Senior Director, R&D Planning & Operations

Okta•San Francisco, CA

14h•Onsite

About The Position

Okta is seeking a seasoned operations leader to run the financial and workforce operating engine for its Product & Technology organization, a 2,000+ person R&D function spanning the Okta Platform (ORD) and Auth0. The team owns budget and workforce strategy for the R&D Operating Plan, program-spend governance, financial compliance (including Capitalized Software and R&D tax credit capture), vendor operations, headcount governance, annual goal setting, and the operating cadence used to track performance. The role requires deep engineering finance operations expertise and the organizational judgment to translate executive strategy into a defensible budget and hiring plan. The role is part of Okta’s R&D organization and reports to the Head of Strategy & Operations and Chief of Staff to the President of Okta R&D. It is hub-based in San Francisco, Seattle, or Chicago; candidates must live within commuting distance of one of those offices and are expected to work in the office multiple days each week. This is a team leadership position with five direct reports. The leader will own the budget and workforce strategy components of the R&D Operating Plan, oversee budget governance, develop the R&D P&L framework, and establish models for engineering costs and AI-token spending. The role also leads financial compliance, builds a Snowflake-based expense data platform, governs workforce and contingent labor, manages vendor operations, and partners with Product and Engineering leadership on annual goals and OKRs. The leader will apply AI to finance and operations work and build and develop a high-performing operations team, including Director-level leaders. The annual base salary range for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay Area is $290,000–$398,000 USD. Okta also offers equity where applicable, a bonus, and benefits including health, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k), a flexible spending account, and paid leave including PTO and parental leave, subject to applicable plans and policies.

Requirements

12+ years of work experience, including 6+ years leading business operations, R&D or engineering operations, or FP&A functions within a technology company.
Demonstrated ownership of an engineering or R&D budget at scale, including annual planning, in-year governance, variance management, and executive budget reviews.
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 Capitalized 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 amid ambiguity when clean data is unavailable.
Demonstrated use of AI in substantive finance and operations work, including analysis, reporting, dashboard generation, and workflow automation, with a clear point of view on future applications.
Must live within commuting distance of the San Francisco, Seattle, or Chicago office and work from the office multiple days each week.
Must be on US soil, defined in the posting as the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or US outlying areas under FAR 2.101.

Nice To Haves

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 modeling 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 centers.
Understanding of the B2B enterprise technology space, specifically Enterprise Security.
Experience running an annual goal-setting or OKR process for a technology organization, including its progress-review cadence.
Prior experience in FP&A, management consulting, or a central strategy and operations function.
MBA, or an undergraduate degree concentrated in Finance, Economics, Statistics, or Engineering.

Responsibilities

Own the budget and workforce strategy components of the R&D Operating Plan, translating corporate strategy and the long-range plan into an annual plan across ORD and Auth0.
Direct R&D budget governance for a 2,000+ person organization, including program-spend oversight, variance reporting, fiscal discipline, and executive-level budget reviews.
Own and evolve the P&L framework for R&D lines of business and provide executive leaders with cost and investment data for portfolio decisions.
Model, govern, and optimize AI-token spend across Product & Technology, including establishing cost baselines and forecasts, measuring returns, and partnering with engineering leaders on efficiency.
Lead engineering cost modeling and partner with FP&A and Deal Desk on account-specific margin analysis for pricing, packaging, and large-deal decisions.
Own R&D financial compliance, including Capitalized Software entries and maximizing US and Canada R&D tax credit capture.
Build and own the Product & Technology expense data platform on Snowflake to support line-of-business cost distribution and self-service cost visibility for engineering leaders.
Set fiscal-year workforce strategy with Recruiting leadership, including headcount governance, allocation tracking, backfills, organizational growth mapping, and location strategy.
Own the contingent workforce program end to end, including contractor and agency lifecycle, capacity, and spend.
Own R&D vendor operations, including third-party relationships, capacity management, contract renewals, and performance SLAs.
Refine financial and workforce operating processes to reduce friction and support efficient organizational growth.
Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to develop fiscal-year R&D goals and OKRs, and run monthly and quarterly performance reviews.
Apply AI to financial analysis, dashboard generation, and workflow automation, and establish AI fluency as a core team capability.
Build, mentor, and develop the operations team, including hiring and developing Director-level leaders.