Senior Director, R&D Planning & Operations

Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human Identity is the key to unlocking the potential of AI. Okta secures AI by building the trusted, neutral infrastructure that enables organizations to safely embrace this new era. This work requires a relentless drive to solve complex challenges with real-world stakes. We are looking for builders and owners who operate with speed and urgency and execute with excellence. This is an opportunity to do career-defining work. We're all in on this mission. If you are too, let's talk. We are looking for a seasoned operations leader to run the financial and workforce operating engine for Okta's Product & Technology organization — a 2,000+ person R&D function spanning the Okta Platform (ORD) and Auth0. The team is accountable for the budget and workforce strategy components of the R&D Operating Plan, program spend and budget governance, financial compliance including Capitalized Software and R&D tax credit capture, vendor operations, and headcount governance in partnership with Recruiting. The team also runs the annual goal-setting process and the operating cadence that tracks R&D performance against those goals. This is a role that demands real depth in engineering finance operations alongside the organizational judgment to translate executive strategy into a defensible budget and a credible hiring plan. This role sits within Okta's R&D ("ORD") organization, reporting to the Head of Strategy & Operations and Chief of Staff to the President of Okta R&D. This role is hub-based: it sits in San Francisco, Seattle or Chicago, and candidates must live within commutable distance of one of those offices. We expect this leader to work from the office multiple days each week. Job Duties / What This Role Entails • Own the budget and workforce strategy components of the R&D Operating Plan, translating corporate strategy and the long-range plan into a fully resourced annual plan across ORD and Auth0. • Direct R&D budget governance for a 2,000+ person organization — program spend oversight, variance reporting, fiscal discipline, and executive-level budget reviews with the President of Okta R&D and Finance leadership. • Own and evolve the P&L framework for R&D lines of business, arming executive leadership with the cost and investment data behind portfolio decisions. • Model, govern and optimize AI token spend across the P&T organization — establish the cost baseline and forecasting model, build the framework for measuring return on that spend, and partner with engineering leaders to drive efficiency as consumption scales. • Lead engineering cost modeling, and partner with FP&A and Deal Desk on account-specific margin analysis to support pricing, packaging and large-deal decisions. • Own financial compliance for R&D, including Capitalized Software entries and maximizing US/Canada R&D tax credit capture. • Build and own the P&T expense data platform on Snowflake to enable clean line-of-business cost distribution and self-service cost visibility for engineering leaders. • Set the fiscal year workforce strategy in partnership with Recruiting leadership — headcount governance, real-time allocation tracking, backfills, organizational growth mapping, and location strategy. • Own the contingent workforce program end to end, including contractor and agency lifecycle, capacity and spend. • Own vendor operations for R&D — third-party relationships, capacity management, contract renewals, and performance SLAs. • Continuously refine the financial and workforce operating processes to eliminate friction and ensure the organization scales efficiently as it grows. • Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to develop the fiscal year goals and OKRs for the R&D organization, and run the program cadence — monthly