Associate, Payroll Implementations

Associate, Payroll Implementations

Vestwell is the financial technology company powering the new savings economy. Our platform redefines how people save for the critical aspects of life across retirement, education, and healthcare savings needs. Today, Vestwell enables over 350,000 businesses and over 2M active savers, with over $50B in assets saved across all 50 states. Vestwell's platform serves a diverse clientele, including financial advisers, employers, third-party administrators, financial institutions, payroll providers, government agencies, and individual savers.

Who Are We Looking For?

Vestwell is expanding and we're excited about growing our Operations team with entry-level Payroll Implementation Associates who are passionate about our mission to change the retirement Fin-Tech space. At a high level, we're looking for someone who has insane levels of attention to detail and proven ability of juggling multiple priorities at once. You will be the key to payroll implementations automation & ensuring the initial experience with contribution processing is flawless while exercising independent judgment in configuring, testing, and resolving complex, client-specific payroll integration scenarios that materially affect data accuracy and client onboarding success.

We're a startup so a self-starter mentality comes first and foremost. You are someone who will dive into whatever challenge is placed in front of you, and find creative ways to solve problems by evaluating multiple implementation approaches and determining appropriate resolution paths within established operational, technical, and regulatory frameworks.

What Will You Be Doing?

A key component of Vestwell's mission to empower retirement savings includes effortless plan onboarding and ongoing plan administration. As a Payroll Implementation Associate, you will support Vestwell clients, through coordination with their payroll systems, to ensure their payroll implementation is frictionless requiring discretion in how implementation standards are applied to varied payroll systems, client configurations, and fact-specific onboarding scenarios. This will include direct client engagement, configuring integrations for a high volume of clients simultaneously, and liaising with internal teams to test and ensure the integration is functioning as intended including assessing readiness, identifying risk, and determining when issues require escalation or alternative solutions.

This role regularly exercises independent judgment on matters of significance related to payroll implementations, integration accuracy, client onboarding outcomes, and data integrity. While operating within established technical, operational, and regulatory frameworks, the Payroll Implementation Associate independently analyzes client-specific payroll configurations, evaluates multiple implementation approaches, identifies and resolves complex integration issues, and determines appropriate remediation and escalation paths based on risk, urgency, and business impact. The role requires discretion in how implementation standards are applied to varied payroll systems, how work is prioritized and sequenced, and how issues are communicated and driven to resolution with internal teams, external payroll partners, and clients. Although decisions and recommendations may be subject to review and do not include unilateral policy-setting authority, the consistent and recurring exercise of judgment is a central function of the role and directly supports Vestwell's client experience, operational continuity, and compliance outcomes.

Day-to-Day You May Also Be Expected To:

• You're flexible, creative, team-oriented, results-driven, and can effectively collaborate with both internal and external stakeholders while exercising independent judgment on implementation priorities, sequencing, and issue resolution.
• Analyze existing integration implementation tasks across both payroll systems and Vestwell products to be the subject matter expert for payroll integration requiring independent analysis of system behavior, client configurations, and potential downstream impact.
• Collaborate with teams across the Vestwell organization to provide feedback on platform enhancements and procedural efficiencies informed by firsthand investigative work and recurring implementation challenges.
• Develop both internal & client-facing knowledge bases; look for ways to continuously improve existing processes by identifying gaps, evaluating alternative approaches, and recommending improvements through appropriate channels.
• Maximize team efficiency through timely completion of tasks and projects, in addition to rapidly identifying, sorting, and assigning incoming work across platforms using discretion to assess urgency, complexity, and client impact rather than relying solely on predefined workflows.
• Manage the migration and deactivation of existing client integrations within Vestwell's systems, ensuring a smooth transition through proactive communication and attention to detail including judgment in sequencing activities, mitigating risk, and coordinating stakeholders.
• Onboarding and supporting new payroll integration partners, ensuring clear communication, effective collaboration, and strong relationship building to drive long-term success while independently determining readiness, implementation approach, and issue resolution strategies.

Requirements

• Experience working in a project management/implementation/operational role involving discretion in managing complex, multi-variable workstreams.
• Excellent project management skills including independent prioritization and sequencing of tasks.
• Ability to manage multiple work streams and competing priorities while determining urgency and impact.
• Ability to work independently and with a team exercising judgment with minimal supervision.
• Effective communication with many different stakeholders including determining when and how to escalate issues based on assessed risk and impact.
• A tight operator who can see the big picture and evaluate downstream operational and client implications.
• Excellent client service capabilities informed by judgment in balancing client needs with operational constraints.
• Strong written/oral communication and organizational skills to document findings, explain recommendations, and drive resolutions.
• 1+ year relevant experience in Financial Services, Operations, or SaaS industries.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of formal education and/or work experience with tools such as Excel used to analyze implementation data and support decision-making.
• Experience with work management platforms (i.e. Asana, Slack, Zendesk, Jira and/or Salesforce).

The Extras

• Payroll system experience.
• Retirement industry experience including exposure to regulated operational environments or ERISA-adjacent processes.

This role will be based in either the New York City, Austin, King of Prussia, or Scottsdale office, and will be part of Vestwell's hybrid in-office operation.

The expected base salary range for this position is $60K - $72K base. This position is eligible to participate in the Company Bonus Pool and is eligible to receive new hire equity in the Company. Please note that salary bands are based on NY and other similar metro areas and may differ based on where the role is ultimately hired.

Our Benefits

We're an innovative, high-growth company with an exciting future ahead. At Vestwell, we prioritize employee wellbeing through comprehensive health benefits, generous time off, and a dedicated Employee Wellbeing Committee. Our hybrid work model offers flexibility while providing access to our collaborative offices in Midtown Manhattan, Austin, King of Prussia, and Scottsdale. And, of course, as a company focused on helping people save for the future, we offer a competitive 401(k) plan.

Our Process

Our interview process starts the same for every candidate with 1-2 introductory conversations to learn more about your background, interests, and what you're looking for, while also giving you the opportunity to learn more about Vestwell and the team. From there, the process varies by role but typically includes a skills or experience-based assessment, such as a coding interview, portfolio review, or deeper discussion of your relevant experience. Successful candidates then move on to a virtual or in-person interview panel. Before extending an offer, we complete a reference check with a current or former manager and a peer. Throughout the process, we prioritize transparency, clear communication, and minimizing surprises.