Product Analyst - Payroll

DescriptionWe are looking for a Product Analyst who is passionate about solving complex problems and building products that delight customers.This role sits at the intersection of Product, Customer Success, and Engineering. You will own the evolution of our payroll solution for K-12 school districts by understanding customer needs, finding product opportunities, defining new capabilities, and guiding engineering teams through successful delivery.Unlike an implementation or project management role, the Product Analyst owns what gets built and why. You will keep the payroll product evolving to meet changing regulatory and customer needs, and help Customer Success use existing capabilities to solve client problems.This position requires strong product thinking, deep payroll domain knowledge, excellent communication skills, technical curiosity, and the ability to balance customer requests with long-term product strategy.ResponsibilitiesProduct Strategy & DiscoveryUnderstand customer payroll processes, such as pay cycles, contract and supplemental pay, deductions, benefits, leave accruals and year-end processing, and the operational problems customers run into.Take part in Joint Application Design (JAD) sessions when payroll product expertise is needed.Analyze customer pain points and find opportunities to improve payroll accuracy, efficiency and compliance.Recommend solutions that use existing platform capabilities whenever possible.Find feature gaps and define new product enhancements.Monitor changes to federal and state payroll regulations, tax requirements and retirement system reporting, and turn them into product requirements.Balance customer-specific requests with long-term product strategy.Partner with Product Leadership to prioritize roadmap initiatives.Product DefinitionCreate and manage Jira stories and epics for the payroll product.Write clear functional requirements and acceptance criteria, including payroll calculations, business rules and edge cases.Define workflows, user experiences and business rules across payroll and related HR and finance modules.Collaborate with UX and Engineering on solution design.Review Business Requirement Documents (BRDs) and proposed workflows.Make sure solutions fit the platform architecture, integrate cleanly with the broader ERP (general ledger, HR, position control, benefits), and scale over the long term.Cross-Functional CollaborationPartner closely with Customer Success throughout client implementations and payroll conversions.Advise on payroll capabilities and best practices.Support workflow discussions and solution design.Work closely with Engineering during development and implementation.Clarify requirements and answer functional payroll questions throughout the development lifecycle.Take part in sprint planning, backlog refinement and feature reviews.Feature DeliveryOwn payroll features from concept through release.Validate completed features before release, including payroll calculation accuracy and regulatory compliance.Perform functional testing alongside Engineering and QA, including parallel payroll scenarios.Make sure delivered functionality meets customer, business and compliance requirements.Communicate feature readiness, timelines and release updates to Customer Success, with attention to year-end and regulatory deadlines.Customer PartnershipAct as the payroll subject matter expert in strategic customer discussions.Help evaluate implementation approaches.Turn customer feedback into actionable product improvements.Support complex client implementations that need payroll product expertise.Continuous Product ImprovementMonitor customer feedback, support trends and adoption.Find opportunities to improve usability, workflows and automation in payroll processing.Recommend enhancements that increase scalability and reduce implementation and support effort.Contribute to the long-term product vision and roadmap.QualificationsRequired4+ years of Product Management or Product Owner experience within enterprise software, SaaS preferred.3+ years of hands-on payroll experience, either as a payroll practitioner or working on payroll software.Strong working knowledge of U.S. payroll, including federal and state tax withholding, garnishments, deductions, benefits, and year-end processing (W-2, 941).Experience gathering business requirements and turning them into product features.Experience writing user stories, epics and acceptance criteria.Strong understanding of Agile methods.Experience working with Engineering teams throughout the software development lifecycle.Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with close attention to detail.Strong written and verbal communication skills.Ability to manage multiple initiatives at the same time.Experience using Jira and Confluence.PreferredExperience with ERP systems, especially payroll within an integrated HR and finance suite.Experience with K-12 or public sector payroll, such as contract pay spread over 10 or 12 months, substitute and supplemental pay, and state teacher retirement system reporting.Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC).Experience supporting customer implementations or payroll conversions.Basic understanding of APIs, integrations and data mapping.Familiarity with ACA reporting and time and attendance integrations.Familiarity with Section 508 compliance.Success in this RoleUnderstand customer problems before proposing solutions.Make full use of existing platform capabilities before asking for new development.Give Engineering clear, actionable product requirements.Protect payroll accuracy and compliance in everything that ships.Help Customer Success implement solutions efficiently.Keep improving the product based on customer feedback, regulatory changes and market needs.Balance short-term customer needs with long-term product strategy.Build strong partnerships across Product, Customer Success and Engineering.Working ModelBased in Lakewood, CO or Plano, TX, or remote within the U.S.Works regularly with Product, Engineering and Customer Success teams.Joins customer meetings as needed, with occasional travel to customer sites or Tyler offices.