Senior Director, Business Operations

Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from one-person startups to large, Fortune 100 enterprises with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work together in new ways that unlock their potential.

Last year, more than $3.8 billion of work was done through Upwork by skilled professionals who are gaining more control by finding work they are passionate about and innovating their careers.

The Senior Director, Business Operations is pivotal in harmonizing and streamlining work across all Upwork business units and functional teams. This role connects context and teams, fostering productive collaboration, operational efficiencies, and clarity in alignment with the company’s near-term and long-term strategies. We seek a candidate with service-minded leadership, a humble attitude, a strong work ethic, and the ability to quickly grasp the broader business context. This individual contributor role reports to the VP, Business and Product Operations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align strategy with execution, ensuring that each department's efforts cohesively contribute to the company's strategic goals.
• Drive strategic planning processes across the business unit, including the formulation of annual and long-term strategic plans. Ensure that strategies are clearly communicated and understood and aligned with the broader company processes and cadences.
• Lead the development and implementation of strategies to improve business operational processes and systems, promoting effectiveness, efficiency, and simplicity across the organization.
• Identify opportunities for operational innovation and improvements and lead cross-functional projects to implement these changes.
• Analyze business operations and performance data to make informed decisions and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Serve as a key liaison between different teams, ensuring clear communication and coordination on shared goals and initiatives.

What is Takes to Catch Our Eye:

• A proven track record of developing and implementing strategies that have substantially increased a company's market presence and profitability, particularly within digital marketplaces or similar platforms.
• Exceptional leadership and interpersonal skills, with experience in building, mentoring, and retaining high-caliber strategic and operational teams.
• Strong analytical and decision-making abilities paired with a willingness to dive into the details and drive material business improvements through hands-on strategy execution.
• Experience in helping teams turn strategies into plans and execution, working within the appropriate budget, schedule, and scope constraints.
• Demonstrated capacity for creative and critical thinking in the face of fast-paced, dynamic industry changes, with an emphasis on innovative solutions and strategic risk-taking

The annual base salary for this position in California and Washington ranges from $217,000 - $300,000. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salary for this position in California and Washington, and individual base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Additionally, this position is eligible for the annual bonus plan or sales incentive plan and eligibility to participate in our long term equity incentive program.

Come change how the world works.

At Upwork, you’ll shape talent solutions for how the world works today. We are a remote-first organization working together to create exciting remote work opportunities for a global community of professionals. While we have physical offices in San Francisco and Chicago, currently we also support hiring of corporate full-time employees in 19 states in the United States. Please speak with a member of our recruitment team to determine whether you are located in a state in which we are hiring corporate full-time employees.

Our vibrant culture is built on shared values and our mission to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. We foster amazing teams, put our community first, and have a bias toward action. We encourage everyone to bring their whole selves to work and grow together through development opportunities, mentorship, and employee resource groups. And oh yeah, we've also got amazing benefits - including medical insurance for you and your family, unlimited PTO, 401(k) with matching, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and a generous Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Check out our Life at Upwork page to learn more about our benefits and the employee experience.

Check out our Life at Upwork page to learn more about the employee experience.

Upwork is proudly committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.