Salesforce
Sr. Director, Strategic Readiness Programs
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Sr. Director, Strategic Readiness Programs
role at
Salesforce .
Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here ambition meets action, tech meets trust, and innovation isn’t a buzzword – it’s a way of life. The world of work is changing and we’re looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.
As a senior leader within Strategic Readiness Programs on the CIC Strategic Programs team, this role is accountable for driving the end‑to‑end definition, deployment, and execution of high‑visibility product innovation launches. Operating at the intersection of Technology & Product (T&P) and Cloud Success, this role partners with Cloud Leaders to ensure operational readiness, advocate for customer success, and mitigate risk associated with launching new innovations at scale.
Key Responsibilities Strategy & Program Governance
Define the Operating Model: Establish and scale the operating model, governance structure, and success metrics for the Strategic Programs Big Bets Team, driving a clear mandate for high‑risk, high‑visibility New Product Introductions (NPIs).
Strategic Risk Mitigation: Proactively identify the scope, complexity, and inherent risks of proposed platform, infrastructure, or product changes ("Big Bets"), surfacing implications and business cases for targeted investment scenarios (e.g. ring‑fenced resources, hyper‑care motions).
Data‑Led Business Decisions: Maintain a deep understanding of the business, impact metrics, Customer Success and corporate priorities, and cross‑functional dependencies to make informed, data‑led decisions that prioritize the right outcomes for both customers and business objectives.
Integrated Roadmap Ownership: Develop and own integrated roadmaps for all enablement, documentation, and customer communications, ensuring a successful, coordinated adoption of critical changes.
Executive Visibility & Accountability: Establish robust governance and provide executive‑level visibility of key program aspects, driving data‑driven accountability for achieving critical launch and adoption goals.
End‑to‑End Launch Readiness
E2E Orchestration: Lead the team to drive full end‑to‑end launch readiness and obtain stakeholder sign‑off across all Clouds and supporting business units (including Offers, Account Success, Renewals, GTM, and Training) to reduce organizational noise and misalignment across high‑stakes launches.
Customer‑Centric Requirements: Act as the sponsor for Customer Success (CS) requirements (e.g., Serviceability, Success Plans, Purpose‑built product enablement) to ensure Technology & Product (T&P) leadership visibility and action, in close partnership with Cloud Success leadership.
Expertise Building & Enablement: Quickly build technical expertise in new products and features and lead the scalable development and distribution of high‑quality enablement content (FAQs, call scripts, knowledge articles, webinars) to the broader Customer Success organization.
GTM Oversight: Oversee evaluation of Go‑to‑Market (GTM), Offer implications, and entitlement gaps, ensuring a clear and effective customer journey from product announcement to adoption.
Cross‑Functional Influence & Quality
Quality and Gap Closure: Actively address critical product launch gaps, ensuring Customer Success stakeholder needs are met and closing product quality issues and enablement deficiencies that impede delivery teams.
Voice of the Customer (VoC) & Advocacy: Represent the customer perspective ensuring adoption challenges and requirements are surfaced through the appropriate channels to influence product roadmap and design decisions.
Product Feedback Loops: Oversee pre‑GA product feedback loops in partnership with Cloud Success leadership, ensuring bugs, dependencies, feature gaps, and telemetry issues are surfaced to the appropriate Product and Engineering teams to minimize customer‑facing issues and escalations at launch.
Strategic Liaison: Act as a strategic partner and liaison to Cloud Success leadership, ensuring readiness priorities and customer‑impact considerations are consistently represented in cross‑functional business planning with Product and Engineering (e.g., QBRs) to inform and influence overall Cloud strategy.
Team Leadership & Impact
Team Management & Mentorship: Manage, mentor, and inspire a team of subject matter experts (SMEs), guiding them to create holistic Points of View (POVs) and strategic approaches for customer success.
Executive Stakeholder Management: Cultivate and maintain key executive‑level relationships across T&P and Customer Success to garner buy‑in, facilitate Success methods on the V2MOM, and drive cross‑organizational collaboration.
Data‑Led Approach: Ensure all team activities are data‑driven and measurable, continuously monitoring impact and adjusting approaches as needed.
Measure and Drive Impact: Define, track, and report on key impact metrics related to program success, specifically focusing on:
Proactive case deflection and reduction.
Decreasing bugs/escalations at launch (reducing Attrition Risk).
Achieving faster internal ramp‑up and resolution time (accelerating Time‑to‑Value, TTV).
Own Portfolio Prioritization: Own the prioritization of strategic initiatives and readiness work for the overall assigned product portfolio, making recommendations for continuous success plan improvements.
Experience
10+ years experience in Customer Success or Product Management leadership role in the SaaS industry.
