Senior Director - Portfolio Product Strategy & AI Alignment

Description Overview of the Role

This is a high-visibility, strategic product leadership role designed to serve as the connective tissue across Salesforce’s portfolio of AI-powered products and platform capabilities. This leader will operate as a portfolio-level orchestrator—ensuring that AI innovations and core platform services built across various operating units weave together into a coherent, world-class enterprise system.

As a key leader in a brand-new team, you will help navigate a highly ambiguous, fast-paced environment. We are looking for someone who brings a fresh perspective, combining the agility and disruptive mindset of a startup with the sophisticated execution of a major cloud corporate environment. The role spans critical cross-cutting domains including AI/ML functionality, identity and access management, security architecture, and platform processes, with an additional strategic lens on pricing coherence and M&A evaluation.

• Execute Amid Ambiguity:
  Help the SVP translate high-level strategy into execution-ready alignment across multiple product lines, turning ambiguity into order.
• Identify Product Misalignments:
  Actively look across product teams to identify gaps and friction points in AI functionality, identity, security, data architecture, and platform APIs.
• Facilitate Cross-Functional Governance:
  Lead product reviews and governance processes to surface and resolve ecosystem conflicts before they impact customers.
• Map the Ecosystem:
  Build and maintain a living map of portfolio capabilities, overlaps, gaps, and interdependencies to ensure Salesforce moves as a unified AI platform.

• Advise Product Teams:
  Serve as a trusted advisor to product GMs and business unit product leaders on the portfolio-level implications of local roadmap decisions.
• Orchestrate Complex Work streams:
  Apply program management rigor to keep matrixed alignment work streams and stakeholder commitments on track.
• Executive Preparation:
  Partner with leadership to prepare portfolio coherence and AI strategy materials for executive and board-level planning conversations.

• Flag Portfolio Risks:
  Partner closely with pricing, finance, and product leadership to identify inconsistencies or risks in cross-portfolio packaging and AI monetization strategies.
• Advocate for the Customer
  
  Experience:
  
  Champion intuitive, portfolio-level pricing logic without needing to own the direct pricing execution.

• Assess Market Gaps:
  Conduct structured capability gap assessments against market shifts and competitive AI benchmarks.
• Target Identification:
  Identify and prioritize acquisition or partnership targets that can accelerate our horizontal AI and platform capabilities.
• Corporate Development Support:
  Lead the product-side due diligence on inbound and outbound M&A targets, ensuring seamless integration potential.

• Experience:
  
  10–15 years of total professional experience in product management, product strategy, or a closely related horizontal leadership function.
• Diverse Background: A proven track record that blends startup agility with large enterprise scale—you know how to move fast, but you also know how to successfully navigate a major cloud corporate environment.
• Fast-Paced Tech Fluency:
  Thrived in a fast-growing, rapidly evolving technology company where change is the only constant.
• Platform Architecture Depth:
  Deep familiarity with how massive platform ecosystems (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP, Salesforce, Service Now) are architected, governed, and monetized.
• Domain Literacy:
  Strong technical fluency in AI/ML workflows, identity, and security product domains. (Deep engineering depth is not required, but conceptual literacy is essential).
• Influence Without Authority:
  Exceptional ability to build trust, bridge silos, and win hearts and minds across matrixed organizations. You succeed by making alignment obvious, not by controlling resources.
• Comfort with Ambiguity:
  Experience helping to build "0-to-1" teams, processes, or frameworks where the playbook hasn't been written yet.

• Experience supporting or leading M&A due diligence and post-merger product integration from the product side.
• Advanced degree (MBA or Technical Master’s) or equivalent practical experience.

For roles in San Francisco and Los Angeles:
Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.