Workday · 1 week ago
Principal, Operations Lead
USA, CA, Pleasanton
Full-time
Hybrid
Lead/Staff
$166K/yr - $249K/yr
10+ years expWorkday is a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents. The Principal, Operations Lead role focuses on driving operational excellence, managing the portfolio and budget of the Business Technology function, and aligning departmental activities with organizational strategies.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cloud ComputingEnterprise SoftwareHuman ResourcesSaaSSoftware
Responsibilities
Monitor and drive day-to-day operational excellence across BT function, including budget and headcount, performance metrics and vendor performance and management
Manages the run/scale portfolio and budget of the BT function, including planning, monthly monitoring and optimization
Establishes, monitors and provides oversight to defining BT function-specific OKRs, ensuring alignment with enterprise- and BT-level strategic goals and vision
Owns and coordinates high-stakes cross-functional communication and engagement activities
Leads, coordinates and plans key organizational meetings such as all staffs and leadership meetings
Drives engagement within BT function
Drive accountability with vendors by owning the end-to-end vendor relationship management, acting as the primary liaison for strategic partners
Negotiate and manage SLAs and planning periodic (quarterly or bi-annual) engagement reviews
Support teams with onboarding and offboarding at scale
Ensure new vendors are integrated quickly and compliantly, and departing vendors are securely transitioned out
Monitors and advises on the portfolio’s budget and mitigates financial risks
Oversees the function’s run/scale portfolio, ensuring that items are received, tracked, and reported in adherence with BT portfolio standards
Understands, influences and optimizes BT function’s run/scale portfolio
Defines and manages the operational cadence
Facilitates BT function OKR sessions, coaches teams on best practices, and ensures alignment of BT function OKRs with BT’s strategic goals
Decides on and enforces vendor performance KPIs and takes necessary actions to hold vendors accountable
Qualification
Required
10+ years of experience in strategic operations, program management, vendor management, or a high-impact role supporting executive leadership
5+ years of experience in driving and owning the annual operating rhythm and budget, executive communications, and cross-organizational change management
Preferred
Ideal background is Chief of Staff or Business Operations function at a large enterprise company/firm
Operational Excellence & Cost Control: Demonstrated success in identifying bottlenecks, streamlining complex business processes, and improving organizational efficiency to achieve cost savings
Financial & Budget Management: Direct experience with owning and controlling departmental or organizational budgets ($XX+ million), including forecasting, variance analysis, and resource allocation
Vendor and Contract Management: Proven ability to manage the full lifecycle of major vendor relationships, including supporting contract negotiation, service level agreement (SLA) enforcement, performance review, and ensuring vendor alignment with strategic organizational goals
Data-Driven Decision Making: Proven ability to define key performance indicators (KPIs), conduct root cause analysis, and use data to inform executive-level recommendations
Proven track record of influencing and motivating cross-functional teams and senior leaders without direct reporting lines
Executive presence and high level of discretion. Absolute integrity and the capacity to handle highly sensitive, confidential, and proprietary information
Emotional intelligence and self-awareness and the ability to accurately gauge the mood and motivations of the organization
Strength in facilitating workshops, seeking input, and storytelling
Knowledge of Agile frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban and Lean, and experience implementing Agile practices and methodologies across multiple teams and departments is a plus
Agile certification such as Professional Scrum Master (PSM), Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certification is a plus
Benefits
Workday Bonus Plan
Annual refresh stock grants
Company
Workday
Workday provides SaaS-based enterprise solutions for a company's human resources and financial management activities.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Workday has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (331)
2024 (388)
2023 (262)
2022 (503)
2021 (290)
2020 (229)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$2.23BKey Investors
Elliott Management Corp.New Enterprise AssociatesGreylock
2025-09-16Post Ipo Equity· $2B
2012-10-12IPO
2011-10-24Series F· $85M
Leadership Team
Aneel Bhusri
CEO and Co-Founder
Peter Bailis
Chief Technology Officer
Recent News
EIN Presswire
2026-01-07
Company data provided by crunchbase