Core Payroll Platform Product Manager

Hourly, Inc.•San Francisco, CA

2d•Remote

About The Position

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.

Requirements

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
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
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

Nice To Haves

Experience working with banking partners, payments infrastructure, or embedded finance (strongly preferred)

Responsibilities

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
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)
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
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
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