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Salary: USD 147,000 - 190,000 / annual
Justworks is seeking a Senior Manager of Regulatory Compliance and Licensing to lead the regulatory compliance and licensing operations function within Product Compliance. This is a people-management role responsible for building and scaling a high-performing team while establishing operational excellence in a highly regulated environment.
Key Responsibilities:
Leadership & Team Development: Provide people and operational leadership across Regulatory Compliance and Licensing Operations. Develop team members, build capabilities and accountability, and establish clear priorities, ownership, and performance expectations. Partner with Product Compliance leadership on organizational design and resourcing.
Operational Foundation: Establish clear ownership, documented processes, effective controls, escalation paths, and backup coverage for critical regulatory obligations. Reduce single points of failure through cross-training and business continuity planning. Improve visibility into upcoming obligations, execution status, risks, and issues. Develop meaningful operational measures to assess execution, capacity, quality, and risk.
Regulatory Execution: Ensure timely, accurate, and compliant execution of key obligations including PEO and applicable licensing, CPEO certification, ESAC accreditation, regulatory reporting, government filings, business registrations, regulatory examinations, and agency correspondence. Oversee interactions with regulators, government agencies, auditors, and external partners. Identify emerging regulatory and operational risks early.
Regulatory Change Management: Lead the function in monitoring and interpreting relevant regulatory developments and assessing impact on Justworks' products and operations. Ensure changes are communicated to appropriate stakeholders and translated into clear operational, product, or control requirements. Partner with Payroll Compliance, Legal, Product, Engineering, and Operations to support implementation.
Controls & Remediation: Partner with Product Compliance leadership, Internal Audit, Legal, Finance, Product, and Security to strengthen controls and address identified risks. Support audit and examination readiness through clear documentation and evidence. Ensure remediation actions are appropriately prioritized, tracked, and sustained.
Cross-Functional Partnerships: Build trusted partnerships across Legal, Product, Engineering, Payroll Compliance, Finance, Security, Internal Audit, Customer Success, Government Affairs, and Operations. Serve as a senior advisor on regulatory requirements, operational impacts, and risks.
Success in this role requires strategic leadership, people leadership, strong regulatory judgment, operational excellence, systems thinking, risk management, cross-functional influence, and exceptional executive communication skills.
Requirements:
Required:
- 10+ years of progressive experience in regulatory compliance, licensing, tax compliance, compliance operations, or related field
- 5+ years of people leadership experience, including leading teams responsible for complex regulatory or compliance obligations
- Experience leading regulatory compliance programs in a highly regulated environment
- Strong regulatory judgment and demonstrated ability to translate complex requirements into operational processes, controls, and clear ownership
- Demonstrated experience strengthening or scaling compliance operations, including process documentation, business continuity, controls, and performance management
- Experience working with government agencies, regulators, auditors, Legal, and cross-functional business partners
- Demonstrated ability to identify and manage regulatory, operational, and business continuity risks
- Strong people leadership, coaching, and performance management skills
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including ability to communicate risks and priorities to senior leaders
- Proven ability to influence and drive outcomes across functions
Preferred:
- Experience in PEO, payroll, HR technology, fintech, SaaS, or another regulated technology-enabled environment
- Experience with CPEO certification, ESAC accreditation, state PEO licensing, or similar regulatory programs
- Experience leading regulatory change management or comparable regulatory interpretation function
- Experience strengthening compliance functions through organizational, process, or control improvements
- Familiarity with internal audit, SOX, SOC, or other control and assurance frameworks
- Experience using technology, automation, or AI to improve compliance operations
