Meet the Ripplers: Felix Le Dem
Meet Felix
Meet Felix Le Dem, a French-American engineering manager, new dad, and former startup founder who joined Rippling in 2022 and has since helped scale the global payroll team from 7 to almost 100 engineers. See how Felix combines his engineering background with entrepreneurial experience to build Rippling's international payroll products from the ground up.
Always a founder
I co-founded a small business investment marketplace and served as CTO for four years. At the time, I was looking for a change of pace that would still let me use the unique skills I'd picked up as a founder.
I saw Paul Graham’s post on Twitter that Rippling hired ex-founders by design. That keyed me in. I went for it and those non-traditional skills proved useful, fast. Within weeks of joining, I was ordering books about French payroll, calling government offices to hunt for answers, and leaning on that scrappy, end-to-end ownership that felt familiar from my founder days.
David and Goliath
When my manager told me to "just launch France," we had few French speakers at the company and barely any infrastructure. I brushed up on French payroll law, helped source and hire our first French payroll expert, and even helped vet the potential acquisition of a French payroll company.
What's surprising is how each R&D team within our product suite operates super lean despite our growth. It’s still a “David and Goliath” story. We're competing with giants that have hundreds, if not thousands, of engineers building their software, while we build entire product lines with small, focused R&D teams. And we’re holding our own.
Making it painless
Our mission is to free smart people to work on hard problems. We’ve made a ton of progress but I still see massive opportunities to build software that can automate processes that cost employers worldwide significant time and money. I’m constantly thinking about how we can build systems that accelerate the pace at which we expand to new jurisdictions, new markets, and new business contexts?
Calling all founders
My role today involves making product, engineering, and management decisions. Beyond executing the roadmap for french payroll, I'm hiring senior and mid-level engineers for both our New York payroll calculations team and the France-focused team in London. I’m looking for product engineers who’ll have fun in high-energy, high-momentum places.
The payroll team has always had a lot of former-founders. Rippling gives you the opportunity to be a type of founder again. You can build and own entire product lines. Whether you’re a founder or just think like one, we always need more people ready to jump at that type of opportunity.
This blog is based on information available to Rippling as of June 10, 2025.
Disclaimer: Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting, and legal advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.
