Senior Principal, Corporate Venture Capital

provides UKG customers with early access to innovative solutions that help them adapt to rapidly changing business, labor, and workforce needs.

UKG Ventures partners with visionary founders and venture funds, connecting startups to the UKG Workforce Operating Platform and a global community of leaders shaping the future of HR, pay, and workforce management. The program complements UKG Labs, which cultivates and tests breakthrough concepts with pre-seed and seed-stage startups.

Recent Investments: Financial Wellness Labs; Intermezzo.ai; JobLeap; Acadian Ventures.

Role Overview

This Senior Principal role is an individual contributor role, reporting to the VP Corporate Development, and is UKG Ventures' inaugural first hire. You will lead the full investment lifecycle-from thesis formation and deal origination through diligence, negotiation, closing, and post-investment value creation. You will stand up the internal infrastructure, processes, and governance of UKG's venture program, and drive adoption of portfolio innovations across UKG Product, Sales, and Alliances to create measurable strategic and commercial impact.

Key Responsibilities

Investment Strategy & Origination

• Partner with UKG Product, Corporate Development and Corporate Strategy leadership to develop and refine investment theses aligned to UKG's strategy.

• Build targeted sourcing funnels and relationships with founders, funds, and ecosystems; maintain a robust pipeline at Seed-Series C with a center of gravity at Series A/B.

• Publish thematic perspectives and market maps to support proactive origination.

Deal Leadership & Execution

• Lead diligence across market, product, technology, GTM, unit economics, and legal.

• Negotiate term sheets and coordinate closing with outside counsel.

• Draft investment memos; present and champion recommendations to UKG's investment committee and executive stakeholders.

• Track milestones and support executive hiring and follow-on financing.

Post-Investment Value Creation (Strategic & Commercial)

• Drive adoption by orchestrating pilots, integrations, and co-selling motions with UKG Product, Sales, and Alliances.

• Define and report impact KPIs (new bookings influenced, attach rates, product accelerators, ecosystem depth).

Program Infrastructure, Processes & Governance

• Design and implement UKG Ventures' operating model: investment committee cadence, stage-gate criteria, approval authorities, portfolio management, reserves planning, and conflict-management protocols.

• Establish policy frameworks (information rights, reporting standards, board practices), risk controls, and documentation balancing strategic and financial goals typical of leading CVCs.

• Build automated tracking and reporting for pipeline, portfolio health, strategic impact, and financial performance; produce quarterly updates and executive briefings.

External Presence & Ecosystem

• Represent UKG Ventures at industry events; expand networks with co-investors and founders to win competitive deals and amplify UKG's brand in worktech.

Experience & Qualifications

• 8-12+ years in VC/CVC/PE/IB or operating roles in enterprise SaaS, with a track record leading deals and managing portfolio companies

• Demonstrated success in post-investment value creation (product integrations, GTM enablement, alliance development) within a corporate context.

• Experience designing investment governance (IC processes, policies, reporting, reserves/follow-ons).

• Advanced degree (MBA or equivalent) preferred; technical literacy in AI/data platforms and enterprise software is a plus.

• Exceptional relationship building, negotiation, executive communication, and cross-functional influence skills.

Company Overview:

UKG is the Workforce Operating Platform that puts workforce understanding to work. With the world's largest collection of workforce insights, and people-first AI, our ability to reveal unseen ways to build trust, amplify productivity, and empower talent, is unmatched. It's this expertise that equips our customers with the intelligence to solve any challenge in any industry - because great organizations know their workforce is their competitive edge. Learn more at ukg.com.

Equal Opportunity Employer

UKG is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, disability, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, and other legally protected categories.

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UKG participates in E-Verify. View the E-Verify posters here.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Disability Accommodation in the Application and Interview Process

For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email [email protected].

The pay range for this position is $163,900 to $235,550. The actual base pay offered may vary depending on skills, experience, job-related knowledge and work location. In addition to base pay, employees may be eligible to participate in a performance-based bonus plan and to receive restricted stock unit awards as part of total compensation. Learn more about UKG's benefits and rewards at https://https://www.ukg.com/about-us/careers/benefits