Zellis

About the role

Role Overview
We are seeking a Strategy Director to shape and drive the growth agenda of the Zellis Operating Company. Zellis is moving from a payroll-led software business to an AI-enabled workforce technology platform, and this role identifies, evaluates and delivers the growth opportunities that make that move real: organic growth, strategic partnerships, new revenue streams, market expansion and business transformation.

Reporting to the Chief Product Officer, you will work across Product, Technology, Commercial, Customer Success and Managed Services, supporting the wider growth objectives of the CEO and Executive Team.

Skills & experience

Key Responsibilities

Growth Strategy

• Develop and evolve the OpCo growth strategy into a clear three-to-five-year plan aligned to the long-term business plan, and keep it live as the market moves.
• Identify and prioritise growth opportunities across products, services, partnerships, markets and business models, assessed on value-creation potential.
• Develop strategic recommendations for the Chief Product Officer, Executive Team and Board.

Strategic Projects

• Lead the most important cross-functional strategic initiatives in the business, from concept through execution to benefits realisation.
• Define future operating models and growth plans for existing and emerging business units, challenging conventional thinking with evidence.

Market & Competitive Intelligence

• Maintain a deep understanding of market trends, customer needs, competitor activity and technology disruption — Workday, Oracle, SAP, ADP, Access, UKG and the emerging AI-first entrants — and turn it into actionable insight.
• Identify strategic risks and opportunities arising from changes in technology, regulation and customer buying behaviour.

New Revenue & Partnerships

• Build the business cases for new revenue streams and adjacent markets: payments, data monetisation, AI services, managed services and international growth.
• Identify, evaluate and establish strategic partnerships that extend market reach, proposition strength and revenue, building executive-level relationships with technology, channel and advisory partners.
• Support commercial teams on enterprise growth opportunities and strategic account development.

M&A & Strategic Investments

• Support the evaluation of acquisitions and strategic investments: market assessments, strategic diligence, value-creation analysis and investment theses for Board-level recommendation.
• Support integration planning so strategic and commercial benefits are realised.

Executive Support

• Act as a trusted adviser to the Chief Product Officer and Executive Team, preparing strategic recommendations, board papers and investor materials.
• Run the annual strategy review and long-range planning cadence, bringing external perspective into the organisation.

Why Join Zellis

• Shape the growth agenda of one of the UK’s leading HR, payroll and workforce technology businesses.
• Work with the CPO, CEO and Executive Team on decisions that affect customers, colleagues and shareholders.
• The transformation to an AI-enabled workforce technology platform is funded and underway.

What Type of Leader We're Looking For

You are commercially minded and analytically strong, credible with senior executives and investors, and comfortable operating in ambiguity and creating clarity from it. You have a bias for action: you move between strategic thinking and operational delivery, and you measure your work by the outcomes it delivers rather than the papers it produces.

What You Bring

Essential

• Experience in a leading strategy consultancy (e.g. Big 4 Strategy, Strategy&, EY-Parthenon, Accenture Strategy, LEK, Oliver Wyman, Kearney) and/or a FTSE100 corporate strategy team.
• A track record of leading growth and transformation programmes with measurable business outcomes.
• Experience developing and implementing corporate strategy in a technology, SaaS, software or business-services environment.
• Proven ability to influence C-suite and Board stakeholders.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including business-case development and investment analysis.

Desirable

• SaaS, HR technology or fintech sector experience.
• M&A, strategic partnerships or corporate development experience.
• Experience in private-equity-backed businesses.
• Familiarity with AI-driven business models.

Benefits & culture

At Zellis we create market-leading HR & Payroll products and services, to power exceptional employee experiences so that you and your people do better. Our multi-award-winning products pay over five million employees a year, with almost half (42%) of the FTSE 100, 50% of the top retailers and 30% of the top universities in the UK & Ireland as customers, making us the largest provider of Payroll and HR software and managed services.

Our vision is to be the clear leader in pay, reward, analytics, and people experiences. We're passionate about creating an environment where people want to join, belong to, and be part of a progressive organisation. Our values, which were defined with input from all of our 2,000 colleagues, we live and breathe every day:

• Unstoppable together.
• Always learning.
• Make it count.
• Think scale.

Our people are critical to our ongoing success; we’re proud of our inclusive culture that gives you the platform to grow, challenge the status quo and play a crucial role in further enhancing our market position as the leading provider of HR & Payroll software and services. With Zellis you’ll have the chance to stretch and challenge yourself in an environment that’s varied, flexible and hugely supportive.

We also love to reward and recognise our brilliant colleagues. As part of your benefits package, you’ll receive:

• A competitive base salary.
• 25 days annual leave, plus your birthday off and the opportunity to buy additional holiday.
• Private medical insurance.
• Life assurance 4x salary.
• Enhanced pension scheme with company contributions up to 8.5%.
• A huge range of additional flexible benefits across financial & personal wellbeing, lifestyle & leisure.