5+ years experience leading large, cross‑functional teams focused on New Product Introduction (NPI) or Product Launch Management.
Track record of developing teams of subject matter experts who deliver against strategic business initiatives; proven ability to set a vision, excite and lead cross‑functional teams.
Demonstrated success managing teams and collaborating with senior leadership across different functions.
Proven record of influencing outcomes with both technical and non‑technical senior leaders across different functions.
Deep understanding of the end‑to‑end customer and internal lifecycle in a cloud environment (e.g., sales, service, enablement, support, operations).
Proven ability to influence and align Executive Leadership Team (ELT) stakeholders across product, engineering, and sales organizations.
Skills & Expertise
Executive Presence & Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, the proven ability to distill complex technical and program information into clear, actionable executive summaries for the C‑Suite.
Strategic Agility & Prioritization: Forward‑looking perspective, accurately anticipating future consequences and market trends, with the ability to quickly shift focus and direction.
Organizational Acumen: Knowledgeable about how large, complex organizations work, including navigating formal and informal networks.
Results‑Oriented & Action‑Oriented: Exceptional operational rigor and a steadfast drive for results, consistently exceeding goals with a strong bottom‑line orientation.
Critical & Strategic Thinking: Synthesizes a broad array of information, identifies underlying themes, and develops clear, tactical plans to drive meaningful business changes.
Decision Quality & Negotiating: Makes sound decisions based on analysis and experience, negotiates skillfully in complex situations.
Influential Leadership: Proven leader adept at keeping teams motivated, informed, and engaged while effectively communicating rationale behind complex business decisions.
Conflict & Stakeholder Management: Steps up to conflicts, employing focused listening to settle disputes equitably.
Subject Matter Expertise & Partnership: Applies deep domain and product knowledge to directly influence product leaders’ priorities and design decisions.
Accommodations If you require assistance due to a disability applying for open positions please submit a request via the Accommodations Request Form.
Posting Statement Salesforce is an equal‑opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non‑discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. We believe in equality for all and lead the path to inclusion by creating a workplace that’s inclusive and free from discrimination. All hiring decisions are based on merit, competence and qualifications, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law.
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. For Washington‑based roles the base salary range is $207,100 to $315,900. For Illinois‑based roles the range is $207,100 to $315,900. For Massachusetts‑based roles the range is $207,100 to $315,900.
Seniority Level Not Applicable
Employment Type Full‑time
Job Function Project Management and Information Technology
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Sr. Director, Strategic Readiness Programs
role at
Salesforce .
Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here ambition meets action, tech meets trust, and innovation isn’t a buzzword – it’s a way of life. The world of work is changing and we’re looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.
As a senior leader within Strategic Readiness Programs on the CIC Strategic Programs team, this role is accountable for driving the end‑to‑end definition, deployment, and execution of high‑visibility product innovation launches. Operating at the intersection of Technology & Product (T&P) and Cloud Success, this role partners with Cloud Leaders to ensure operational readiness, advocate for customer success, and mitigate risk associated with launching new innovations at scale.
Key Responsibilities Strategy & Program Governance
Define the Operating Model: Establish and scale the operating model, governance structure, and success metrics for the Strategic Programs Big Bets Team, driving a clear mandate for high‑risk, high‑visibility New Product Introductions (NPIs).
Strategic Risk Mitigation: Proactively identify the scope, complexity, and inherent risks of proposed platform, infrastructure, or product changes ("Big Bets"), surfacing implications and business cases for targeted investment scenarios (e.g. ring‑fenced resources, hyper‑care motions).
Data‑Led Business Decisions: Maintain a deep understanding of the business, impact metrics, Customer Success and corporate priorities, and cross‑functional dependencies to make informed, data‑led decisions that prioritize the right outcomes for both customers and business objectives.
Integrated Roadmap Ownership: Develop and own integrated roadmaps for all enablement, documentation, and customer communications, ensuring a successful, coordinated adoption of critical changes.
Executive Visibility & Accountability: Establish robust governance and provide executive‑level visibility of key program aspects, driving data‑driven accountability for achieving critical launch and adoption goals.
End‑to‑End Launch Readiness
E2E Orchestration: Lead the team to drive full end‑to‑end launch readiness and obtain stakeholder sign‑off across all Clouds and supporting business units (including Offers, Account Success, Renewals, GTM, and Training) to reduce organizational noise and misalignment across high‑stakes launches.
Customer‑Centric Requirements: Act as the sponsor for Customer Success (CS) requirements (e.g., Serviceability, Success Plans, Purpose‑built product enablement) to ensure Technology & Product (T&P) leadership visibility and action, in close partnership with Cloud Success leadership.
