Director, Marketing Operations

Zendesk•San Francisco, CA

1d•$220,000 - $330,000•Hybrid

About The Position

As a pivotal leader on Zendesk’s Marketing Strategy & Operations team, the Director of Marketing Operations will build and scale the systems, processes, and operating rhythm that enable Marketing to execute with speed, quality, and measurable impact. This role owns the marketing operations function across funnel operations, campaign execution, journey orchestration, marketing technology, and process optimization, connecting strategy to reliable day-to-day delivery.

Requirements

An operating leader who can move fluidly between strategy, systems, process design, and hands-on problem solving.
Strong commercial judgment and a clear understanding of how marketing operations, technology, data, and process drive pipeline and customer growth.
Exceptional communication and stakeholder leadership skills, with the ability to create clarity across teams with competing priorities.
A systems mindset: you look for root causes, design durable solutions, and make complex work easier to execute and govern.
A pragmatic approach to innovation, including the judgment to distinguish valuable automation and AI use cases from unnecessary complexity.
A talent developer who builds accountable, collaborative teams and creates an environment of ownership, learning, and continuous improvement.
10+ years of experience in Marketing Operations, Marketing Technology, Revenue Operations, or a related discipline, including experience leading teams.
Proven experience owning marketing automation and CRM ecosystems and the processes that connect them to the broader go-to-market engine.
Experience leading funnel management, campaign operations, lifecycle/journey orchestration, and cross-functional operating model improvements.
Demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi-quarter programs, vendor relationships, prioritization, and executive communication.
Working knowledge of platforms such as Salesforce, Marketo or equivalent marketing automation, analytics/BI, data enrichment, and workflow automation tools, and AI Tools such as Claude and ChatGPT.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a high-growth B2B SaaS or similarly complex global marketing environment preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead and develop a high-performing Marketing Operations team spanning funnel operations, campaign operations, journey orchestration, marketing technology, and process/workflow optimization.
Own the operating model and roadmap for marketing operations, balancing near-term execution with scalable capabilities, clear governance, and continuous improvement.
Design and optimize end-to-end funnel processes, including intake, lead and account management, scoring, routing, lifecycle progression, Sales handoff, and feedback loops.
Set the strategy and governance for the marketing technology ecosystem, including marketing automation, CRM integrations, audience activation, data quality, and workflow tooling.
Partner with Marketing, Sales/Revenue Operations, Product, Engineering, Finance, and regional teams to align priorities, dependencies, service levels, and business outcomes.
Use automation and AI thoughtfully to improve campaign velocity, operational efficiency, decision quality, and stakeholder self-service while maintaining appropriate controls.
Establish performance visibility for operational health, including funnel conversion, execution quality, process adoption, data integrity, and time-to-value.
Translate complex operational and technical topics into clear recommendations for senior leaders and secure alignment on trade-offs and investment.