Justworkers focus on aligning their behaviors to our core values known as COGIS. It stands for:

• Camaraderie - Day to day you can be seen working together toward a higher purpose. You like to have fun. You’re an active listener, treat people respectfully, and have a strong desire to know and help others.
• Openness - Your default is to be open. You're willing to share information, understand other perspectives, and consider new possibilities. You’re curious, ask open questions, and are receptive to thoughts and feedback from others.
• Grit - You demonstrate grit by having the courage to commit and persevere. You’re committed, earnest, and dive in to get the job done well with a positive attitude.
• Integrity - Simply put, do what you say and say what you'll do. You’re honest and forthright, have a strong moral compass, and strive to match your words with your actions while leading by example.
• Simplicity - Be like Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience, with a track record of owning a business line, P&L, or comparable end-to-end commercial outcome.
• Demonstrated experience as a co-founder, General Manager, DRI or business owner — personally accountable for revenue, margin, or growth, not solely program coordination.
• Experience in SaaS, fintech, B2B services, or other regulated or operationally complex environments preferred.
• High business and financial acumen; fluency with P&L, unit economics, LTV/CAC, ARPC, and pricing and packaging.
• Proven ability to set commercial strategy and drive it through execution across functions.
• Strong analytical skills and familiarity with data tools (e.g., Excel, SQL).
• Record of leading cross-functional initiatives to measurable outcomes through influence rather than direct authority.
• Ability to succeed in an entrepreneurial, ambiguous environment and bring structure without slowing innovation.
• Executive presence sufficient to represent a business line in leadership forums.
• Strong sense of ownership and a focus on results and outcomes, not just process.
• Unquestionable professional ethics, strong judgment, and commitment to excellence.

The base wage range for this position based in our New York City Office is targeted at $240,000.00 - $263,500.00 per year.

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Actual compensation is based on multiple factors that are unique to each candidate, including and not limited to skill set, level of relevant experience, and specific work location. Salary ranges for positions based in other locations may differ based on the cost of labor in that location.

For more information about Justworks’ Total Reward Philosophy, including all of the perks and benefits we are proud to offer our team members, please visit Total Rewards @ Justworks.

Diversity At Justworks

Justworks is committed to maintaining a workplace where diversity of identity, culture, and life experience is the norm and is celebrated authentically and respected consistently. Diversity in our work, our people, and our product drives creativity and innovation, entrepreneurial leadership and integrity, competitiveness, and collaboration throughout our business and in the market. We depend on our differences to make our team stronger, our workplace more dynamic, and our product accessible to all of our customers.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer open to all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or familial status, disability, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status. Justworks is fully dedicated to providing necessary support to candidates with disabilities who may require reasonable accommodations. We also provide reasonable accommodations to employees based on their sincerely held religious beliefs, as well as for other covered reasons consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. If you're in need of a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at [e-mail]. Your comfort and success matter to us, and we're here to ensure an inclusive experience.

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