Director, Payments and Fraud Operations
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.
If this sounds like you, you’ll fit right in.
Who You Are
You're an experienced operations leader with a proven ability to scale payments and fraud functions in high-growth, regulated environments. You combine deep subject matter expertise with strong business acumen, balancing risk management with operational speed and customer experience. You lead with rigor and judgment, stay relentlessly focused on the customer, and build high-performing teams and systems that scale with the business.
Your Success Profile
As the Director of Payments and Fraud Operations, you will lead two critical teams accountable for the accurate and timely movement of customer funds and the protection of Justworks from financial and fraud-related risk. You will set the strategic direction for both functions, ensuring customer funds move reliably at scale and that Justworks remains fully compliant with AML industry standards. You will elevate Payments and Fraud Operations as strategic functions that enable revenue growth, strengthen customer trust, and support faster payment products without increasing financial exposure.
What You Will Work On
Lead and Develop the Payments and Fraud Operations Teams
- Build, develop, and retain a high-performing team, setting a high bar for excellence and creating an environment where people take ownership and do their best work.
- Coach leaders and ICs to strengthen subject matter expertise and elevate the team's capacity for higher-value analysis and cross-functional partnership.
- Set a clear vision and priorities, aligning the team around shared goals and fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
Drive Operational Excellence in Payments
- Own the end-to-end payments lifecycle across Justworks' product lines, ensuring customer payrolls are processed accurately and on time to protect customer trust, revenue recognition, and company cash flow.
- Strengthen risk management through improved visibility, proactive customer engagement, and continuous refinement of controls.
- Enable faster payment methods and expanded payroll timelines while maintaining a strong risk posture.
- Drive a culture of data-driven decision-making within the team, using operational insights to identify inefficiencies, prioritize improvements, and measure outcomes.
Protect Justworks Through Fraud and AML Operations
- Maintain full compliance with AML industry standards and fortify protection from fraudulent activity across all business lines.
- Oversee onboarding and ongoing screening processes, including fraud review, AML checks, and lifecycle monitoring.
- Stay ahead of the evolving fraud and financial crime landscape, ensuring Justworks' approach, controls, and capabilities continuously adapt to emerging risks.
Advance Automation, Tooling, and AI Investments
- Partner with Product and Engineering to prioritize tooling investments and leverage AI/automation to reduce manual effort, expand throughput, and strengthen controls.
Lead Through Influence and Vision
- Serve as the senior voice on payments operations and fraud risk in executive decision-making, translating operational realities into clear business impact and forward-looking strategy.
- Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Accounting, Treasury, Customer Success, and Customer Support to align on priorities and delivery.
- Partner with Operations leadership to define priorities for the broader Operations Division that directly align and support Justworks’ broader business strategy.
How You Will Do Your Work
As Director of Payments and Fraud Operations, how results are achieved is as important as what you achieve. You'll demonstrate:
- Strategic Vision and Planning- Set a long-term vision for Payments and Fraud Operations that aligns with Justworks' growth and anticipates future volume, product, and risk needs.
- Decisive, Data-Driven Leadership- Use analytics and operational insights to prioritize risk, design efficient controls, and measure outcomes.
- Change Management and Transformation- Lead the shift from manual, reactive operations to scalable, preventative models embedded in product, automation, and systems.
- Cross-Functional Influence- Build trust and alignment with senior leaders across Product, Engineering, Finance, and Customer-facing teams to execute complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives.
- Inclusive, Growth-Oriented Leadership- Foster psychological safety, encourage diverse perspectives, and develop emerging leaders across your teams.
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
- 10+ years of progressive experience in payments operations, fraud operations, or related financial operations functions, with at least 5 years leading teams.
- Demonstrated success scaling operational functions in high-growth, regulated environments.
- Strong knowledge of payment rails, reconciliation, and financial risk management practices.
- Strong understanding of AML compliance, fraud prevention, and customer due diligence frameworks.
- Track record of applying AI, automation, and influencing partners in Product & Engineering to scale operations and strengthen controls.
- Proven ability to lead organizational change and influence senior executives across complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives.
#LI-SD1 #LI-Hybrid
This role is based in our New York City headquarters. The base wage range for this position will be $212,000 - $274,000 annually.
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 [email protected]. Your comfort and success matter to us, and we're here to ensure an inclusive experience.