As the Core Payroll Platform Product Manager at Hourly, you will own the strategy,
architecture, and execution of the foundational systems that power payroll across our
platform.
This includes the end-to-end payroll engine—earnings calculations, deductions, tax
handling, payments infrastructure, and compliance workflows. You will be responsible for
building a scalable, reliable, and flexible payroll backbone that supports all current and
future products.
This role requires deep systems thinking, strong technical fluency, and a high bar for
accuracy and compliance, as you will be responsible for the most critical infrastructure in
the company.
What You’ll Do
Product Strategy & Platform Ownership
- Define and drive the roadmap for Hourly’s core payroll platform
- Build a flexible, extensible payroll architecture that supports multiple products, states, and use cases
- Identify opportunities to unify and standardize payroll flows across jurisdictions
- Own the long-term scalability, reliability, and performance of the payroll engine
Platform Development & Execution
- Tax calculation and filings, leveraging industry partners for tax compliance
- Payment orchestration (ACH, real-time payments, virtual accounts)
- Ledgering and reconciliation
- Partner with Engineering to design robust, fault-tolerant systems
- Ensure auditability, traceability, and financial accuracy across all payroll operations
- Collaborate with banking partners to implement payments at scale, including building and supporting new payment rails such as real-time payments (RTP)
Compliance & Infrastructure
- Work closely with Compliance, Legal, and Finance to ensure adherence to federal, state, and local regulations
- Design systems that abstract regulatory complexity while maintaining flexibility
- Support expansion into new states and jurisdictions
- Cross-Functional Leadership
- Serve as the central point of alignment between Engineering, Operations, Compliance, and GTM teams
- Partner with customer-facing teams to translate platform capabilities into customer value
- Support strategic initiatives such as embedded finance and banking integrations
Customer & Business Impact
- Improve payroll accuracy, reduce processing errors, and eliminate manual reconciliation
- Drive automation and operational efficiency across the platform
- Enable faster product launches by building reusable platform components
Requirements
Experience
- 10+ years of product management experience
- At least 5 years focused specifically on payroll products or payroll infrastructure
- Proven experience building and scaling complex, mission-critical financial or payroll systems
- Experience working with banking partners, payments infrastructure, or embedded finance (strongly preferred)
Skills
- Strong technical acumen—you can work closely with engineers on system design and tradeoffs
- Deep analytical thinking with a focus on correctness and edge cases
- Ability to manage complex, interdependent systems
- Excellent communication and stakeholder alignment skills
Mindset
- Extreme ownership—you operate as the owner of the core system
- Precision-driven with a strong bias toward accuracy and reliability
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity while building long-term foundations
- Customer-focused, with an appreciation for both end-user and internal platform needs
Benefits
- Health & Wellness: Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance.
- Future Planning: 401(k) retirement plan.
- Flexibility: Unlimited Time Off (PTO) and 100% remote work environment.
What We Do
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Hourly.io is an insurtech startup offering workers’ comp insurance and full-service payroll for small and medium businesses with hourly workers. Powered by real-time data, Hourly’s platform ensures running payroll is as quick as pressing a button and that you get accurate workers’ comp premiums down to the penny.
Why Work With Us
We’re a special bunch. We’re all fully remote, which makes us highly collaborative, understanding and resourceful. We share a mission to make the world a better place with a service that makes it easier for business owners to pay, insure and manage their Hourly workers.
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