Databricks

Head of Travel & Expense

Databricks$209K — $288K *
Business Services
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's in Finance, Business, Supply Chain, Hospitality, or a related field.
  • 10+ years of leadership experience in Travel, Expense, or Finance Operations.
  • Proven experience with T&E transformation in high-growth environments.
  • Expertise in global T&E programs and cross-border transformations.
  • Strong operational leadership translating strategy into execution.
  • Familiarity with AI-enabled operations and workflow automation.
  • MBA, CPA, CTP, or related certification preferred.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the transformation of the T&E program into a digital-first experience.
  • Create a frictionless employee experience for travel and expenses.
  • Build a scalable global T&E roadmap with clear KPIs and dashboards.
  • Oversee global travel operations and regional travel strategies.
  • Manage travel partners to optimize spend and service levels.
  • Partner with Security and HR for traveler safety and crisis response.
  • Implement intelligent expense capabilities with automation and AI.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive benefits and perks tailored to employee needs.
Full Job Description
GAQ327R263

While candidates in the listed location(s) are encouraged for this role, candidates in other locations will be considered.

We are seeking a strategic, operationally strong Head of Travel & Expense to lead and modernize our global travel, expense, and corporate spend ecosystem. This leader will drive a digital-first, highly scalable program that improves the employee experience while strengthening governance, compliance, and financial discipline across a fast-growing global organization.

This role is ideal for a builder who can define future-state strategy while also leading hands-on execution, operational rigor, and measurable outcomes. The successful candidate will partner closely across Finance, Procurement, IT, HR, Security, and Operations to create a seamless and future-ready T&E model.

The impact you will have:
  • Lead the transformation of the T&E program into a modern, automated, digital-first experience, including AI-enabled workflows, touchless expense processing, automated audit controls, and intelligent policy enforcement.
  • Create a frictionless employee experience across booking, expense submission, approvals, reimbursements, and support while simplifying processes and reducing manual work.
  • Build a scalable global T&E roadmap that balances agility, governance, employee experience, and operational efficiency, with clear KPIs, dashboards, and change management to support adoption.
  • Oversee global business travel operations across air, hotel, ground transportation, meetings, and traveler support, while shaping regional travel strategies for a distributed workforce.
  • Manage travel partners and supplier relationships to improve service levels, optimize spend, and support evolving business needs.
  • Partner with Security and HR to strengthen traveler safety, duty of care, and crisis response capabilities.
  • Lead enterprise expense reimbursement and corporate card programs with a focus on automation, compliance, scalability, and employee experience.
  • Implement intelligent expense capabilities such as auto-generated reports, AI auditing, receipt automation, and policy-driven workflows, while simplifying approvals and accelerating reimbursement cycles.
  • Partner closely with AP, Payroll, and Finance Operations to streamline end-to-end financial processes.
  • Own the T&E technology ecosystem, including platforms such as Emburse, Egencia, AppZen, and corporate card integrations; partner with IT and Finance Systems on integrations, APIs, and analytics.
  • Ensure strong policy governance, financial controls, audit readiness, and compliance with global tax, regulatory, data privacy, and regional travel requirements.
  • Build and lead a high-performing global team, develop leadership bench strength, and influence cross-functional stakeholders in a complex, fast-moving environment.

What we look for:
  • Bachelor's degree in Finance, Business, Supply Chain, Hospitality, Information Systems, or a related field.
  • 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in Travel, Expense, Procurement, Finance Operations, Shared Services, or related functions.
  • Proven success leading T&E transformation, automation, or digital modernization initiatives in high-growth or fast-paced organizations.
  • Experience leading global or multinational T&E programs and managing regional operations and cross-border transformation efforts.
  • Strong operational leadership with the ability to translate strategy into scalable execution.
  • Deep expertise in T&E platforms, workflow automation, corporate card programs, and expense technologies.
  • Strong understanding of AI-enabled operations, process redesign, and scalable service delivery models.
  • Exceptional stakeholder management, communication, and change leadership skills, with the ability to lead through ambiguity and evolving business priorities.
  • Experience leading global or multinational T&E programs.
  • MBA, CPA, CTP, or related certification preferred.
  • Lean Six Sigma, automation, or digital transformation experience strongly preferred.


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 base 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 anticipated 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.

Zone 1 Pay Range

$209,500-$288,100 USD

Zone 2 Pay Range

$188,600-$259,250 USD

Zone 3 Pay Range

$178,100-$244,850 USD

Zone 4 Pay Range

$167,600-$230,450 USD

BenefitsAt 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.

About Databricks

Databricks is a unified analytics platform that provides data engineering, collaborative data science, and machine learning capabilities. The company was founded in 2013 by the original creators of Apache Spark, a popular open-source big data processing engine. Databricks provides a cloud-based platform that allows data teams to collaborate and build data pipelines, run machine learning models, and perform advanced analytics. The company has raised over $1 billion in funding and is valued at $38 billion as of November 2021.
Learn more about Databricks
Size
2,000 employees
Industry
Founded
2013

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