# Senior Director, R&D Planning & Operations **Company**: Okta **Location**: Bellevue, Washington **Work arrangement**: hybrid **Experience**: senior **Job type**: full-time **Salary**: $258,000-$355,000 USD **Category**: Operations **Industry**: Technology **Apply**: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/okta/jobs/8293675?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply **Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_ad2ab5e1-c75 ## Description We are looking for a seasoned operations leader to run the financial and workforce operating engine for Okta's Product & Technology organisation , a 2,000+ person R&D function spanning the Okta Platform (ORD) and Auth0. The team is accountable for the budget and workforce strategy components of the R&D Operating Plan, program spend and budget governance, financial compliance including Capitalised Software and R&D tax credit capture, vendor operations, and headcount governance in partnership with Recruiting. The team also runs the annual goal-setting process and the operating cadence that tracks R&D performance against those goals. ## Responsibilities - Own the budget and workforce strategy components of the R&D Operating Plan, translating corporate strategy and the long-range plan into a fully resourced annual plan across ORD and Auth0. - Direct R&D budget governance for a 2,000+ person organisation , program spend oversight, variance reporting, fiscal discipline, and executive-level budget reviews with the President of Okta R&D and Finance leadership. - Own and evolve the P&L framework for R&D lines of business, arming executive leadership with the cost and investment data behind portfolio decisions. - Model, govern and optimise AI token spend across the P&T organisation , establish the cost baseline and forecasting model, build the framework for measuring return on that spend, and partner with engineering leaders to drive efficiency as consumption scales. - Lead engineering cost modelling, and partner with FP&A and Deal Desk on account-specific margin analysis to support pricing, packaging and large-deal decisions. - Own financial compliance for R&D, including Capitalised Software entries and maximising US/Canada R&D tax credit capture. - Build and own the P&T expense data platform on Snowflake to enable clean line-of-business cost distribution and self-service cost visibility for engineering leaders. - Set the fiscal year workforce strategy in partnership with Recruiting leadership , headcount governance, real-time allocation tracking, backfills, organisational growth mapping, and location strategy. - Own the contingent workforce program end to end, including contractor and agency lifecycle, capacity and spend. - Own vendor operations for R&D , third-party relationships, capacity management, contract renewals, and performance SLAs. - Continuously refine the financial and workforce operating processes to eliminate friction and ensure the organisation scales efficiently as it grows. - Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to develop the fiscal year goals and OKRs for the R&D organisation, and run the program cadence , monthly and quarterly reviews , that gauges performance against them. - Set the standard for AI-first operations , apply AI to financial analysis, dashboard generation and workflow automation, and build a team for which AI fluency is core to how the work gets done rather than an experiment on the side. - Build, mentor and develop the operations team as a source of durable advantage for Okta R&D, including hiring and developing Director-level leaders. ## Qualifications ### Must Have - 12+ years of work experience, including 6+ years leading business operations, R&D / engineering operations, or FP&A functions within a technology company. - Demonstrated ownership of an engineering or R&D budget at scale , annual planning, in-year governance, variance management, and executive budget review. - Proven ownership of workforce planning and headcount governance in close partnership with Recruiting and Finance. - Experience managing a vendor portfolio, including contract negotiation and renewal, SLA management, and capacity planning. - Hands-on experience with Capitalised Software accounting and R&D tax credit programs in the US and/or Canada. - Strong understanding of B2B SaaS business models and engineering cost structures. - Track record of building and developing high-performing operations teams, including hiring and developing Director-level leaders. - Extensive experience navigating complex data sets and operating with ambiguity, where clean data is not available. - Demonstrated use of AI to do the substance of finance and operations work , analysis, reporting, dashboard generation and workflow automation , with a clear point of view on where to apply it next. ### Good to Have - Experience operating across multiple product units or post-acquisition entities with distinct financial and operational systems. - Familiarity with Snowflake, or comparable experience building financial data platforms and self-service reporting. - Experience modelling or governing consumption-based spend, such as cloud infrastructure or AI / LLM token usage. - Experience with global workforce and location strategy, including India-based engineering centres. - Understanding of the B2B enterprise technology space, specifically Enterprise Security. - Experience running an annual goal-setting or OKR process for a technology organisation, including the review cadence that tracks progress against it. - Prior experience in FP&A, management consulting, or a central strategy and operations function. - MBA, or an undergraduate degree with a concentration in Finance, Economics, Statistics or Engineering. ## Benefits - Health, dental and vision insurance - 401(k) - Flexible spending account - Paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) ## Skills ### Required - Financial planning and analysis - Budgeting - Workforce planning - Vendor management - Capitalised Software accounting - R&D tax credit programs - AI token spend management - Engineering cost modelling - Snowflake ### Nice to have - Experience operating across multiple product units - Familiarity with Snowflake - Experience modelling or governing consumption-based spend - Global workforce and location strategy - Understanding of the B2B enterprise technology space --- Source: [Apply at job-boards.greenhouse.io](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/okta/jobs/8293675?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)