Senior Manager, Regulatory Compliance and Licensing

Who You Are

You’re a seasoned compliance leader who knows that strong regulatory functions depend on clear ownership, capable teams, disciplined execution, and sound judgment. You bring meaningful experience leading regulatory compliance operations in a highly regulated environment. You can translate complex requirements into practical processes, challenge and support subject matter experts, and build the management systems needed to execute regulatory obligations consistently. You are equally comfortable developing teams, engaging with regulators and external partners, partnering with Legal and business leaders, and communicating risks and priorities to senior leadership. You enjoy strengthening functions that are evolving, creating clarity where processes or ownership are fragmented, and building a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Your Success Profile

What You Will Work On

Lead Regulatory Compliance and Licensing 

• Provide people and operational leadership across Regulatory Compliance and Licensing Operations within Product Compliance.
• Set clear priorities, ownership, operating rhythms, and performance expectations across the functions.
• Develop team members and build the capabilities, judgment, and accountability needed for consistent regulatory execution.
• Partner with Product Compliance leadership on organizational design, resourcing, and the continued evolution of these functions.

Strengthen the Operating 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, business continuity planning, and sustainable knowledge management.
• Improve visibility into upcoming obligations, execution status, risks, and issues requiring leadership attention.
• Standardize and simplify workflows where doing so improves reliability, efficiency, and compliance outcomes.
• Develop meaningful operational measures that help assess execution, capacity, quality, and risk.

Drive Regulatory Execution and Readiness

• Ensure timely, accurate, and compliant execution of key obligations, including PEO and other applicable licensing, CPEO certification, ESAC accreditation, regulatory reporting, government filings, business registrations, regulatory examinations, and agency correspondence.
• Ensure regulatory obligations are appropriately documented, calendared, assigned, reviewed, and escalated.
• Oversee interactions with regulators, government agencies, auditors, and external partners as appropriate, and ensure follow-up actions are completed.
• Identify emerging regulatory and operational risks early and ensure appropriate mitigation and escalation.

Lead Regulatory Change

• Lead the function in monitoring and interpreting relevant regulatory developments and assessing their impact on Justworks’ products and operations.
• Ensure changes are communicated to the appropriate stakeholders and translated into clear operational, product, or control requirements.
• Partner with Payroll Compliance, Legal, Product, Engineering, Operations, and other stakeholders to support implementation of new or changing requirements.
• Establish clear processes for tracking regulatory change from identification through assessment, ownership, implementation, and closure.

Strengthen Controls and Remediation

• Partner with Product Compliance leadership, Internal Audit, Legal, Finance, Product, Security, and other stakeholders to strengthen controls and address identified risks within the functions.
• Support audit and examination readiness through clear documentation, evidence, ownership, and timely follow-up.
• Ensure remediation actions owned by the functions are appropriately prioritized, assigned, tracked, and sustained.
• Promote proactive risk identification and escalation rather than reliance on reactive issue management.

Partner Across the Business

• 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, risks, and implementation considerations.
• Work with cross-functional partners to ensure regulatory requirements are understood and translated into practical, sustainable business processes.

Build and Develop the Team

• Build an engaged, high-performing team with clear expectations, strong accountability, and a culture of collaboration.
• Coach and develop team members, strengthen bench depth, and create opportunities for growth.
• Assess capabilities and capacity, address performance or skill gaps, and inform hiring and resourcing decisions.
• Create sustainable coverage across critical responsibilities through thoughtful role design, cross-training, and succession planning.

How You Will Do Your Work

As Senior Manager, Regulatory Compliance and Licensing, how results are achieved is paramount for your success and ultimately results in our success as an organization. In this role, your foundational knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal attributes are anchored in the following:

• Strategic Leadership - Set direction for the functions you lead and translate Product Compliance priorities into clear operational plans.
• People Leadership - Build, coach, and develop teams while establishing clear expectations and accountability.
• Regulatory Judgment - Apply strong regulatory and compliance judgment, know when deeper subject matter expertise is required, and ensure risks are appropriately evaluated and escalated.
• Operational Excellence - Build reliable, scalable processes, controls, documentation, and operating rhythms that reduce operational risk.
• Systems Thinking - Understand how regulatory requirements, licensing, product development, legal interpretation, controls, and operations intersect.
• Risk Management - Identify regulatory, operational, and business continuity risks early and drive practical mitigation.
• Cross-Functional Influence - Build trusted partnerships and drive outcomes across teams without relying solely on direct authority.
• Executive Communication - Provide clear, concise updates on regulatory priorities, organizational health, risks, and decisions requiring leadership attention.

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

Required

• 10+ years of progressive experience in regulatory compliance, licensing, tax compliance or research, compliance operations, or a 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 the 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 a 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.

The base wage range for this position based in our New York City Office is targeted at $147,000.00 - $190,000.00 per year.

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