Role SummaryWe are seeking a
Digital Workplace Operations Lead to be the operational and technical anchor for a team that owns the platforms the entire company works on - Google Workspace, Atlassian (Jira/Confluence), Slack, Zoom, AV, AI tooling, and the security, licensing, and custom solutions that surround them. This role balances delivery ownership, process discipline, and hands-on technical judgment. You will lead a mixed team of engineers and program/project managers, own the operating cadence, and act as the senior point of contact for key stakeholders who expect a direct, accountable owner rather than a hand-off.
You'll partner closely with senior leadership to drive clarity, alignment, and impact across the organization while also acting as a key external-facing representative of the business. This role reports directly to the
Sr. Manager, Digital Workplace and is 3 days flex a week in our Irvine, California office
Responsibilities- Delivery Ownership - Own end-to-end delivery across two lanes of work: roadmap-driven platform programs (sprints and milestone delivery) and operational service engineering covering run-the-business support, fast-turn business requests, and SLA-bound incident and request work.
- Operating Rhythm - Run the team's weekly operating cadence - sprint planning, standups, priority and PM syncs - and keep cross-squad dependencies visible and unblocked.
- Stakeholder Management - Serve as the senior technical and operational point of contact for key stakeholders, providing direct ownership and continuity on commitments.
- Program Delivery - Drive delivery on critical migration and platform programs (e.g., ServiceNow 12 JSM, Google decoupling, Microsoft tenant migration, app rationalization), partnering with program/project managers on scope, timeline, and risk.
- Operational Hygiene - Set and enforce operational discipline across the platforms we own - change review before production changes, documentation standards, and ownership clarity across every squad.
- Problem Management - Establish a problem-management mindset: identify recurring platform issues, trigger root-cause analysis, and ensure permanent fixes rather than repeat firefighting.
- Team Leadership and Development - Lead, mentor, and develop engineers and PMs. Create clear ownership and accountability so work doesn't route back through a single point of escalation.
- Reporting and Analysis - Own platform reliability and performance reporting - SLA adherence, backlog health, incident and request trends - and report regularly to leadership.
- Security and Compliance - Partner with the Security & Compliance function to ensure platforms meet governance, audit, and identity/SSO requirements.
- Automation and Self-Service - Drive automation and self-service across collaboration and productivity workflows to reduce manual operational load.
- Licensing and Vendor Management - Support licensing optimization and vendor performance, ensuring contracted outcomes and SLAs are met.
- Roadmap Contribution - Contribute to the Digital Workplace roadmap and continuous-improvement initiatives as an active voice on platform direction.
Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
- 7+ years in IT engineering, platform operations, or digital workplace/collaboration engineering, with 2+ years leading people or owning delivery for a team.
- Hands-on depth in one or more core collaboration platforms - Google Workspace, Atlassian (Jira/Confluence), Slack, or Zoom - and the judgment to lead across the full stack.
- Proven ability to run a delivery cadence across mixed work types (project work, fast-turn requests, and operational support) and drive accountability without micromanaging.
- Strong understanding of ITIL/ITSM practices (Incident, Problem, Change, Service Request) and how they apply to platform operations.
- Experience leading platform migrations or large change programs end to end.
- Excellent stakeholder management - comfortable being the accountable owner in front of demanding internal and partner stakeholders.
- Comfort working in a fast-moving, scaling environment with ambiguity and shifting priorities.
- Bias toward automation, root-cause elimination, documentation, and operational excellence.
- Experience with IT service management tools (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira Service Management).
Preferred Qualifications
- Familiarity with infrastructure monitoring tools.
- Experience with vendor contract negotiation and management.
- Project management experience or certification (e.g., PMP).
- Exposure to AI/productivity tooling and platform governance (e.g., Glean, Gemini, Claude, developer tooling) is a plus.
Total RewardsFull-time positions include base salary, eligibility for an annual performance bonus, and eligibility for equity.
In addition to base salary, Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies offers benefits tailored to the local market. For more information on the benefits available for full-time employees, check out our Global Benefits Site.
External candidates can apply for this role through the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies careers site (https://rivianvw.tech/#careers). If you are a current employee, please apply through our internal job board
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