Director, Product Development Operations

Role Description

As the Director, Product Development Operations, you will lead the operational engine behind our Product, Engineering, and Design organizations. This is a people-leadership role responsible for building and scaling the teams, systems, and processes that enable Product, Engineering, Design, and Data teams to plan, build, and ship high-impact, user-centric solutions efficiently and predictably.

You will set the strategic direction for product and engineering operations, spanning release management, tooling and workflow governance, product analytics enablement, and research operations, while directly managing and developing a small product operations team that includes the Senior Product Operations Manager and the UX Design team.

You are equally comfortable setting multi-quarter strategy and rolling up your sleeves to solve in-the-weeds operational or design-resourcing problems, and you know how to lead both through direct authority and influence.

What You'll Do

• Team Leadership & Organizational Development
  • Build, lead, and develop a high-performing Product Development Operations team, including hiring, coaching, performance management, and career growth.
  • Directly manage the UX Design team, ensuring designers are well supported and grow in their craft.
  • Set team priorities and allocate resources so the team operates as a force multiplier across Product and Engineering.
  • Serve as a mentor and escalation point for operational challenges across product lines.
• Operational Strategy & Leadership
  • Define and own the operational framework for the Product and Engineering organizations.
  • Develop KPIs and define leadership-level reporting to track performance, velocity, predictability, and impact across teams.
  • Facilitate cross-functional collaboration and alignment across Product, Design, Engineering, Data, Marketing, and customer-facing teams.
• Release Management
  • Own release management strategy end-to-end across all products.
  • Oversee release planning and execution, managing cross-team dependencies, risks, and timelines.
  • Manage release calendars, release notes, stakeholder communications, and post-release retrospectives.
• Tooling, Workflow & Systems Governance
  • Develop subject matter expertise and support administration of enterprise tools such as Jira, Airfocus, Pendo, and related systems.
  • Define and govern ticket hygiene standards, workflow configurations, and automations that support agile practices at scale.
  • Monitor enterprise-wide compliance across the ticket ecosystem and analyze KPIs to measure adherence, data quality, and process effectiveness.
  • Oversee Pendo administration and tagging strategy.
• Product Analytics Enablement
  • Partner with Data and Product Development leadership to design product analytics tools and frameworks.
  • Drive organization-wide adoption of analytics tools and frameworks.
• Design Leadership & User Research Operations
  • Own design operations for the UX Design team, including workflow, critique cadence, design system governance, and tooling.
  • Set the bar for design quality and craft.
  • Support Design and UX Research functions by operationalizing research roadmaps, tooling, recruiting, and repository management.
  • Ensure research insights and design outputs are easily accessible and actionable across product teams.
• Strategic Planning & OKR Alignment
  • Lead Product Development's quarterly and annual planning cycles and OKR alignment process.
  • Facilitate backlog hygiene, sprint planning cadence, and roadmap transparency across the organization.
• Best Practices & Continuous Improvement
  • Continuously evaluate, evolve, and scale product and engineering operations best practices.
  • Assess and lead the deployment of new tools across the product organization.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in product operations, engineering operations, program management, or a similar role.
• 2+ years of experience directly managing and developing a team.
• Proven leadership managing cross-functional teams and driving operational improvements at scale.
• Deep understanding of the product development lifecycle, agile methodologies, and release management.
• Experience owning and administering Jira, Confluence, Airfocus, and similar tools.
• Experience administering Pendo or a similar product experience/analytics platform.
• Strong grasp of user research and product analytics best practices.
• Experience conceiving, developing, deploying, and owning new processes across a product and engineering org.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Data-driven mindset with the ability to develop and act on meaningful insights.
• Prior experience in SaaS, consumer tech, or enterprise software preferred.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance for team members and eligible partners and dependents.
• Mental health benefits, such as the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and wellness platform subscription.
• Flexible Time Off, including volunteer days and mental health days, plus 14 paid, company-wide holidays.
• Paid Parental Leave for adoptive parents.
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to connect and engage with colleagues.
• Tax-advantaged health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs), and commuter benefits.
• 401(k) with Employer Match.
• Life and AD&D insurance, with the option to purchase additional coverage.
• Disability Coverage.
• Accident Insurance.
• Pet Insurance.
• All necessary equipment for remote work will be provided.