Head of Workforce Optimization Bay Area, CA, US

Block, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 218,000 - 327,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Retirement plans

Flexible time off

Remote work options

Job summary

Block, Inc. is seeking a senior leader for Workforce Optimization to design and run a global function that links forecasting, staffing, and vendor governance with automation and analytics. You will partner across product, engineering, and compliance to drive data-based decisions.

You will shape the operating model, guide long- and short-term planning, and ensure service levels and regulatory obligations are met while optimizing cost. This role is remote-first and globally scoped.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 15 years of related experience within Workforce Management, Operations, Data Science or related functions.
• Experience leading and transforming a global Workforce Management function with forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, real-time management, analytics, and vendor governance.
• Experience supporting high-volume customer operations and back-office or regulated operations, understanding demand patterns, service measures, skills, and controls.
• Demonstrated success building operating models and teams across regions, internal employees, and outsourced partners while maintaining service, quality, resilience, and financial discipline.
• Experience moving workforce decisions from manual reporting toward automated and predictive systems using data, statistical or machine-learning models, scenario planning, and guardrails.
• The ability to translate complex operational and financial data into decisions, influence senior leaders, and create alignment when priorities compete.
• Experience partnering with product, engineering, data science, finance, operations, and compliance teams to turn business changes into credible workforce plans.
• Experience establishing controls for regulated capacity, vendor quality, incidents, and corrective actions, with sound judgment about efficiency vs risk.
• A track record of developing leaders and managing large-scale organizational and technological change.

Responsibilities

• Set strategy and operating model for the combined Workforce Management function with clear ownership and measurable roadmap.
• Own long-range forecasting and capacity planning across 12–36 months, translating demand into hiring and financial plans.
• Connect long-range plans to 1–8 week staffing commitments and intraday actions to address coverage risks.
• Define service and staffing strategies across customer support and back-office work balancing speed, backlog, quality, and cost.
• Establish governance for global outsourcing partners with capacity locks and performance reviews.
• Build an analytics foundation with live performance visibility and forecast-accuracy tracking.
• Partner with product, engineering, data science, and operations to prioritize automation by measurable value.
• Embed regulatory capacity planning and quality feedback loops into the broader model for Risk & Compliance.
• Lead workforce incidents with clear standards and durable improvements to processes and tools.
• Align executives on assumptions, tradeoffs, commitments, and risks.
• Develop and organize a multidisciplinary team with clear development paths.

Skills

Forecasting

Capacity planning

Staffing

Real-time management

Vendor governance

Analytics

Automation

Regulatory compliance

Risk management

Leadership development

Cross-functional collaboration

Data storytelling

Tools

Snowflake

SQL

Google Workspace

Block-built planning & reporting apps

AI and automation tools

Job description

Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose: economic empowerment. We build technology that increases access and independence for sellers, individuals, and artists around the world. Working at Block means working on and across our brands—Square, Cash App, Afterpay, TIDAL, Spiral, and Proto - in roles that connect, enable, and push all of them forward faster.
We’re remote-first by design and operate with intelligence at the center of everything we do. At Block, you'll be challenged by some of the brightest, most creative minds in the industry and have the tools and autonomy to do the most meaningful work of your career.

The Role

Workforce Optimization sits within Block Operations and connects planning, operations, finance, product, engineering, and our global partner network. Reporting to the Head of Operations, you will lead the combined Workforce Optimization function supporting customer-facing operations and regulated Risk & Compliance work across thousands of internal and external analysts / customer advocates, and multiple vendors around the world. You will create one operating model for forecasting, staffing, real-time management, vendor governance, analytics, and automation. This will give Block the capacity and specialist skills it needs while balancing service, quality, regulatory obligations, and cost. This is an opportunity to shape how a global workforce of employees, partners, and AI systems works together and to move the function from automated visibility toward predictive, increasingly self-optimizing decisions.

