Employment Hero CEO Ben Thompson wins Technology Category

Our CEO and Co‑Founder Ben Thompson was named the Technology category winner at the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Australia 2026 awards. It’s a proud moment for Employment Hero and for the small businesses and job seekers we serve every day.

“This recognition belongs to the team. They’ve driven our mission with me from day one: to make employment easier and more valuable for everyone on earth. Awards are great, but the real win is when a business owner tells us we’ve given them time back to do what they love most,” said Thompson.

EY’s Entrepreneur Of The Year™ celebrates founders who drive economic and social prosperity. In its 25th year in Australia, the program recognises entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact; these are the same pillars that have shaped Employment Hero from the beginning. We’ve tackled complex employment challenges with a product‑led, founder‑obsessed mindset. Our purpose is to build an Employment Operating System that helps businesses hire anywhere, pay anytime and engage everyone. Today, we support more than 350,000 businesses and 2.5 million employees across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, the UK and Canada, giving SMEs access to tools once reserved for large enterprises and helping owners focus on what they love.

This year, Employment Hero surpassed A$300 million in annual recurring revenue and reached EBITDA profitability on a monthly and year‑to‑date basis. We introduced a first‑of‑its‑kind two‑way talent marketplace that helps employers and job seekers find the right fit faster. We also deepened our integration with Indeed, bringing free job ads, one‑click applies and integrated screening into Employment Hero so small and medium businesses can source and hire in fewer steps. Alongside these milestones, we continued to invest in EH Work, our employee superapp that brings career management and financial wellbeing into a single experience.

Ben began his career as an employment lawyer, seeing first‑hand how SMEs were bogged down by day-to-day admin. That insight sparked a vision for an Employment Operating System, a platform that digitises HR, payroll, recruitment and engagement in a single flow. Since launching in 2014, we’ve grown from an Australian startup into a global HR tech company serving businesses of all sizes.

“Entrepreneurship is critical to Australia’s prosperity. I’m grateful to EY, the judges and this year’s inspiring finalists who continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the world of entrepreneurship,” Thompson adds.

We’re just getting started. Over the next year, we’ll expand the talent marketplace and AI‑powered matching to shorten time‑to‑hire, deepen the Employment OS with smarter compliance, payroll and insights, and support more SMEs across APAC, the UK and Canada with localised solutions.

Thompson adds, “the goal is simple, hire anywhere, pay anytime. Engage everyone. If we keep delivering on that, we’ll keep lifting the bar for what employment can be.”
As we celebrate this moment, we also recognise the broader community that makes it meaningful. Winning the in Technology category at EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Australia 2026 awards is a tribute to Australia’s vibrant technology ecosystem. We’re honoured to stand alongside an exceptional cohort of finalists, builders creating jobs, products and possibilities across the country and the globe, and we extend our thanks to EY, the independent judging panel and program partners for championing entrepreneurship over the past 25 years.