Senior Manager, Presales Strategy & Operations

Okta•Chicago, WA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Okta is securing AI by building trusted, neutral infrastructure. This role is within the Revenue Strategy and Operations Team, which drives operational excellence across the revenue organization. As part of Okta's Business Operations team, they amplify impact across Sales, Presales, Customer Success, Technical Account Management (TAM), and Renewals by providing insights, tools, and processes. The team establishes standards, processes, and scales customer-centric operations to support growth targets. In this leadership role, the Senior Manager, Presales Strategy & Operations will direct a team of analysts and managers, working closely with the Field Organization to provide actionable insights, design strategic roadmaps, and accelerate Okta’s growth by partnering directly with the Global Presales (Sales Engineering) Leadership team. This individual will lead cross-functional initiatives and collaborate with leaders across Sales Planning, Business Technology, Data & Analytics, and Sales Enablement to design and implement robust operational frameworks. The role is ideally located within commutable distance to the San Francisco office, operating under a flexible, hybrid working model.

Requirements

7+ years in an analytical, strategy, or operations role at a high-growth SaaS company
At least 2+ years of direct people management
Proven track record of building, coaching, and developing high-performing operations or strategy teams
Strategic thinker with the ability to interrogate complex data and translate findings into long-term operational plans
Demonstrated record of developing and leading large-scale initiatives and transformation projects that significantly impact sales productivity and growth
Exceptional ability to influence, partner with, and present solutions confidently to VP and C-level executives
Highly proactive, self-driven, and pragmatic in navigating ambiguity and making sound decisions
Advanced Salesforce expertise including complex dashboards, reports, custom report types, calculated fields, workflows, and deep CRM architecture knowledge
Exceptional quantitative skills with MS Excel or Google Sheets
Strong understanding of data integrations and automation
Experience building and deploying automation workflows with emerging AI tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex) to drive operational efficiency and scale
Comfortable balancing high-level strategic thinking with hands-on coaching and execution
Ability to drive large-scale process transformations or tech-stack migrations
Ability to travel to other Okta offices as required for in-person meetings and collaboration (~ once per quarter)

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with Tableau, SQL, Anaplan, or sales productivity tools (Gong, Clari, etc.) is a plus.

Responsibilities

Build and Lead a High-Performing Team: Recruit, mentor, and manage a team of presales strategy and operations professionals. Foster a culture of continuous learning, operational excellence, and measurable impact.
Act as Strategic Executive Partner: Function as the primary strategic business partner to Global Presales Leaders. Direct presales engagement pipeline strategy, technical forecasting, and strategic reporting—translating complex data into high-level narratives for sales leadership.
Drive Presales Strategy & Planning: Lead the design and implementation of coverage models, quota and capacity planning, go-to-market segmentation, territory design, and growth analysis for the Presales organization.
Drive Cross-Functional Alignment: Lead alignment across Presales business partners including Sales, Partner Alliances, Marketing, xDRs, Customer Success, and Renewals. Guide your team to analyze business needs, architect scalable solutions, and drive user adoption.
Establish Operational Excellence: Direct initiatives to build scalable, repeatable process improvements across the Global Presales organization. Own documentation of critical processes and engagement rules, partnering with Sales Enablement to drive enforcement and change management.
Lead Strategic Business Reviews: Conduct regular business reviews with VP and C-level stakeholders to identify enhancement opportunities and oversee large-scale projects that bridge performance gaps.
Drive Data-Informed Decision Making: Deeply interrogate and manipulate data to understand macro business implications. Translate findings into actionable, long-term operational plans that drive sales productivity and growth.
Champion Systems & Automation: Leverage advanced Salesforce expertise (dashboards, reports, custom report types, calculated fields, workflows, CRM architecture) and explore automation tools to scale operations and improve efficiency.