Principal Product Operations Manager

Drata; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 276,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock equity

Health insurance

401(k) plan

Parental leave

Professional stipends

Flexible vacation

Job summary

Drata seeks a Principal Product Operations leader to define and scale the operating model across Product, Design, and Engineering, enabling fast, informed decisions and clear accountability. You’ll influence planning, governance, and portfolio health at the highest level, partnering with executives to drive strategic outcomes.

You’ll build scalable systems, champion data-driven insights, and shape how customer feedback and market signals translate into investment and roadmap choices across the

Qualifications

• 10+ years in product operations, product management, strategy & operations
• Experience driving cross-functional change at senior levels
• Deep knowledge of product development lifecycles and analytics ecosystems
• Proven ability to lead portfolio planning and executive-level reviews

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the product operating model and governance
• Lead company-level product planning and roadmap operations
• Establish scalable mechanisms for visibility and accountability across the product lifecycle
• Define and track the health of strategic initiatives and outcomes
• Partner with Product, Design, Engineering, GTM, and Customer teams on decisions
• Develop executive-ready reporting on roadmap progress and metrics
• Identify inefficiencies and lead cross-functional improvement projects
• Evaluate tooling and workflows to support planning, collaboration, and analytics
• Develop scalable experimentation and learning frameworks
• Create durable documentation, standards, and best practices

Skills

Product operations

Strategy & operations

SaaS experience

AI-first environments

Executive communication

Data-driven decisions

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration

Tools

Segment

Amplitude

Productboard

Linear

Jira

Job description

Drata is building the trust layer between great companies - automating compliance, managing risk, and helping organizations prove trust continuously as they scale. We're Dratanauts: a global crew of 600+ professionals united by a culture that rewards integrity, ownership, and raising the bar, no matter where in the world we're working from.

Why Join the Drata Team?

At Drata, You're Not Maintaining Legacy Compliance Software - You're Building The Agentic AI Platform Defining What Trust Looks Like For The Next Generation Of Companies. Here's What Makes The Work Itself Worth Showing Up For

• Problems without a playbook: You'll work at the edge of AI and security, building agentic governance, continuous compliance, and real-time trust verification to solve problems that don't have an established answer yet. You're writing it as you go.
• Real ownership, not just process: Our values center on owning outcomes and raising the bar, not checking boxes. You're expected to have opinions and back them.
• A seat at the table: Your perspective is unique and valued. Open debate and diverse viewpoints are built into how decisions actually get made here, at every level.
• Growth at rocketship speed: Drata is scaling fast, which means scope grows fast too. High performers get more ownership, visibility, and experience.
• A crew, not just coworkers: Dratanauts consistently describe a \"come as you are\" culture with sharp, curious people—the kind of team that makes hard problems genuinely fun to solve. See what they say here and follow us on LinkedIn for company news, employee stories, and career updates.

Job Summary

As Principal Product Operations, you will define and scale the operating model that enables Product, Design, and Engineering to execute with clarity, rigor, and speed. This is a highly strategic, cross-functional leadership role responsible for shaping how product investments are prioritized, planned, measured, and communicated across the company.

You will partner closely with executive leaders across Product, Design, Engineering, Customer Success, Sales, and Operations to drive alignment on product strategy, annual and quarterly planning, roadmap governance, portfolio health, experimentation, and business outcomes. You will serve as a force multiplier for the product organization by establishing the systems, cadences, and insights that help teams make better decisions and deliver greater impact at scale.

What You’ll Do

• Own and evolve the product operating model, including planning frameworks, prioritization practices, governance mechanisms, decision-making cadences, and cross-functional collaboration norms.
• Lead company-level product planning and roadmap operations, partnering with senior leaders to drive annual planning, quarterly planning, investment tradeoff discussions, commitment tracking, and executive communication.
• Establish scalable mechanisms to improve visibility, accountability, and execution across the product development lifecycle, from idea intake through launch and post-launch measurement.
• Drive portfolio-level insight and operational rigor by defining and tracking the health of strategic initiatives, product bets, delivery risks, and outcome attainment.
• Partner with Product, Design, Engineering, GTM, and Customer teams to improve how customer feedback, market signals, and business priorities inform product decisions.
• Build and operationalize executive-ready reporting on roadmap progress, product performance, organizational throughput, experimentation results, and key operational metrics.
• Identify structural inefficiencies and lead high-impact initiatives to improve planning quality, process consistency, speed of execution, and cross-functional alignment.
• Evaluate, implement, and optimize tooling, systems, and workflows that support product planning, collaboration, experimentation, analytics, and knowledge management.
• Develop scalable frameworks for experimentation and learning, enabling teams to run effective tests, measure impact, and incorporate findings into product strategy.
• Create and maintain durable documentation, standards, playbooks, and best practices for product and design operations.
• Influence leaders at all levels through data-driven recommendations, strong operational judgment, and a clear point of view on how to improve organizational effectiveness.
• Serve as a thought partner to product and functional leaders on organizational design, process maturity, and operational excellence.

