Global Head of Sales Strategy and Operations

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

About you 

You’re a collaborative, data-driven, and creative problem-solver who loves diving into the details. You thrive in dynamic environments like ours where you can strategically build systems, processes, and tools to create best-in-class customer experiences. You love influencing our company’s growth journey and enabling our internal go-to-market teams to efficiently generate revenue and scale.

About this role 

As the Director of Global Sales Operations, you will play a pivotal role in driving the strategic and operational effectiveness of the Udemy Business sales organization. This position is responsible for aligning our sales processes, systems, and strategies to achieve our revenue goals and improve sales productivity. Reporting to the VP of Revenue Operations, you’ll lead a team that drives forecasting accuracy, pipeline management, sales analytics, and process optimization in order to empower our team and support the company’s growth trajectory. 

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.You will collaborate closely with global sales leadership, while ensuring alignment with other key business functions such as Marketing, Customer Success, Partners and Finance. You will lead a direct team of Regional Sales Ops Partners and Sales Compensation Leads.

What you’ll be doing

Sales Operations Management & Process Optimization: 

• Drive financial and operational success by supporting sales leadership and ensuring consistent achievement of quarterly results through effective planning and execution.
• Lead the sales operations team to manage key sales processes, including forecasting, pipeline management, and quota and capacity planning, while also overseeing compensation and revenue operations for Sales and Customer Success.
• Enhance productivity and streamline operations by optimizing sales workflows, systems, and technologies, and support sales enablement programs to equip the sales team with essential tools, resources, and training for revenue growth.

Performance Analytics and Reporting:

• Establish OKRs and metrics to evaluate sales performance, productivity, and revenue growth, conducting regular reviews (e.g., weekly forecasts, Monthly and Quarterly Business Reviews) to analyze sales data and generate actionable insights for continuous improvement.
• Provide data-driven insights and recommendations by analyzing historical performance, preparing and presenting comprehensive sales reports, forecasts, and dashboards to executive leadership and stakeholders.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Serve as the primary business partner to the Regional Sales Leaders, offering strategic guidance and collaborating with marketing, customer success, and finance teams to align sales strategies with business objectives, pricing strategies, and budget guidelines.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives to enhance customer acquisition, retention, and upsell opportunities by leveraging data-driven insights and customer feedback.

Sales Strategy Alignment:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive sales strategy, including segmentation and coverage models, to align with company goals and objectives, while identifying growth opportunities and market positioning strategies through analysis of market trends, customer insights, and competitive landscape.
• Partner with executive leadership to set sales targets, forecast performance, and track key metrics to ensure alignment with strategic goals and measure success effectively.

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 have:

• 8+ years of experience in Sales Operations, preferably within a global, high-growth, BtoB SaaS environment of preferably $500M+ ARR. 
• Proven experience leading a Sales Operations team with a track record of driving significant improvements in sales performance and operational efficiency, including but not limited to compensation, territory, and capacity models.
• Strong background in data analytics and proficiency in using reporting tools and dashboards to drive insights.
• Experience with forecasting, pipeline management, and supporting quota and compensation management.
• Demonstrated success in process improvement and strategic planning for scaling sales organizations.
• Ability to influence sales execution and lead change management initiatives.

About your skills: 

• Operational Excellence: Ability to translate high-level company goals into actionable, efficient operational strategies within the sales organization to drive consistent performance and process improvement.
• Analytical Proficiency: Strong data analysis skills to interpret metrics, generate insights, and drive informed decision-making.
• Leadership and Collaboration: Proven ability to lead a team and work cross-functionally with different departments to achieve strategic goals.
• Technology and CRM Expertise: Deep knowledge of CRM systems and sales enablement tools, with the ability to optimize and streamline sales technology integrations.

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

• 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.