Director, Business Operations Full Time

Here at Appian, our values of Intensity and Excellence define who we are. We set high standards and live up to them, ensuring that everything we do is done with care and quality. We approach every challenge with ambition and commitment, holding ourselves and each other accountable to achieve the best results. When you join Appian, you’ll be part of a passionate team dedicated to accomplishing hard things, together.

Appian is seeking a Director of Business Operations to drive high-priority strategic and operational initiatives across the company. In this role, you will sit at the intersection of operations, analytics, finance, and product management, working closely with executive leadership to identify and solve our most complex business problems.

This position requires a driven self-starter who can communicate effectively with senior leadership and successfully juggle multiple competing priorities. You are someone who takes projects from ideation to final execution, delivers value quickly, and thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced SaaS environment.

This role is based at our HQ in McLean, VA. Appian was built on a culture of in-person collaboration, which we believe is a key driver of our mission to be the best. Employees hired for this position are expected to be in the office 5 days a week to foster that culture and ensure we continue to thrive through shared ideas and teamwork. We believe being in the office provides more opportunities to come together and celebrate working with the exceptional people across Appian.

What You’ll Do

• Strategic Decision Support: Leverage data-driven insights and business intelligence from all parts of the business to help senior leadership and business owners make high-stakes decisions.
• Monetization & Pricing Strategy: You will analyze pricing and adoption of our features, discounting trends and recommend changes to our pricing policy.
• Process Architecture: Build and drive the company’s operating system by developing plans on how to best use resources (people, technology, capital). You will create the organizational structures, processes, and tools needed to achieve and optimize outcomes.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead and coordinate strategic initiatives that require alignment across Product, Marketing, People, Sales, and Customer Experience. You will mobilize these teams toward the company’s most critical objectives.
• Operational Improvement: Apply your strategy and operations experience to uncover systemic operational issues at Appian and drive continuous process improvements.
• Market Intelligence: Stay abreast of external trends, benchmarking, and best-in-class business practices to implement sustainable, forward-looking strategies.
• Full-Cycle Execution: Partner with key collaborators to scope and implement operational improvements. You don’t just recommend; you execute on those recommendations until you’ve achieved the desired outcome.
• Communication: Effectively communicate complex analytical findings to non-technical audiences, ensuring strategic insights are synthesized in an actionable and compelling manner.

About You

• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field required.
• 10+ years of relevant experience in investment banking, management consulting, private equity, corporate planning, or business finance/analytics—ideally within a data-driven product/technology company. At least 2 years pricing software/SaaS.
• A Framework Thinker: You have a demonstrated ability to distill complex, ambiguous issues into structured frameworks and develop concrete action plans.
• Analytical Expert: You possess strong analytical expertise and extensive experience building integrated models from scratch.
• Technical Proficiency: You are confident using SQL for fetching and manipulating data. Proficiency in advanced Excel/Google Slides is a must; experience with scripting languages (Python or R) is a significant plus.
• Relationship Builder: You have a proven track record of building relationships and communicating with partners across all levels and functions.
• Bias for Action: You move quickly, iterate on analyses, and are comfortable working in a self-guided manner with a high degree of ambiguity.

Tools and Resources

• Training and Development: During onboarding, we focus on equipping new hires with the skills and knowledge for success through department-specific training. Continuous learning is a central focus at Appian, with dedicated mentorship and the First-Friend program being widely utilized resources for new hires.
• Growth Opportunities: Appian provides a diverse array of growth and development opportunities, including our leadership program tailored for new and aspiring managers, a comprehensive library of specialized department training through Appian University, skills based training, and tuition reimbursement for those aiming to advance their education. This commitment ensures that employees have access to a holistic range of development opportunities.
• Community: We’ll immerse you into our community rooted in respect starting on day one. Appian fosters inclusivity through our 8 employee-led affinity groups. These groups help employees build stronger internal and external networks by planning social, educational, and outreach activities to connect with Appianites and larger initiatives throughout the company.

Benefits

Appian offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your health, wellbeing, and financial future. Benefits may include health coverage, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with free mental health support, life and disability insurance, an Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), a retirement/pension plan, wellness dollars, tuition reimbursement, family-forming benefits and more. Benefits vary by country—please ask your Talent Acquisition contact for details specific to the location you are applying to.

About Appian

Appian provides process automation technology. We automate complex processes in large enterprises and governments. Our platform is known for its unique reliability and scale. We’ve been automating processes for 25 years and understand enterprise operations like no one else. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]

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Appian is an equal opportunity employer that strives to attract and retain the best talent. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Appian provides reasonable accommodations to applicants in accordance with all applicable laws. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at ReasonableAccommodations@appian.com. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

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