Strategy Operations Manager
Justworks · New York City · $109,000–$136,000 (stated in the posting)
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.
If this sounds like you, you’ll fit right in.
Who You Are
Reporting into the Senior Manager, Strategy Operations, you'll balance strategic thinking, program execution, and analytical rigor in equal measure. You'll own the execution and delivery of strategic initiatives—refining and maintaining the operating system, designing the operating rhythms and decision mechanisms that allow Operations to scale from foundational work into systems at scale.
You're energized by environments where parts of the organization are still stabilizing, others are being brought together under shared standards, and new operating capabilities must be built from scratch. You bring strong operational judgment and the ability to translate strategic direction into results. You're equally comfortable building a 90-day roadmap, driving a cross-functional initiative to completion, or diving into metrics to understand what's working and what's not.
In this role, success looks like building the systems and operating infrastructure that allow Operations to scale as a cohesive, well-run division by raising the bar on how our people work and supporting the identification and execution of our highest-leverage opportunities.
Your Success Profile
What You Will Work On
- Partner with Operations Leadership to identify the highest-impact opportunities to improve how Operations operates, with a focus on reducing customer and operational effort at scale.
- Run the operating system, including planning rhythms, execution cadences, reporting, and accountability mechanisms.
- Build and maintain AI-powered workflows that reduce the administrative layer of running the operating system, enabling the team to focus on higher-value work.
- Lead and drive operations programs and initiatives from definition through execution, while effectively partnering with Technology, Finance & Accounting, and Customer Success teams to coordinate dependencies, align on requirements, and resolve execution bottlenecks.
- Leverage data to identify trends and translate insights into actionable recommendations that inform strategy and decision-making across the function.
- Create visibility and accountability through reporting, dashboards, and progress tracking that keep stakeholders aligned on what's working and what needs adjustment.
- Perform other related duties as assigned. Be ready to own high-priority initiatives and workstreams that emerge as Operations’ priorities shift.
How You Will Do Your Work
Success in this role is defined not only by what you deliver, but how you deliver it. Your foundational knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal attributes are anchored in the following:
- Systems Thinking: You see how the parts connect and are motivated to simplify complex operational and execution challenges. You understand trade-offs and design solutions that work across silos.
- Strategic Mindset: You anticipates future trends and implications accurately; articulates credible pictures and visions of possibilities that will create sustainable value.
- Execution Focus: You move with urgency and clarity. You drive initiatives to completion, make measurable progress every week, and adapt when plans change. You're comfortable saying "here's what done looks like" and holding the line.
- Ownership & Accountability: You take full responsibility for your work. You identify and remove blockers, escalate when needed, and don't wait for permission to improve things.
- Influence Without Authority: You build trust with peers and leaders across the organization. You coordinate complex efforts through relationship and clarity, not formal power.
- Adaptability: You stay steady in a changing environment. You learn quickly, find where you can add most value, and shift focus when priorities change. You're equally comfortable facilitating a meeting or diving into Jira to untangle a workflow.
- Communication & Visibility: You make complex work understandable. You communicate progress, blockers, and decisions clearly to audiences from ICs to executives. You ensure the organization sees how things fit together.
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
- 5+ years of experience in program management, consulting or strategy roles
- Minimum 1+ Years with Justworks highly preferred
- Prior experience working within Operations or operationally complex domains strongly preferred
- Record of exceptional performance and demonstrated excellence in on cross-functional projects
- Experience building and/or scaling existing systems
- Demonstrated ability to own projects end-to-end and drive them to completion
- Strong organizational skills; able to juggle multiple priorities and projects simultaneously
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; you explain complex ideas clearly and are comfortable facilitating groups and representing work to leadership
- Demonstrated ability to influence and coordinate across silos without direct authority
- Passionate about solving complex problems. Will rely on business acumen, strategic mindset, systems thinking, and underlying data to help steer conversations and decision-making
- Experience building with AI tooling
- Ability to work in a hybrid environment with regular in-office presence (3 days/week)
The base wage range for this position based in our New York City Office is targeted at $109,000.00 - $136,000.00 per year.
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 accommodations@justworks.com. Your comfort and success matter to us, and we're here to ensure an inclusive experience.