Competitive Intelligence Manager

Paylocity is an award-winning provider of cloud-based HR and payroll software solutions, offering the most complete platform for the modern workforce. The company has become one of the fastest-growing HCM software providers worldwide by offering an intuitive, easy-to-use product suite that helps businesses automate and streamline HR and payroll processes, attract and retain talent, and build a strong workplace culture.

While traditional HR and payroll providers automate basic HR processes such as payroll and benefits administration, Paylocity goes further by developing tools that HR and businesses need to compete for talent and deliver against the expectations of the modern workforce.

We give our employees what they need to succeed, including great benefits and perks! We offer medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and a 401(k) match, as well as perks that support you, your family, and your finances. And if it’s career development you desire, we provide that, too! At Paylocity, people matter most and have always been at the heart of our business.

As part of the Sales & Marketing team, you’ll help us solve challenges and succeed as you grow and understand the unique needs of our clients and tailor easy-to-use solutions to deliver the performance they need.

With a position in Sales & Marketing, you’ll strengthen our relationships with clients, anticipate their needs, and think outside the box to unlock new possibilities.

This role follows a hybrid schedule, requiring 2-3 days in the office at our Schaumburg, IL location and 2-3 days remote per week. The in-office days are subject to business needs. Candidates must be able to commute to the office as required. The work arrangement for this role is subject to change based on business needs and individual performance. This may include adjustments to on-site requirements or schedule expectations, as necessary.

Position Overview

The Competitive Intelligence Manager is responsible for leading Paylocity's competitive intelligence strategy and serving as the strategic owner of the Enterprise and Large Enterprise customer reference program. This role develops and delivers actionable market, competitive, and customer insights that inform product strategy, pricing, sales execution, and go-to-market decisions while helping accelerate revenue growth.

As the owner of the enterprise and large enterprise reference program, this individual will identify, cultivate, and manage a portfolio of strategic customer advocates who support high-value sales opportunities, reference calls, analyst engagements, case studies, customer reviews, speaking opportunities, advisory programs, and other advocacy initiatives. Through these relationships, the role will capture valuable voice-of-customer insights and market intelligence that strengthen Paylocity's competitive positioning and business strategy.

This role serves as the organization's subject matter expert on market dynamics, competitive trends, customer advocacy, and buyer insights. The individual will work closely with Sales, Service, Marketing, Product, and Executive Leadership to transform competitive and customer intelligence into actionable recommendations that drive business growth. While partnering closely with the Customer Marketing Specialist to support enterprise-wide advocacy initiatives, this position maintains ownership of strategic Enterprise and Large Enterprise customer relationships and reference fulfillment activities.

Primary Responsibilities

The below represents the primary duties of the position; others may be assigned as needed. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Knowledge & Application

• Serve as the organization's subject matter expert on competitive intelligence, market trends, customer insights, and competitor strategies.

• Monitor and analyze competitive positioning, product offerings, pricing strategies, go-to-market motions, and market developments.

• Leverage customer reference interviews, advocacy activities, and win/loss insights to uncover competitive trends and inform business strategy.

• Maintain competitive intelligence tools, resources, and repositories to ensure key insights are accessible and actionable.

• Support customer reference platform to ensure enterprise and large enterprise references are tracked and leveraged in the proper way.

Sales & GTM Enablement

• Proactively develop and maintain competitive battlecards, objection-handling guides, talk tracks, and competitive narratives tailored for verticals (e.g., healthcare, retail, manufacturing) and buyer roles (HR, Payroll, CFO, CIO).

• Deliver actionable training and deal support for Sales, Solution Consulting, and marketing teams

• Proactively providing intelligence and strategic recommendations to Sales, Solution Consulting, Marketing, Product, and leadership teams.

• Own and execute the Enterprise and Large Enterprise customer reference program, building and maintaining a network of strategic customer advocates in alignment with broader reference program support.

• Manage enterprise reference fulfillment and customer advocacy activities, including reference calls, case studies, reviews, testimonials, analyst engagements, and speaking opportunities.

• Support enterprise and large enterprise sales opportunities by connecting prospects with relevant customer advocates and proof points.

• Partner with Revenue Operations as needed to support enablement.