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years of experience in product operations, product management, strategy and operations, business operations, or a related discipline, with significant experience in high-growth SaaS and AI-first environments.
• Demonstrated success operating at principal or director level or equivalent, influencing senior leaders and driving cross-functional change across complex organizations.
• Deep expertise in product development lifecycles, product management practices, design collaboration models, and engineering partnership.
• Strong experience leading portfolio planning, roadmap operations, prioritization processes, and executive-level business reviews.
• Exceptional analytical and systems thinking skills, with the ability to translate data into strategic insights, operational recommendations, and clear decisions.
• Strong command of product and business analytics ecosystems, including tools such as Segment, Amplitude, Productboard, Linear, Jira, BI platforms, and experimentation frameworks.
• Experience designing scalable workflows and automations using tools such as Zapier, Retool, or similar platforms.
• Excellent program leadership skills, including the ability to drive alignment across multiple stakeholders, manage ambiguity, and execute through influence rather than authority.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor messaging for executives, technical partners, and cross-functional audiences.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Information Technology, Design, or a related field; advanced degree is a plus.

Personal attributes

• Strategic: Sees around corners, connects operational details to broader business outcomes, and brings a long-term perspective to organizational scale.
• Influential: Builds trust quickly, aligns diverse stakeholders, and drives change across functions and levels.
• Structured: Brings clarity, discipline, and strong judgment to ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
• Customer-Centric: Keeps customer outcomes at the center of planning, prioritization, and process design.
• Curious: Uses data, experimentation, and continuous learning to improve systems and outcomes.
• Collaborative: Operates as a true partner across Product, Design, Engineering, and GTM teams.

How We Support You

At Drata, our people are our strongest advantage—and we prove it with support that exceeds industry standards. Our total rewards package is designed to power your well-being, accelerate your growth, and keep your work-life balance thriving.

Explore how we invest in your Life at Drata.

• Shared Success: We provide stock equity to ensure that as the company grows, you share directly in that success. Equity gives every employee a sense of ownership and the opportunity to celebrate our wins together—because your contributions don’t just support our progress; they help drive our collective success.
• Health & Wellness: Up to 100% employer-paid premiums for medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and their dependents, along with comprehensive wellness benefits and healthcare concierge services designed to support your needs beyond traditional insurance.
• Financial Well-being: A comprehensive suite of financial benefits, including a 401(k) plan, company-paid life and disability insurance, tax-advantaged spending accounts, and a range of discounted voluntary offerings to help you customize and strengthen your overall financial position.
• Family Support: We want to support you in life's most important moments, so we offer a paid Parental Leave policy, after six months of employment. Employees also receive access to Kindbody fertility and family-building benefits and dedicated leave specialists who help guide you through the entire process.
• Growth & Development: Generous annual stipends for both professional and personal development, empowering you to invest in your continued growth. You’ll also have access to a wide range of internal learning opportunities, ensuring you can build new skills, deepen your expertise, and advance your career with confidence.
• Time Off & Flexibility: We believe that to do your best work, you should get the time you need for rest, rejuvenation and recovery. Drata offers a flexible vacation policy, paid holidays, and other perks to recharge.

The expected base salary range for this role is between $180,000 - $276,000 and is listed to provide transparency. Actual base pay will vary based on multiple factors — market location, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and overall alignment to the role. Candidates shouldn't expect automatic placement at any particular point within the range. Offer amounts are determined by the qualifications each candidate brings to the position. Total compensation may also include equity designed to provide meaningful ownership in the company, as well as health and wellbeing benefits.