About the TeamThe team's mission is to identify gaps, eliminate friction, and ensure a cohesive, efficient, and delightful experience for all developers through strategic coordination with existing specialized teams and targeted gap remediation.
About the RoleThe VP Developer Experiencewill lead a geographically dispersed team that serves as the central coordination hub for improving the end-to-end developer journey across our organization.
This is a crucial leadership position responsible for driving the necessary organizational transformation within the broader engineering organization.
Key areas of focus include:- AI Tooling and Organizational Structure: Analyzing the impact of AI tooling across the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) on our organizational structure (e.g., single points of contact (SPOC), organizational layers, token budgets).
- AI-First Process Adaptation:Reworking and adapting our SDLC processes to thrive in an AI-first environment.
ResponsibilitiesStrategic Leadership and Vision- Develop comprehensive DevEx strategy: Create and execute a holistic developer experience roadmap that spans organizational boundaries and aligns with business objectives
- Establish organizational presence: Build the Developer Experience function from the ground up, defining its role, scope, and value proposition across the organization
- Drive AI and automation integration: Lead the adoption of AI development tools, intelligent automation techniques, and end-to-end process optimization to systematically eliminate friction
- Champion data-driven decision making: Implement measurement frameworks and analytics to continuously assess and improve developer experience health
Organizational Assessment and Coordination- Map existing DevEx landscape: Conduct comprehensive assessment to identify all current developer experience initiatives across application development, design systems, platform development, CI/CD pipelines, environments, and other specialized teams
- Establish coordination framework: Create cross-functional collaboration processes to align existing teams and eliminate duplicated efforts
- Identify critical gaps: Analyze the complete developer journey from onboarding to production deployment to prioritize highest-impact improvement opportunities
- Build stakeholder relationships: Develop strong partnerships with engineering leadership, product teams, platform teams, and other key stakeholders
Team Building and Execution- Build and lead DevEx team: Recruit, hire, and develop a team of DevEx professionals including analysts, coordinators, and developer advocates
- Establish operating model: Create sustainable processes for ongoing gap analysis, project coordination, and continuous improvement
- Implement feedback systems: Design and deploy mechanisms for collecting, analyzing, and acting on developer feedback across all touchpoints
- Drive measurable outcomes: Lead initiatives to achieve specific targets including improved developer velocity, reduced onboarding time, and increased satisfaction scores
Standards and Best Practices- Define DevEx standards: Establish organization-wide standards for developer tooling, documentation, and processes
- Create best practice frameworks: Develop and maintain guidelines for developer experience improvements across all teams
- Ensure consistency: Drive coherent user experience across different development tools and platforms
- Foster continuous improvement: Build culture of ongoing optimization and innovation in developer experience
About YouKey Qualifications- Experience:10+ years of experience in software development, developer advocacy, or a similar technical leadership role, with a significant portion focused on enterprise SaaS platforms. 5+ years in a leadership/management capacity.
- Technical Expertise:Deep understanding of SDK development, and a broad range of programming languages and development tools. Familiarity with cloud platforms and CI/CD practices.
- Developer-Centric Mindset:A genuine passion for developers and a strong empathy for their needs and challenges. Proven ability to think like a developer.
- Strategic Thinker:Ability to develop and execute a long-term vision for developer experience, aligning it with business objectives.
- Excellent Communicator:Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills. Ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Leadership & Team Building:Proven ability to build, mentor, and motivate high-performing technical teams.
- Collaboration Skills:Strong interpersonal skills and a proven ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
- Data-Driven:Experience using data and metrics to measure success and drive decision-making.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience building or significantly contributing to a successful developer platform for an enterprise SaaS product.
- Active participation in developer communities and open-source projects.
- Advanced degree in Computer Science or a related field.
Workday Pay Transparency StatementThe annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process. Each candidate's compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, job duties, and business need, among other things. For more information regarding Workday's comprehensive benefits, please click here.
Primary Location: USA.CA.Pleasanton
Primary Location Base Pay Range: $308,000 USD - $462,000 USD
Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $308,000 USD - $462,000 USD
Our Approach to Flexible WorkWith Flex Work, we're combining the best of both worlds: in-person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in-office each week, we simply
spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.
