Director, Strategic Programs & Operations, CAO

GAQ427R235

While candidates in the listed location(s) are encouraged for this role, candidates in other locations will be considered.

Databricks is seeking a Director, Strategic Programs & Operations, for the Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) organization to lay the foundations and scale the CAO organization. Reporting directly to the Sr. Director, Finance Data and Strategy, this leader will serve as a strategic arm to CAO leadership. You will partner with teams across the CAO, including: Order to Revenue (Revenue Operations, Billing, Revenue Accounting, Revenue Assurance), Accounting, Payroll, Tax, Treasury, and Commissions, and collaborate with cross-functional teams such as IT, Engineering, Go-to-Market, FP&A, Pricing, and Sales Operations.

Planning, leading, and executing on global, cross-functional, enterprise-wide projects that impact the Finance organization should be your passion. The ability to plan and execute effectively while collaborating across teams and locations will be key to success in this role. In this role, you will remove friction for the Finance team by developing organization-wide standards, leading programs, including communications, reporting, and metrics, and driving technology improvements. You will manage a team of individuals across all CAO programs, leading massive, cross-functional initiatives that embed Data, AI, and modern ways of working into our core financial and accounting processes, while ensuring strict compliance and SOX controls. 

The Impact You Will Have

• Strategic Advisor, Organization Strategy & Team Leadership: Serve as a key sounding board to CAO leadership while defining organization strategy, managing third-party consulting partners, and directing a team of individuals across all CAO programs to foster operational excellence.
• AI Enablement & Technology Modernization: Lead AI enablement and practical use case adoption throughout the CAO organization, while driving enterprise-level system implementations (including SAP) to automate workflows and enhance accounting operations.
• Program Management, Compliance & Governance: Own CAO OKRs, offsites, compliance frameworks, SOX alignment, and the overall program governance roadmap. Design and execute high-stakes, cross-functional programs across Accounting, FP&A, IT, Engineering, Product, and Go-to-Market.
• Commercialization Support & Cross-Functional Alignment: Provide strategic commercialization support across teams, ensuring global accounting processes and program management structures seamlessly align with new business models and scaling goals.

What We Look For

• Experience: 12+ years of progressive experience across accounting, business operations, organization strategy, and program management leadership, including proven experience managing third-party consulting engagements and ideally combining top-tier management consulting with in-house corporate leadership.
• Accounting, Compliance & Operational Expertise: Deep foundational knowledge of global accounting processes, financial controllership, regulatory compliance, and SOX requirements, paired with strong governance frameworks and a track record of managing cross-functional initiatives.
• System Implementations & SAP Experience: Extensive experience leading large-scale ERP and system implementations, 
• AI Enablement & Tech Fluency: Demonstrated success championing AI enablement and practical use cases across an enterprise function, leveraging modern data platforms, automation, and predictive tools.
• Elite Executive Presence: Exceptional communication and presentation skills (Google Slides, Docs). Ability to command a room, influence senior executives, and distill complex financial transformations into clear, actionable strategies.
• GTM, and Finance, and deliver commercialization support within SaaS or high-tech enterprise environments.
• Expertise in program management, executive communications, reporting, and metrics
• Experience in implementing and managing SOX controls on both business process and IT sides
• Proficiency with JIRA, project management tools, and reporting systems
• SAP experience is a plus
• SaaS industry experience is a plus
• CPA certification is a plus
• SQL or Python experience is a plus
• Expert-level presentation skills, including the ability to develop impactful presentations using Google Slides