Director, Strategy and Corporate Development
Justworks
Who We Are
At Justworks, you’ll enjoy a welcoming and casual environment, great benefits, wellness program offerings, company retreats, and the ability to interact with and learn from leaders in the startup community. We work hard and care about our most prized asset - our people.
We’re helping businesses get off the ground by enabling them to focus on running their business. We solve HR issues. We’re data-driven and never stop iterating. If you’d like to work in a supportive, entrepreneurial environment, are interested in building something meaningful and having fun while doing it, we’d love to hear from you.
We're united by shared goals and shared motivations at Justworks. These are best summed up in our company values, which are reflected in our product and in our team.
If this sounds like you, you’ll fit right in.
Who You Are
You will play a critical role in shaping Justworks’ long-term strategy and growth trajectory as we continue to scale. Reporting into executive leadership and partnering closely across the organization, you will help define corporate priorities, evaluate growth and corporate development opportunities, and support both organic and inorganic growth initiatives.
As Director, Strategy & Corporate Development, you will help ensure that Justworks’ most important strategic decisions are informed by a deep understanding of customers, markets, and emerging trends. You will work hand-in-hand with Research & Insights to translate qualitative and quantitative findings into clear strategic choices and recommendations that drive executive decision-making. This role blends strategic thinking with hands-on problem solving. You will operate across multiple time horizons — from near-term decisions to long-term vision — while serving as a trusted advisor to executives and a people leader on a growing Strategy & Corporate Development team.
Your Success Profile
What You Will Work On
Team Leadership & Capability Building
- Lead, mentor, and develop a team of strategists (three direct reports on day one), fostering a culture of high performance, collaboration, and continuous learning
- Set team standards for strategic rigor, insight synthesis, and communication
- Evolve a strong operating model for Corporate Strategy, defining clear ways of working to ensure insights flow consistently into strategic decision-making
Strategic foresight and distilling priorities
- Help our team of strategists build their skills in and approach to strategic foresight and begin to fold it into how the Strategy & Corporate Development team operates
- Leverage qualitative and quantitative research, trend sensing, and insight synthesis to develop structured perspectives on long-term trends, uncertainties, and emerging risks and opportunities
- Act as a thought partner and trusted advisor to executive leadership during strategy formulation, decision-making, and execution
- Ensure the team balances near-term decisions with long-range thinking, helping Justworks anticipate change and make durable, forward-looking strategic decisions
Growth, market, and competitive strategy
- Lead work to proactively identify and evaluate new growth opportunities (M&A, investment, and partnership) that align with Justworks’ long-term vision, competitive advantages, and customer needs
- Lead market, customer, competitive, and macroeconomic analyses, in close partnership with Research & Insights, to ensure strategic recommendations are grounded in deep customer understanding, unmet needs, and real-world behaviors—not just surface-level metrics
- Partner withcross-functional leaders to conduct analyses and build business cases that shape commercial and go-to-market strategies to unlock growth and improve execution
- Translate research outputs (e.g., customer insights, segmentation, needs-based frameworks, opportunity sizing) into clear strategic choices, investment theses, and growth narratives for executive and board audiences
Corporate development & strategic partnerships
- Support and, where appropriate, lead inorganic growth initiatives, including mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships
- Conduct opportunity assessment, business case development, diligence support, and integration planning in collaboration with cross-functional stakeholders
Executive communication & alignment
- Clearly articulate strategic opportunities, principles, and recommendations (grounded in evidence and insight) to executives, senior leaders, and key stakeholders
- Drive organizational alignment through crisp storytelling, structured frameworks, and data-informed recommendations
- Support executive- and board-level discussions with rigorous analysis and clear strategic narratives
How You Will Do Your Work
Success in this role is defined not only by outcomes, but by how those outcomes are achieved. Your approach is grounded in the following capabilities:
- Strategic Mindset - Anticipates future trends and implications; connects disparate inputs into a coherent view of long-term value creation.
- Business Insight - Applies deep understanding of the business and market context to advance organizational goals.
- Plans & Aligns - Breaks complex objectives into actionable initiatives with clear milestones and accountability.
- Initiative & Ownership - Proactively identifies what needs to be done and drives work forward in ambiguous environments.
- Influence & Leadership - Builds trust, alignment, and momentum across diverse stakeholders through strong relationships and lateral leadership.
- Operational Excellence – Brings structure to ambiguous problems and ensures strategy work translates into clear, actionable plans.
In addition, all Justworkers focus on aligning their behaviors to our core values known as COGIS. It stands for:
- Camaraderie - Day to day you can be seen working together toward a higher purpose. You like to have fun. You’re an active listener, treat people respectfully, and have a strong desire to know and help others.
- Openness - Your default is to be open. You're willing to share information, understand other perspectives, and consider new possibilities. You’re curious, ask open questions, and are receptive to thoughts and feedback from others.
- Grit - You demonstrate grit by having the courage to commit and persevere. You’re committed, earnest, and dive in to get the job done well with a positive attitude.
- Integrity - Simply put, do what you say and say what you'll do. You’re honest and forthright, have a strong moral compass, and strive to match your words with your actions while leading by example.
- Simplicity - Be like Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
Qualifications
- 8–12 years of experience in corporate strategy, management consulting, investment banking, corporate development, or a related strategic role
- Prior experience working in venture capital or private equity is a strong plus
- Comfort operating in ambiguity and balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution
- Experience leading complex, cross-functional strategic initiatives in a high-growth or evolving environment
- Proven people leader with experience managing and developing high-performing teams.
- Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders through structured thinking and clear communication
- Familiarity with strategic foresight methodologies and a track record of applying future-oriented thinking to corporate strategy, planning, or growth initiatives.
- Strong analytical and financial modeling skills
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
- Comfort operating across multiple time horizons in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
This role is based in our New York City headquarters. The base wage range for this position will be $225,000 - 250,000 annually.
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Actual compensation is based on multiple factors that are unique to each candidate, including and not limited to skill set, level of relevant experience, and specific work location. Salary ranges for positions based in other locations may differ based on the cost of labor in that location.
For more information about Justworks’ Total Reward Philosophy, including all of the perks and benefits we are proud to offer our team members, please visit Total Rewards @ Justworks.
Diversity At Justworks
Justworks is committed to maintaining a workplace where diversity of identity, culture, and life experience is the norm and is celebrated authentically and respected consistently. Diversity in our work, our people, and our product drives creativity and innovation, entrepreneurial leadership and integrity, competitiveness, and collaboration throughout our business and in the market. We depend on our differences to make our team stronger, our workplace more dynamic, and our product accessible to all of our customers.
We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer open to all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or familial status, disability, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status. Justworks is fully dedicated to providing necessary support to candidates with disabilities who may require reasonable accommodations. We also provide reasonable accommodations to employees based on their sincerely held religious beliefs, as well as for other covered reasons consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. If you're in need of a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at accommodations@justworks.com. Your comfort and success matter to us, and we're here to ensure an inclusive experience.
