Strategic Overview
Product Finance Director, R&D Capital Allocation & Engineering Operations at Databricks is a leadership opportunity centered on the specialist responsibilities and outcomes described in the employer's listing.
The published role emphasizes work such as Drive product-level ROI and R&D capital allocation Establish frameworks to measure product-level ROI across a fast-moving platform like Databricks where engineering velocity is extremely high.
The role is listed for Mountain View, California / San Francisco, California / Seattle, Washington with the working arrangement published with the role, giving candidates the practical context needed to assess fit before applying.
Key information at a glance
About This Role
(GAQ427R231)
About the role
As Databricks scales at unprecedented velocity, how we invest our R&D capital—both human and compute—is critical to our scale. We are looking for a Product Finance leader to own R&D capital allocation and engineering operations. You will be a key finance partner to our senior Engineering and Product Operations leaders, with a mandate that spans product-level R&D ROI, global workforce and location strategy, and the…
Key Responsibilities & Objectives
- Drive product-level ROI and R&D capital allocation
- Establish frameworks to measure product-level ROI across a fast-moving platform like Databricks where engineering velocity is extremely high.
- Partner with Engineering to model how AI developer tooling and internal token spend scale alongside headcount, quantifying the tradeoff between human capital and compute capital.
- Measure the end-to-end cost of AI-enabled engineering, including the second-order impact on cloud spend, and partner with Engineering to optimize investments.
Required Qualifications & Candidate Blueprint
- 10+ years of experience in Strategic/Product Finance or R&D FP&A.
- A proven track record of partnering directly with senior Engineering, Product Operations, and People/Workplace executives to drive capital allocation and operational rigor.
- Systems-level thinker with a demonstrated ability to re-engineer financial processes from scratch—spanning headcount tracking, procurement, close, and SOX controls—to support rapid scale.
Salary & Benefits
Published compensation: Zone 1: $223,800 – $307,650 USD · Zone 2: $201,400 – $276,850 USD
Full Job Description
The following is the complete job description supplied by the source. We sanitize unsafe markup and remove external links, but do not shorten or rewrite the employer's source content.
(GAQ427R231)
About the role
As Databricks scales at unprecedented velocity, how we invest our R&D capital—both human and compute—is critical to our scale. We are looking for a Product Finance leader to own R&D capital allocation and engineering operations. You will be a key finance partner to our senior Engineering and Product Operations leaders, with a mandate that spans product-level R&D ROI, global workforce and location strategy, and the rapidly evolving economics of AI-enabled software development.
The impact you will have
- Drive product-level ROI and R&D capital allocation
- Establish frameworks to measure product-level ROI across a fast-moving platform like Databricks where engineering velocity is extremely high.
- Operationalize ROI metrics so they directly inform product investment and resource allocation decisions.
- Define engineering economics in the AI era
- Partner with Engineering to model how AI developer tooling and internal token spend scale alongside headcount, quantifying the tradeoff between human capital and compute capital.
- Measure the end-to-end cost of AI-enabled engineering, including the second-order impact on cloud spend, and partner with Engineering to optimize investments.
- Shape global workforce and location strategy
- Drive multi-year headcount planning across global engineering hubs, balancing cost per hire, talent density, and university recruiting pipelines.
- Partner closely with Workplace and Facilities leadership to synchronize R&D hiring roadmaps with global real estate strategy and multi-year CapEx planning.
- Scale R&D finance operations and build the team
- Bring systems-level thinking to R&D finance operations, building scalable, automated workflows across headcount management, PO planning, monthly accruals, and SOX audit compliance.
- Dogfood the Databricks platform to modernize internal finance tooling and deliver self-serve operational visibility to engineering leaders.
- Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing team of finance professionals capable of operating seamlessly across strategic capital allocation and rigorous operational execution.
What we look for
- Required
- 10+ years of experience in Strategic/Product Finance or R&D FP&A.
- Deep experience managing large-scale R&D OpEx, headcount capacity modeling, and multi-site workforce planning within a high-growth enterprise software or cloud company.
- A proven track record of partnering directly with senior Engineering, Product Operations, and People/Workplace executives to drive capital allocation and operational rigor.
- Systems-level thinker with a demonstrated ability to re-engineer financial processes from scratch—spanning headcount tracking, procurement, close, and SOX controls—to support rapid scale.
- Experience building, leading, and developing high-output finance teams in fast-moving environments.
- Preferred
- Direct experience analyzing cloud dev/test infrastructure and AI tooling/token costs.
- Experience attributing shared engineering and platform R&D costs across a complex, multi-product portfolio to establish product-level profitability.
- Hands-on proficiency with SQL, Python, or notebook environments (especially Databricks) to automate reporting and self-serve insights from large operational datasets.
Pay Range Transparency
Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here.
Pay Range Transparency
Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here.
About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.
Benefits
At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here.
Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.
Compliance
If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.
Editor’s Market Perspective (Our Custom Analysis)
Why This Position Matters
This leadership opening is a useful opportunity for candidates whose experience matches the role-specific capabilities named in the listing. Its strongest career signal is the scope of the work itself — particularly Drive product-level ROI and R&D capital allocation — rather than a generic title alone.
Resume & Application Strategy
For the application, mirror the employer's language where it truthfully matches your background: foreground the role-specific capabilities named in the listing, quantify outcomes from comparable work, and place the most relevant experience near the top of the resume. If the listing specifies tools, platforms, leadership scope, or domain experience, use those exact terms in context instead of presenting an unrelated keyword list.
We organize source-provided information into this independent job-seeker overview. Compensation is shown only when the source provides it; the official listing remains the authority for current requirements and application instructions.