Senior Director, Strategy & Business Operations, AI Labs

Description The Role We are looking for a Senior Director, Strategy & Business Operations to help accelerate the growth and scale of businesses within AI Labs. The role will initially embed with Fin, focused on identifying and unlocking the highest-impact barriers to growth, driving critical cross-functional initiatives, and helping Fin more effectively leverage the scale and capabilities of Salesforce to accelerate. The intent is to codify the lessons and operating model from Fin and then rotate to other acquisitions, emerging businesses, and high-priority strategic initiatives across AI Labs. This person will also serve as a trusted strategic partner to AI Labs leadership, stepping into the highest-priority opportunities and problems where ownership is ambiguous and senior-level cross-functional coordination is required.

What You’ll Do Drive Cross-Functional Execution & Accelerate Fin

• Identify the highest-impact barriers to Fin’s growth and proactively drive them to resolution across Salesforce.
• Lead complex cross-functional initiatives spanning Product, Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, Finance, Operations, and other Salesforce organizations.
• Create clarity where ownership is ambiguous by defining decisions, owners, dependencies, milestones, and escalation paths.
• Mobilize teams with different priorities and reporting lines around shared business outcomes and maintain accountability through execution.
• Help Fin leverage Salesforce’s distribution, customer relationships, product ecosystem, and operating capabilities while preserving the speed and focus that have driven its success.
• Step directly into critical gaps where no single function has clear ownership and drive the work forward.

Build & Apply the AI Labs Scaling Playbook

• Codify the lessons from scaling Fin into a repeatable model for accelerating future acquisitions and emerging AI Labs businesses.
• Define how acquired businesses can best leverage Salesforce capabilities while retaining the autonomy required for speed and innovation.
• Develop repeatable approaches across GTM, operating models, governance, decision making, and cross-functional execution.
• Following the initial work with Fin, rotate to future acquisitions and other priority AI Labs businesses to apply and evolve the playbook.

Chief of Staff & Strategic Initiatives

• Serve as a trusted strategic partner and Chief of Staff to AI Labs leadership.
• Help shape and prioritize the leadership agenda and maintain focus on the initiatives with the greatest business impact.
• Lead high-priority strategic and ad hoc initiatives across AI Labs that require senior-level ownership, structured problem solving, and cross-functional coordination.
• Drive leadership operating rhythms, decision forums, and follow-through on key priorities and commitments.
• Support leadership prioritization and V2MOM execution, ensuring the organization remains focused on the initiatives with the greatest business impact.

What Success Looks Like Success means Fin and other strategic acquisitions grow faster because cross-functional barriers are removed quickly; complex initiatives move from decision to execution with clear accountability; AI Labs leadership has greater leverage and focus; and Salesforce develops a repeatable model for accelerating future acquisitions.

You're Our Person If...

• You have 12+ years of experience across strategy, business operations, product or GTM strategy, management consulting, corporate strategy, or related roles, ideally within enterprise SaaS, AI, or another rapidly evolving technology environment.
• You have a track record of taking high-ambiguity, zero-to-one problems and turning them into structured strategies and executable operating plans.
• You combine strategic thinking with strong operating instincts - equally comfortable defining the answer and driving the organization toward it.
• You have strong commercial and financial acumen and can move comfortably between market strategy, product decisions, GTM execution, operating metrics, and investment trade-offs.
• You have exceptional executive communication skills and experience advising and influencing senior executives.
• You can lead through influence in highly matrixed environments and establish credibility quickly with Product, Sales, Finance, Marketing, and Customer Success leaders.
• You know when to advise, when to facilitate, and when to take direct ownership to move an important initiative forward.
• You are a builder who creates structure where none exists and is energized by businesses and operating models that are still being defined.
• Experience with acquisitions, post-acquisition growth, business integration, or scaling new businesses within a larger enterprise is strongly preferred.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.