Senior Manager, Build Operations

AI at Zapier

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Check out our guidance on How to Collaborate with AI During Zapier’s Hiring Process, including how to use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or others during our hiring process - and when not to.

As Senior Manager, Build Operations, you lead the function that surfaces insight, accelerates delivery, and reduces operational drag for Zapier's engineering and product teams. Your core mission is closing the gaps in how work gets prioritized, decided, and run across Build — reducing financial exposure, unblocking build velocity, and establishing continuity in how operations run.

You'll manage a team of four and partner across the organization to drive adoption and alignment — restoring execution capacity on the work most critical to Finance and Build leadership, and building the visibility, operating rhythms, and enablement that help engineering and product move faster. As that operating picture matures, you'll extend it to go-to-market teams so every part of the company works from the same source of truth — one shared view, in consistent language — that levels the playing field and takes the guesswork out of what's shipping and when.

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Diversity and Inclusivity at Zapier

About You

- Has been the operational backbone of an engineering or product org — restored execution on stalled work, stood up operating rhythms, and earned the trust of senior technical leaders.

- Experience running cross-functional programs that span multiple teams or organizations, not just managing work within a single team

- Proven ability to translate technical or engineering concepts into language and frameworks that non-technical audiences can use and own

- Strong project and program management fundamentals: you're comfortable with project plans, milestones, dependency tracking, risk management, and change documentation

- Ability to partner across functions and influence without relying on title — you can hold a room and drive alignment in complex settings

- Comfort operating in ambiguity and fast-paced change; you thrive when scope isn't fully defined and you have to figure out the path

- Experience securing buy-in and resourcing from senior stakeholders on programs that weren't yet fully scoped or understood

- Familiarity with modern operations tools and the willingness to microlearn new systems; deep technical expertise is not required

- Experience embedding AI into team workflows and processes, not just using it for personal productivity

Things You’ll Do

- Restore execution capacity on the P0 workstreams blocking Finance and Build leadership — take ownership, drive them to completion, keep them current.

- Provide the operational layer the Build Org needs to execute strategy, and drive the prioritized work already published.

- Design and socialize the operating model Build runs on — turning engineering-side architecture and rhythms into something teams actually adopt — and extend that shared framework to go-to-market so both organizations operate the same way.

- Build, own, and scale the connected visibility layer — a live, auto-generated view of what's shipping, where work overlaps, and where ownership is at risk — starting in Build and extending across the business so every team works from one source of truth, in one language.

- Own the dependency and primitive-ownership routing layer so cross-team requirements reach the accountable owner instead of dying in DMs.

- Drive adoption through enablement — training, feedback loops, and continuous-improvement cycles — so change lands once, centrally, with adoption as a clear metric.

- Partner with Build and GTM leadership to spot adoption gaps, clear blockers, and secure resourcing for the initiatives that matter most.

- Build trust and durable relationships with Build's senior leaders; be the operational partner they rely on.

- Secure headcount, stabilize the team, and shore up the platforms the org depends on.

- Manage a team of four (an L4 TPM, two ops ICs, and a contractor); set direction and unblock their work.

- Document operational decisions and trade-offs; write the proposals that win senior alignment and resourcing.

- Identify and implement AI-powered tools and workflows to increase team efficiency and reduce manual overhead

How to Apply

At Zapier, we believe that diverse perspectives and experiences make us better, which is why we have a non-standard application process designed to promote inclusion and equity. We're looking for the best fit for each of our roles, regardless of the type of companies in your background, so we encourage you to apply even if your skills and experiences don’t exactly match the job description. All we ask is that you answer a few in-depth questions in our application that would typically be asked at the start of an interview process. This helps speed things up by letting us get to know you and your skillset a bit better right out of the gate. Please be sure to answer each question; the resume and CV fields are optional.

Education is not a requirement for our roles; however, if you receive an offer, you will need to include your most recent educational experience as part of our background check process.

After you apply, you are going to hear back from us—even if we don’t see an immediate fit with our team. In fact, throughout the process, we strive to never go more than seven days without letting you know the status of your application. We know we’ll make mistakes from time to time, so if you ever have questions about where you stand or about the process, just ask your recruiter!

Zapier is an equal-opportunity employer and we're excited to work with talented and empathetic people of all identities. Zapier does not discriminate based on someone's identity in any aspect of hiring or employment as required by law and in line with our commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Equity. Our code of conduct provides a beacon for the kind of company we strive to be, and we celebrate our differences because those differences are what allow us to make a product that serves a global user base. Zapier will consider all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, consistent with applicable laws.

Zapier prioritizes the security of our customers' information and is dedicated to adhering to all applicable data privacy laws. You can review our privacy policy here.

Zapier is committed to inclusion. As part of this commitment, Zapier welcomes applications from individuals with disabilities and will work to provide reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodations are needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact [email protected].

Application Deadline:

The anticipated application window is 30 days from the date job is posted, unless the number of applicants requires it to close sooner or later, or if the position is filled.

Even though we’re an all-remote company, we still need to be thoughtful about where we have Zapiens working. Check out this resource for a list of countries where we currently cannot have Zapiens permanently working.