Senior Director, Global Sales Operations San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, CA, United States

About us

At Udemy, we’re on a mission to transform lives through learning. We’re a leading online skills marketplace and learning platform, serving more than 69 million learners and 15,700 organizations globally. Our goal is to provide flexible and effective skill development, empowering individuals and organizations to keep pace with innovation and prepare for the future of work.

We believe that talented people are everywhere, but oftentimes, those dream opportunities are hard to come by. That’s why we’re focused on revolutionizing learning, leveraging the deep expertise of Udemy’s 75,000 instructors and the power of our platform, to help individuals sharpen their skills and harness their full potential.

This hybrid position requires two days per week in our San Francisco office.

About you

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Director of Sales Strategy and Operations to join our mission at Udemy to improve lives through learning. In this role, you will be responsible for leading and executing initiatives to drive sales growth, optimize operational efficiency, and enhance overall sales performance. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in sales strategy development, sales operations management, people leadership and a proven track record of driving profitable revenue growth in the SaaS industry at scale of $1B+ ARR.

About this role

The Senior Director of Sales Operations will play a pivotal role in driving business results, profitability, forecasting accuracy, and creating scalable processes within the Udemy Business organization. This position requires a proactive leader with strong analytical capabilities, critical thinking, problem-solving skills and operational excellence mindset. The ideal candidate will collaborate closely with sales leadership and be the ops partner to the Global Sales leader of Udemy Business, while ensuring alignment with other key business functions such as Marketing, Customer Success, Partners and Finance.They will lead a direct team of Sales ops partners aligned to Regions and Business Development function, and Sales compensation.

Key Responsibilities:

Sales Strategy:

Develop and implement a comprehensive sales strategy including segmentation and coverage model aligned with the company's goals and objectives.

Analyze market trends, customer insights, and competitive landscape to identify growth opportunities and market positioning strategies.

Collaborate with executive leadership to define sales targets, forecast sales performance, and track key metrics to measure success.

Sales Operations Management:

Support sales leadership to deliver the financial and operational results every quarter.

Lead the sales operations team to ensure rigor and efficiency in sales processes, including sales forecasting, pipeline management, and deal reviews.

Optimize sales workflows, systems, and technologies to streamline operations and enhance productivity.

Support sales enablement programs to empower the sales team with the necessary tools, resources, and training to drive revenue growth.

Performance Analytics and Reporting:

Establish OKRs and metrics to evaluate sales performance, productivity, and revenue growth.

Conduct regular performance reviews including weekly forecasting, MBR (Monthly Business Review), QBR (Quarterly Business Review), etc., analyze sales data, and generate actionable insights and recommendations for continuous improvement.

Prepare and present comprehensive sales reports, forecasts, and dashboards to executive leadership and stakeholders.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

Collaborate closely with marketing, customer success, and finance teams to align sales strategies with overall business objectives, pricing strategies, opex budget guidelines, etc.

Drive cross-functional initiatives to improve customer acquisition, retention, and upsell opportunities through data-driven insights and customer feedback.

Leadership and Team Development:

Provide strong leadership, mentorship, and guidance to the sales strategy and operations team, fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous learning.

Recruit, onboard, and develop top talent within the sales operations function, ensuring a high-performing and engaged team that is results oriented.

What you'll be doing

Lead change by introducing best practices for operational excellence at scale.

Act as the primary business partner to the Udemy Business SVP of Sales, providing strategic guidance and support.

Ensure alignment of sales operations with strategic business objectives.

Provide insights to the business based on data analysis of historical performance to identify opportunities for improvement.

Ensure successful sales execution by implementing and optimizing core sales processes.

Evolve the sales technology stack to meet the evolving needs of the business with an eye on simplification and cost optimization.

Own all aspects of quota and capacity planning, including managing and iterating on compensation and quota design to drive desired behaviors.

Implement accurate and consistent forecasting practices for sales in order to enable informed decision-making.

Develop and lead all Sales Revenue, and compensation operation teams, including providing coaching & development to managers and individual contributors.

What you’ll have

Proven experience of 8+ years of building and leading a sales operations team.

Track record of scaling high-growth B2B SaaS sales organizations of $1B+ ARR.

Experience developing and implementing compensation, territory, and capacity models.

Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate data into actionable insights.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate with senior leaders.

Ability to influence sales execution and lead change management initiatives.

We understand that not everyone will match each of the above qualifications. However, we also realize that everyone has unique experiences that can add value to our company. Even if you think your background might not perfectly align, we'd love to hear from you!

Life at Udemy

We aspire to be as vibrant and dynamic as the communities we serve, as inquisitive as those who use our platform, and as revolutionary as the future we strive to open for everyone. Here are some of the things we love about life at Udemy:

We’re invested in creating an inclusive environment that welcomes a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. From creating employee resource groups, ensuring we’re a Fair Pay Workplace, and building a flexible work culture, our belonging, equity, diversity, and inclusion (BEDI) initiatives always put our people first. We want you to be able to bring your authentic self to work because when we all do, we’re better for it.

Learning is what we do – inside and out. Our Learning & Development team is second to none, helping ensure your journey is one of continuous progression. You’ll also have unlimited access to Udemy courses, monthly UDays (meeting-free professional development days), and a generous annual professional development stipend.

Our reason to exist is to revolutionize learning – that calls for taking risks and learning from failures. Whether it’s our hackathons (a company-wide effort to envision new possibilities for our product) or sharing our prototypes, we see experimentation as a crucial step on the path to success.

We’re committed to creating world-class employee experiences and are proud of the recognition of this by Great Place to Work.

Of course, the best thing about being part of Udemy is knowing your work makes a difference for people and organizations around the world. You’ve got the skills; why not use them to help others develop theirs?

At Udemy, we value diversity and inclusion and consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or family status, veteran status, medical condition, or disability. We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Our Benefits Start With U

Our benefits package at Udemy “starts with U” and is grounded in mission-driven benefits that intentionally align with our core values. Here’s a sneak peek at just a few highlighted benefits if you’re a full-time Udemate based in the United States:

Core Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life/AD&D, and disability coverage

HSA/FSA/Commuter: Pre-tax savings/spending plans, including HSA employer contributions

Transgender Benefits: Expanded medical coverage for gender-affirming care

Parental Benefits: Financial assistance for fertility (including egg-freezing), adoption, and surrogacy expenses; twelve weeks of paid family bonding for birth, surrogacy, adoption, and foster placement (plus up to six to ten weeks of paid disability leave for birthing parents) as well as a two-week “ease-back” program that enables parents to return part-time at full pay

Whole U: Fully paid memberships for meditation/mindfulness, therapy/coaching visits, financial planning, fertility and family building, maternity and newborn care, parenting and pediatrics, menopause care, breastmilk shipping, and caregiving support

Learning: Free access to Udemy and Udemy Business plus a yearly stipend to spend on professional development

Retirement: Pre-tax and Roth 401(k) plan with an employer contribution

Charitable Giving: Corporate charitable match for eligible nonprofits and charities

Vacation: Flexible vacation for salaried Udemates and fifteen days per year for hourly

Holidays: Twelve paid holidays throughout the year

Information regarding data privacy is available within the Udemy Careers Privacy Notice .

At Udemy, we strive to be transparent around compensation. Actual compensation for this role is based on several factors, including but not limited to job-related skills, qualifications, experience, and specific work location due to differences in the cost of labor. In addition to a base salary, this role is also eligible for benefits, equity and a bonus.  Hiring Compensation Range $225,000 — $275,000 USD

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