Senior Strategy and Operations Lead - US Tax Operations

About Rippling

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system.

Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can hire a new employee anywhere in the world and set up their payroll, corporate card, computer, benefits, and even third-party apps like Slack and Microsoft 365—all within 90 seconds.

Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from the world’s top investors—including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock—and was named one of America's best startup employers by Forbes.

We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @Rippling.com addresses.

About the role

US Tax Operations is responsible for resolving tax notices that clients receive from the IRS and state agencies, as well as managing the filings, payments, and amendments work that helps prevent those notices. The organization includes notice-resolution specialists, managers, and pillar leads across notices, filings, payments, and amendments.

As the organization has grown, the leadership team has outgrown its current operating structure. This newly created role will build and own the operating cadence, reporting, accountability mechanisms, and planning processes that help US Tax Operations operate effectively at scale.

Today, coordination, reporting, and follow-through often sit with pillar leads and managers who are also responsible for day-to-day execution. In this role, you will take ownership of those operating responsibilities so leaders can focus on running and scaling their teams.

You’ll establish reliable executive reporting, drive accountability for commitments, partner with pillar leads on capacity planning, and lead cross-functional initiatives that improve how the organization runs. This role requires someone who can bring structure to ambiguity, operate independently, and move work forward without needing deep tax or payroll subject-matter expertise.

Over time, this role is expected to help build a dedicated operations function for US Tax Operations, with a path to managing a small team as the function matures.

What you will do

• Own the operating cadence: Establish and maintain the planning, review, and follow-through processes that keep US Tax Operations leadership aligned on priorities, progress, and risks.
• Build executive-ready reporting: Develop and maintain clear reporting that gives leadership an accurate, current view of progress against annual operating plan goals, including risks, delays, and root causes.
• Drive accountability: Track action items, decisions, and commitments from recurring leadership forums, ensuring clear ownership and timely follow-through.
• Lead capacity planning: Partner with pillar leads to translate projected workload and growth into hiring plans, including planning for extended international hiring lead times.
• Solve ambiguous operating problems: Identify operational gaps, create structured solutions, and drive cross-functional initiatives through completion with minimal oversight.
• Build a scalable operating function: Help define and integrate new specialist roles, including a Systems Lead and Quality & Enablement Lead, and establish the management structure needed as the function grows.
• Measure success and operating discipline: Ensure initiatives are tracked accurately, commitments are completed, and risks are surfaced early with clear explanations and corrective actions.

What you will have

• Experience in management consulting, strategy and business operations, program management, or a similar role in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Demonstrated ability to take ambiguous problems or loosely defined mandates and turn them into structured plans, processes, and measurable outcomes.
• Strong project and program management skills, including the ability to coordinate multiple stakeholders, manage competing priorities, and drive initiatives through completion.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex or ambiguous priorities into clear plans, actionable updates, and executive-ready reporting.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to maintain accurate tracking of goals, commitments, decisions, and progress.
• Ability to operate independently with significant autonomy and influence stakeholders without formal authority.
• Sound judgment, a results-oriented mindset, and the ability to identify when work is off track, understand why, and drive corrective action.
• Experience building operating cadences, business reporting, accountability mechanisms, or planning processes for a growing organization.
• Experience with capacity planning, workforce planning, or translating workload forecasts into hiring plans.
• Experience partnering with senior leaders and cross-functional teams to drive operational improvements.
• Experience with Jira or a similar project and initiative-tracking system is a plus.
• People management experience, or a strong interest in developing as a people leader, is a plus.

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 [email protected]

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 +bonus + 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.