Complexity & Problem Solving

• Lead win/loss analysis efforts to identify competitive trends, buying behaviors, market opportunities, and areas for improvement

• Translate complex market, competitive, and customer information into clear, actionable business recommendations and Paylocity POVs.

• Identify emerging competitive threats and opportunities and provide strategic guidance on potential business impacts.

• Develop scalable processes to grow and optimize competitive intelligence and customer reference programs.

Discretion & Impact

• Own and evolves the entire competitive intelligence ecosystem to help market positioning, and go-to-market planning through data-driven insights and recommendations

• Provide strategic support to high-value sales opportunities through competitive intelligence and customer reference support.

• Handle sensitive competitive and customer information with professionalism, discretion, and sound judgment.

• Measure and report on the impact of competitive intelligence and customer advocacy programs, including utilization, engagement, and business influence.

• Build systems (Crayon, Win/Loss, Customer Reference platform, feedback loops, reference/advocacy appreciation) with long-term organizational impact.

Collaboration & Interaction

• Collaborate with leaders across Sales, Marketing, Product/Product Marketing, Pricing, Operations/Service, and Corp Dev.

• Collaborate with Customer Marketing and Product Marketing to develop compelling customer success stories and advocacy assets.

• Serve as a central hub for CI alignment across levels and functions.

• Manage and communicate complex competitive narratives clearly across audiences.

• Identify and cultivate customer advocates who can support sales, marketing, analyst relations, and corporate initiatives across enterprise and large enterprise space.

• Build strong cross-functional relationships to promote adoption of competitive insights and customer advocacy programs across the organization.

Management & Supervision

• Lead and manage competitive intelligence and enterprise advocacy initiatives, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and priorities.

• Establish and maintain processes, governance, and best practices for intelligence gathering, advocacy engagement, and reference utilization.

• Operate as a leader to prioritize program activities and stakeholder requests to maximize business impact and resource effectiveness.

• May mentor, guide, or influence cross-functional teams and stakeholders without direct people-management responsibility.

Education and Experience

Requirements:

• 5–8+ years in competitive intelligence, product marketing, reference management, strategy, or sales enablement within HCM/HR tech or adjacent enterprise SaaS.

• Demonstrated experience building battlecards, win/loss programs, pricing benchmarks, fulfilling references and CI repositories.

• Strong quantitative analysis (Excel/Sheets; familiarity with BI tools like Tableau/Power BI) and qualitative synthesis skills.

• Excellent storytelling and executive communication; comfortable presenting to senior leadership.

• Familiarity with HCM domains (HR, payroll, time & attendance, benefits, talent, compliance) and key buyer pain points.

• Experience partnering cross-functionally with Sales, Product, Marketing, Finance, Legal.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to sit for extended periods: The role requires sitting at a desk or workstation for long periods, typically 7-8 hours a day.

• Use of computer and phone systems: The employee must be able to operate a computer, use phone systems, and type. This includes using multiple software programs and inquiries simultaneously.

Preferred:

• Experience with CI platforms (e.g., Crayon, Clozd, etc.) and RevOps/CRM (Salesforce, Highspot), and customer advocacy/reference tools (SlapFive, G2, etc.)

• Knowledge of global payroll, compliance regimes, and multi-country HCM deployment considerations.

Paylocity is an equal-opportunity employer. Paylocity is committed to the full inclusion of all individuals. We recruit, train, compensate, and promote regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law. At Paylocity, we believe diversity makes us better.

We embrace and encourage our employees’ differences in age, culture, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion or spiritual belief, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our employees unique. We actively cultivate these differences through our employee resource groups (ERGs), employee experiences, perspectives, talents, and approaches to drive innovation in the software and services we provide our customers.

We comply with federal and state disability laws and make reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. To request reasonable accommodation in the job application or interview process, please contact View email address on click.appcast.io. This email address is exclusively designated for such requests, aligning with federal and state disability laws. Please do not send resumes to this email address, as they will be removed.

The base pay range for this position is $97,000 - $138,000/yr; however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. This position is eligible for an annual bonus and restricted stock unit grant based on individual performance in addition to a full range of benefits outlined here. ( This information is provided per the relevant state and local pay transparency laws for the location in which this position will be performed. Base pay information is based on market location. Applicants should apply via