You Will

• Set the strategy and operating model for the combined Workforce Management function, establishing clear ownership, common methods, decision rights, and a measurable maturity roadmap.
• Own long-range forecasting and capacity planning across a 12–36 month horizon, translating customer demand, regulatory cycles, audits, incidents, product changes, and automation into hiring, partner, and financial plans.
• Connect long-range plans to 1–8 week staffing commitments, schedules, and intraday actions so operations can address coverage and capacity risks before service or regulatory commitments are affected.
• Define service and staffing strategies across customer support and back-office work, balancing response times, backlog, quality, specialist skills, employee experience, occupancy, resilience, and cost.
• Establish consistent governance for global business process outsourcing partners, including capacity locks, performance measures, business reviews, corrective actions, and 24/7 escalation protocols.
• Build a trusted analytics foundation with shared metric definitions, live performance visibility, forecast-accuracy tracking, scenario planning, and clear narratives that help leaders act.
• Partner with product, engineering, data science, and operations teams to prioritize automation by measurable value, incorporate expected automation benefits into plans, and create effective ways of working across people and AI systems.
• Embed regulatory capacity planning and quality feedback loops into the broader model while preserving the controls and domain expertise required for Risk & Compliance operations.
• Lead workforce incidents and capacity escalations with clear response standards, after-action reviews, near-miss tracking, and durable improvements to processes and tools.
• Align operations, finance, compliance, vendor, product, and executive leaders on assumptions, tradeoffs, commitments, and emerging risks.
• Build, develop, and organize a multidisciplinary team spanning planning, real-time management, analytics, tooling, and vendor governance, while creating clear development paths and reducing key-person dependencies.

You Have

• A minimum of 15 years of related experience within Workforce Management, Operations, Data Science or related functions.
• Experience leading and transforming a global Workforce Management function with responsibility for forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, real-time management, workforce analytics, and vendor governance.
• Experience supporting both high-volume customer operations and back-office or regulated operations, with an understanding of how their demand patterns, service measures, skills, and controls differ.
• Demonstrated success building operating models and teams across regions, internal employees, and outsourced partners while maintaining service, quality, resilience, and financial discipline.
• Experience moving workforce decisions from manual reporting toward automated and predictive systems using data, statistical or machine-learning models, scenario planning, and clear human guardrails.
• The ability to translate complex operational and financial data into decisions, influence senior leaders across functions, and create alignment when priorities or incentives compete.
• Experience partnering with product, engineering, data science, finance, operations, and compliance teams to turn business changes and automation roadmaps into credible workforce plans.
• Experience establishing controls for regulated capacity, vendor quality, incidents, and corrective actions, with sound judgment about when efficiency gains introduce unacceptable risk.
• A record of developing leaders and specialists, clarifying accountability, and leading teams through significant organizational and technological change.

Technologies We Use and Teach

• Assembled, Snowflake, SQL, Google Workspace, Block-built planning and reporting applications, and AI and automation tools. We do not expect you to arrive knowing every tool; we value the ability to choose and govern the right systems for the work.

We’re working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is an equal opportunity employer evaluating all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.
We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with your recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we’re doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page .

While there is no specific deadline to apply for this role, U.S. roles are typically open for an average of 55 days before being filled by a successful candidate. Please refer to the date listed at the top of this job page for when this role was first posted.

Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. U.S. locations are categorized into one of four zones based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

To find a location’s zone designation, please refer to this resource . If a location of interest is not listed, please speak with a recruiter for additional information.

Zone A:

$217,800 — $326,800 USD

Zone B:

$217,800 — $326,800 USD

Zone C:

$217,800 — $326,800 USD

Zone D:

$217,800 — $326,800 USD

Every benefit we offer is designed with one goal: empowering you to do the best work of your career while building the life you want. Remote work, medical insurance, flexible time off, retirement savings plans, and modern family planning are just some of our offering. Check out our other benefits at Block.

Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ) builds technology to increase access to the global economy. Each of our brands unlocks different aspects of the economy for more people. Square makes commerce and financial services accessible to sellers. Cash App is the easy way to spend, send, and store money. Afterpay is transforming the way customers manage their spending over time. TIDAL is a music platform that empowers artists to thrive as entrepreneurs. Bitkey is a simple self-custody wallet built for bitcoin. Proto is a suite of bitcoin mining products and services. Together, we’re helping build a financial system that is open to everyone.