Strategic Operations Lead

About the role

Rippling’s Global Payroll Operations team manages payroll processing and services across 80+ countries around the world. As Rippling continues expanding globally, the team needs a strategic operator who can turn operational complexity into clear priorities, repeatable systems, and measurable execution.

We are looking for a Strategic Operations Lead to operate in a chief-of-staff style role, reporting directly to the Director of the team. This person will play a jack-of-all-trades role to improve the way the team operates as it doubles in size and triples in operational complexity. This person will help translate team priorities into operating rhythms, drive major cross-functional initiatives, improve the way the team tracks performance and risk, and ensure the right stakeholders are aligned across Product, Engineering, CX, Implementation, and Legal. 

This is an exciting opportunity that offers exposure to global product operations and immediate impact on the product and customer experience. 

What you will do

• Lead high-priority operational programs across global payroll product lines – identifying systemic gaps, standardizing workflows, and building durable playbooks, automation, and AI-driven tooling to support rapid global expansion
• Drive global operating cadences, executive reviews (WBRs/MBRs), and accountability frameworks. Translate ambiguous strategic priorities into structured workstreams with clear ownership, milestones, and ROI. Ensure operational consistency between various global sub-teams.
• Serve as the senior point of escalation for high-friction customer issues, driving end-to-end resolution and leading root-cause analyses (RCAs) with Product, Engineering, and Ops to eliminate systemic gaps and prevent issue recurrence.
• Serve as the key operational link across Ops, Product, Engineering, CX, and external 3P partners—ensuring product gaps and operational risks are clearly documented, stakeholder communication is crisp, and business decisions are made with clear trade-off frameworks.
• Partner with operations leadership to drive team administration. Do what it takes to help scale the team while improving the team’s operating rhythm and employee experience. This may include managing global headcount planning, resource allocation, operating budgets, offsites, content for team-wide All-Hands meetings, training programs, and more.
• This role will partner closely with teams across EMEA, APAC, and LATAM. To support collaboration across time zones, the person in this role should be comfortable occasionally flexing their schedule for early-morning or evening meetings.

What you will need

• 5+ Years of High-Impact Experience: BizOps, Strategy & Ops, or Program Management at a fast-growing startup—or the strategic rigor of top-tier consulting / banking with a desire to roll up your sleeves and own real operational execution. You do not need a background in HR or global payroll.
• Hands-On Operator Mindset: High grit and bias for action; eager to dive into messy processes, diagnose root causes, and build practical solutions.
• AI Niftiness & Tech Fluency: Tech-forward mindset with a habit of leveraging AI tools and automation to solve bottlenecks and scale personal leverage.
• High Adaptability & Elastic Thinking: Thrives in fast-moving, ambiguous environments where priorities shift constantly and no two days look the same.
• Structured Execution: Track record of driving complex, cross-functional projects to completion without adding unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Analytical & Data-Driven: Comfortable analyzing dashboards and operational metrics to distinguish critical risk from noise and make sound judgments.
• Exceptional Communication: Crisp written and verbal skills to synthesize dense topics for executive decision-making and frontline guidance. Strong collaborative muscle and ability to work with diverse stakeholders

Additional Information

Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics, Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email accommodations@rippling.com

Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.

This role will receive a competitive salary + benefits. The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here.

A variety of factors are considered when determining someone’s compensation–including a candidate’s professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed below.