Expertise Building & Enablement: Quickly build technical expertise in new products and features and lead the scalable development and distribution of high‑quality enablement content (FAQs, call scripts, knowledge articles, webinars) to the broader Customer Success organization.
GTM Oversight: Oversee evaluation of Go‑to‑Market (GTM), Offer implications, and entitlement gaps, ensuring a clear and effective customer journey from product announcement to adoption.
Cross‑Functional Influence & Quality
Quality and Gap Closure: Actively address critical product launch gaps, ensuring Customer Success stakeholder needs are met and closing product quality issues and enablement deficiencies that impede delivery teams.
Voice of the Customer (VoC) & Advocacy: Represent the customer perspective ensuring adoption challenges and requirements are surfaced through the appropriate channels to influence product roadmap and design decisions.
Product Feedback Loops: Oversee pre‑GA product feedback loops in partnership with Cloud Success leadership, ensuring bugs, dependencies, feature gaps, and telemetry issues are surfaced to the appropriate Product and Engineering teams to minimize customer‑facing issues and escalations at launch.
Strategic Liaison: Act as a strategic partner and liaison to Cloud Success leadership, ensuring readiness priorities and customer‑impact considerations are consistently represented in cross‑functional business planning with Product and Engineering (e.g., QBRs) to inform and influence overall Cloud strategy.
Team Leadership & Impact
Team Management & Mentorship: Manage, mentor, and inspire a team of subject matter experts (SMEs), guiding them to create holistic Points of View (POVs) and strategic approaches for customer success.
Executive Stakeholder Management: Cultivate and maintain key executive‑level relationships across T&P and Customer Success to garner buy‑in, facilitate Success methods on the V2MOM, and drive cross‑organizational collaboration.
Data‑Led Approach: Ensure all team activities are data‑driven and measurable, continuously monitoring impact and adjusting approaches as needed.
Measure and Drive Impact: Define, track, and report on key impact metrics related to program success, specifically focusing on:
Proactive case deflection and reduction.
Decreasing bugs/escalations at launch (reducing Attrition Risk).
Achieving faster internal ramp‑up and resolution time (accelerating Time‑to‑Value, TTV).
Own Portfolio Prioritization: Own the prioritization of strategic initiatives and readiness work for the overall assigned product portfolio, making recommendations for continuous success plan improvements.
Experience
10+ years experience in Customer Success or Product Management leadership role in the SaaS industry.
5+ years experience leading large, cross‑functional teams focused on New Product Introduction (NPI) or Product Launch Management.
Track record of developing teams of subject matter experts who deliver against strategic business initiatives; proven ability to set a vision, excite and lead cross‑functional teams.
Demonstrated success managing teams and collaborating with senior leadership across different functions.
Proven record of influencing outcomes with both technical and non‑technical senior leaders across different functions.
Deep understanding of the end‑to‑end customer and internal lifecycle in a cloud environment (e.g., sales, service, enablement, support, operations).
Proven ability to influence and align Executive Leadership Team (ELT) stakeholders across product, engineering, and sales organizations.
Skills & Expertise
Executive Presence & Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, the proven ability to distill complex technical and program information into clear, actionable executive summaries for the C‑Suite.
Strategic Agility & Prioritization: Forward‑looking perspective, accurately anticipating future consequences and market trends, with the ability to quickly shift focus and direction.
Organizational Acumen: Knowledgeable about how large, complex organizations work, including navigating formal and informal networks.
Results‑Oriented & Action‑Oriented: Exceptional operational rigor and a steadfast drive for results, consistently exceeding goals with a strong bottom‑line orientation.
Critical & Strategic Thinking: Synthesizes a broad array of information, identifies underlying themes, and develops clear, tactical plans to drive meaningful business changes.
Decision Quality & Negotiating: Makes sound decisions based on analysis and experience, negotiates skillfully in complex situations.
Influential Leadership: Proven leader adept at keeping teams motivated, informed, and engaged while effectively communicating rationale behind complex business decisions.
Conflict & Stakeholder Management: Steps up to conflicts, employing focused listening to settle disputes equitably.
Subject Matter Expertise & Partnership: Applies deep domain and product knowledge to directly influence product leaders’ priorities and design decisions.
Accommodations If you require assistance due to a disability applying for open positions please submit a request via the Accommodations Request Form.
Posting Statement Salesforce is an equal‑opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non‑discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. We believe in equality for all and lead the path to inclusion by creating a workplace that’s inclusive and free from discrimination. All hiring decisions are based on merit, competence and qualifications, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law.
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. For Washington‑based roles the base salary range is $207,100 to $315,900. For Illinois‑based roles the range is $207,100 to $315,900. For Massachusetts‑based roles the range is $207,100 to $315,900.
Seniority Level Not Applicable
Employment Type Full‑time
Job Function Project Management and Information Technology
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