Knowledge Management Director

AppFolio • Santa Barbara, CA

14h

About The Position

AppFolio is more than a company. We’re a community of dreamers, big thinkers, problem solvers, active listeners, and multipliers. At every opportunity, we set the pace while delivering innovation built to carry real estate into the future. One in which every experience feels effortless, yet meaningful. Where customers are empowered to take on any opportunity. We show up as one team, connected by our values to be a force for good. Because together, we have the power to create extraordinary outcomes for our customers, our communities, and ourselves. The Knowledge Management Director will architect and lead AppFolio’s Knowledge Ecosystem, reporting directly to the Customer Experience & Care (CxC) leadership. This strategic leader is responsible for orchestrating our "intelligence engine"—ensuring that institutional wisdom, technical documentation, and cross-functional processes are captured, governed, and accessible, and that they are ready to power our AI, support, partners, and customer success. By breaking down information silos and optimizing our internal platforms, this role powers employee productivity, accelerates AI initiatives, and ensures our frontline teams have the right answers at their fingertips. The ultimate goal: shorten the "time-to-proficiency" for AppFolians, drive operational excellence through a unified, high-integrity internal truth, and enable knowledge use for customer outcomes, such as retention, faster onboarding, and increased product adoption.

Requirements

• Strategic and innovative thinker with the ability to connect knowledge to business outcomes.
• Proactive self-starter with ability to manage short- and long-term priorities.
• Strong relationship builder and facilitator across teams.
• Skilled communicator with the ability to create compelling presentations and executive-ready communications.
• Results-oriented, data-driven, and comfortable with executive-level visibility.
• Must have 7–10+ years of experience specifically within Knowledge Management, Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS), or Information Strategy, with a proven track record of building internal-facing knowledge ecosystems.
• Advanced technical proficiency in internal discovery and KM platforms (e.g., Glean, Guru, or internal Salesforce Knowledge implementations) and experience leveraging AI/LLMs to enhance internal search and productivity.
• Deep expertise in Information Architecture, taxonomy development, and content lifecycle management within an enterprise SaaS environment.
• Proven Change Management skills, with the ability to influence executive stakeholders and embed new documentation behaviors into the daily workflows of disparate teams.
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or equivalent experience preferred.

Nice To Haves

• Knowledge Management certifications highly preferred (e.g., KCS, KMI, APQC, or similar).

Responsibilities

• Lead Internal KM Strategy and Program Execution: Evolve and execute an end-to-end internal KM strategy focused on Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) practices to ensure AppFolians can find, use, and improve institutional knowledge in real-time.
• Orchestrate Cross-Functional Knowledge: Orchestrate a cross-channel strategy across Marketing, Product, Engineering, and RevOps to reduce information silos and improve operational efficiency while improving customer experiences across self-service, community, in-product help, and AI.
• Drive Content Efficiency: Partner with Product and Marketing to align product documentation to reduce duplication and implement scalable “Author Once, Publish Everywhere” processes for high-integrity information and knowledge reuse.
• Manage Knowledge Management Technology Stack: Own the strategy and administration of internal knowledge platforms and search solutions (e.g., Glean) to ensure a seamless "intelligence engine" for the employee base.
• Lead Program Adoption and Change Management: Drive cultural and behavioral change across AppFolio to ensure KM processes are embedded into the daily workflows of all internal teams, ensuring high program adoption and documentation hygiene.
• Analyze Data and Report ROI: Establish KPIs focused on internal time-to-proficiency, search effectiveness, and knowledge gaps to demonstrate the ROI of the KM function to the leadership team.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director