Business and Strategic Operations Leader

Cohesity•Santa Clara, CA

12d•$297,000 - $330,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Cohesity is a leader in AI-powered data security and management. Aided by an extensive ecosystem of partners, Cohesity makes it easy to secure, protect, manage, and get value from data — across the data center, edge, and cloud. Cohesity helps organizations defend against cybersecurity threats with comprehensive data security and management capabilities, including immutable backup snapshots, AI-based threat detection, monitoring for malicious behavior, and rapid recovery at scale. We’ve been named a Leader by multiple analyst firms and have been globally recognized for Innovation, Product Strength, and Simplicity in Design. Join us on our mission to shape the future of our industry. Cohesity is the leader in AI-powered data security. Our mission is to secure, protect, and provide insights into the world's data. We help organizations defend against cyber threats while unlocking the value of their data through AI-driven innovation. As we continue to scale globally, operational excellence across Engineering is critical to delivering world-class products and exceptional customer outcomes. About the Role We are looking for an exceptional Business and Strategic Operations Leader to partner closely with the Senior Vice President of Engineering in driving operational excellence, strategic execution, and organizational effectiveness across a global engineering organization. This is a highly visible leadership role that combines strategy, execution, organizational planning, and business operations. You will serve as a trusted advisor to the SVP, ensuring alignment across engineering leadership while helping transform strategic priorities into measurable business outcomes. The ideal candidate brings extensive experience supporting large engineering organizations, exceptional executive presence, strong business acumen, and a proven track record of driving complex cross-functional initiatives within fast-growing technology companies.

Requirements

15+ years of experience in Engineering Operations, Technical Program Management, Strategy & Operations, Chief of Staff, Consulting, or similar leadership roles supporting large engineering organizations.
Experience partnering directly with VP, SVP, CTO, or executive engineering leaders.
Strong understanding of software engineering organizations, product development lifecycles, cloud infrastructure, SaaS delivery models, and engineering execution.
Exceptional business operations experience including strategic planning, budgeting, organizational planning, OKRs, KPIs, and executive reporting.
Outstanding executive communication and presentation skills with the ability to influence senior leadership.
Demonstrated success driving large-scale cross-functional initiatives from strategy through execution.
Strong analytical mindset with experience leveraging data to influence operational decisions.
Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple high-priority initiatives simultaneously.
Proven ability to build trust across executives, engineering leaders, and cross-functional stakeholders.
Experience operating in high-growth technology companies where speed, ambiguity, and scale are constant.
Bachelor's degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools to enhance productivity, streamline workflows, and support decision making

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting engineering organizations of 500+ engineers.
Background in enterprise software, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, storage, AI, or distributed systems.
Experience with engineering metrics, organizational health frameworks, portfolio management, and executive dashboards.
Familiarity with planning and productivity tools such as Jira, Confluence, Smartsheet, Workday, Tableau, Power BI, or similar analytics platforms.
Experience leading organizational transformation or operational excellence initiatives.

Responsibilities

Partner directly with the SVP of Engineering to execute strategic priorities across the engineering organization.
Drive engineering business operations including annual planning, quarterly business reviews, operational metrics, budgeting, headcount planning, and organizational effectiveness.
Establish and manage operating rhythms including leadership staff meetings, engineering reviews, executive updates, planning cadences, and organizational communications.
Develop executive dashboards and KPIs that provide visibility into engineering health, execution, delivery, quality, productivity, hiring, and organizational performance.
Lead cross-functional strategic initiatives spanning Engineering, Product Management, Security, Finance, IT, Customer Support, People, and Executive Leadership.
Drive accountability across engineering leadership by tracking key initiatives, dependencies, risks, decisions, and execution milestones.
Improve organizational scalability by identifying operational bottlenecks and implementing repeatable processes that increase efficiency.
Partner with Finance and Recruiting on workforce planning, hiring strategy, organizational design, budget management, and resource allocation.
Support engineering leadership in organizational planning, succession planning, executive communications, leadership offsites, and strategic planning sessions.
Prepare executive presentations, board-level materials, business reviews, and leadership communications for senior executives.
Facilitate executive decision-making through structured analysis, data-driven insights, and thoughtful recommendations.
Champion operational excellence while fostering a culture of accountability, transparency, collaboration, and continuous improvement.