Nivelo

Building a unified payroll operations platform from the ground up

Role

Founding Product Designer

Responsibilities

0→1 UX + UI, design systems, user research, prototyping

Timeline

Q4 2022 – Q2 2023

As the founding and sole product designer at Nivelo, I built the 0→1 payroll operations platform that consolidated onboarding, risk detection, processing, and reconciliation into one unified system.

Nivelo

Building a unified payroll operations platform from the ground up

Role

Founding Product Designer

Responsibilities

0→1 UX + UI, design systems, user research, prototyping

Timeline

Q4 2022 – Q2 2023

As the founding and sole product designer at Nivelo, I built the 0→1 payroll operations platform that consolidated onboarding, risk detection, processing, and reconciliation into one unified system.

Outcomes

Nivelo delivered value at the infrastructure layer, transforming fragmented payroll operations into a single, automated system that providers could finally trust and scale on.

Centralized Operations

Consolidated KYB, payroll file processing, returns, and reconciliation into a single workflow, reducing reliance on siloed tools

Proactive Risk Management

Surfaced funding risks days in advance instead of after payroll failures, giving providers time to act

Faster Resolutions

Errors became triage tickets with suggested fixes, cutting down the manual detective work that slowed payroll cycles

Revenue Opportunities

Enabled providers to offer financing on underfunded runs, turning a liability into a revenue stream

Outcomes

Nivelo delivered value at the infrastructure layer, transforming fragmented payroll operations into a single, automated system that providers could finally trust and scale on.

Centralized Operations

Consolidated KYB, payroll file processing, returns, and reconciliation into a single workflow, reducing reliance on siloed tools

Proactive Risk Management

Surfaced funding risks days in advance instead of after payroll failures, giving providers time to act

Faster Resolutions

Errors became triage tickets with suggested fixes, cutting down the manual detective work that slowed payroll cycles

Revenue Opportunities

Enabled providers to offer financing on underfunded runs, turning a liability into a revenue stream

Before Nivelo

Payroll providers juggled KYB vendors, processor portals, banking sites, and spreadsheets. Errors and funding shortfalls were discovered after payroll ran, delaying wages and eroding trust.

Onboarding & KYB

Manual external vendor, siloed process

Payroll file processing

Manual NACHA upload to payment processor, no integration

Return files

Manual downloads, errors after the fact

Funding readiness

Manual balance checks, risky if shortfalls

Reconciliation

Manual spreadsheets + GL, no automation

What payroll providers manage today: fragmented, manual, siloed workflows

Onboarding & KYB

Manual external vendor, siloed process

Payroll file processing

Manual NACHA upload to payment processor, no integration

Return files

Manual downloads, errors after the fact

Funding readiness

Manual balance checks, risky if shortfalls

Reconciliation

Manual spreadsheets + GL, no automation

What payroll providers manage today: fragmented, manual, siloed workflows

Problem

No unified or automated way to verify clients, detect funding risks, process returns, or reconcile accounts—issues surfaced only after payroll and were costly to fix.

Goals

  • Detect and surface risks before payroll runs

  • Unify onboarding, processing, returns, and reconciliation in one system

  • Turn errors into clear, actionable workflows instead of manual detective work

  • Improve transparency and trust across providers, employers, and employees

Problem

No unified or automated way to verify clients, detect funding risks, process returns, or reconcile accounts—issues surfaced only after payroll and were costly to fix.

Goals

  • Detect and surface risks before payroll runs

  • Unify onboarding, processing, returns, and reconciliation in one system

  • Turn errors into clear, actionable workflows instead of manual detective work

  • Improve transparency and trust across providers, employers, and employees

After Nivelo

Nivelo consolidated onboarding, payroll processing, funding checks, return ingestion, and reconciliation into a single automated platform. Errors and risks now surfaced as actionable tickets in real time, making payroll operations proactive instead of reactive.

Key Features

Integrated Employer Onboarding & KYB

Add a new employer in Nivelo; business and employee data is verified in-product. Any failures create triage tickets with suggested fixes.

Payroll File Processing & Routing

Upload once; Nivelo generates the NACHA file and routes to the chosen processor, no jumping between portals.

Returns

Return files auto-ingest; issues become prioritized tickets. Payments and deposits reconcile automatically with export to the general ledger.

Triage

Errors and anomalies from payroll runs are automatically converted into prioritized tickets with clear context and suggested next steps, replacing manual detective work with actionable workflows.

Takeaways

What Worked

  • Replacing fragmented tools with one platform simplified onboarding, processing, and reconciliation.

  • Turning errors into “tickets” made triage faster, clearer, and less error-prone.

  • Funding readiness alerts gave providers control they’d never had before.

What Didn't

  • Early MVP was too complex for non–power users

  • Predictive features lacked clear confidence indicators

  • Reconciliation lagged behind other features at launch

How we responded

  • Simplified UI to emphasize critical signals

  • Added confidence indicators for predictive insights

  • Invested in reconciliation to match post-payment workflows

Takeaways

What Worked

  • Replacing fragmented tools with one platform simplified onboarding, processing, and reconciliation.

  • Turning errors into “tickets” made triage faster, clearer, and less error-prone.

  • Funding readiness alerts gave providers control they’d never had before.

What Didn't

  • Early MVP was too complex for non–power users

  • Predictive features lacked clear confidence indicators

  • Reconciliation lagged behind other features at launch

How we responded

  • Simplified UI to emphasize critical signals

  • Added confidence indicators for predictive insights

  • Invested in reconciliation to match post-payment workflows

Copyright © 2025 Alex Lawrence-Richards

Copyright © 2025 Alex Lawrence-Richards