Director, Travel & Expense

Databricks · San Francisco, California; United States

onsitefull-time10+ years

posted 18 Aug

GAQ327R263 While candidates in the listed location(s) are encouraged for this role, candidates in other locations will be considered. We are seeking a strategic, operationally strong Director, Travel & Expense to lead and modernize our global travel, expense, and corporate spend ecosystem. This leader will drive a digital-first, highly scalable program that improves the employee experience while strengthening governance, compliance, and financial discipline across a fast-growing global organization. This role is ideal for a builder who can define future-state strategy while also leading hands-on execution, operational rigor, and measurable outcomes. The successful candidate will partner closely across Finance, Procurement, IT, HR, Security, and Operations to create a seamless and future-ready T&E model. The impact you will have: <ul> <li>Lead the transformation of the T&E program into a modern, automated, digital-first experience, including AI-enabled workflows, touchless expense processing, automated audit controls, and intelligent policy enforcement.</li> <li>Create a frictionless employee experience across booking, expense submission, approvals, reimbursements, and support while simplifying processes and reducing manual work.</li> <li>Build a scalable global T&E roadmap that balances agility, governance, employee experience, and operational efficiency, with clear KPIs, dashboards, and change management to support adoption.</li> <li>Oversee global business travel operations across air, hotel, ground transportation, meetings, and traveler support, while shaping regional travel strategies for a distributed workforce.</li> <li>Manage travel partners and supplier relationships to improve service levels, optimize spend, and support evolving business needs.</li> <li>Partner with Security and HR to strengthen traveler safety, duty of care, and crisis response capabilities.</li> <li>Lead enterprise expense reimbursement and corporate card programs with a focus on automation, compliance, scalability, and employee experience.</li> <li>Implement intelligent expense capabilities such as auto-generated reports, AI auditing, receipt automation, and policy-driven workflows, while simplifying approvals and accelerating reimbursement cycles.</li> <li>Partner closely with AP, Payroll, and Finance Operations to streamline end-to-end financial processes.</li> <li>Own the T&E technology ecosystem, including platforms such as Emburse, Egencia, Ramp, Brex, AppZen, and corporate card integrations; partner with IT and Finance Systems on integrations, APIs, and analytics.</li> <li>Ensure strong policy governance, financial controls, audit readiness, and compliance with global tax, regulatory, data privacy, and regional travel requirements.</li> <li>Build and lead a high-performing global team, develop leadership bench strength, and influence cross-functional stakeholders in a complex, fast-moving environment.</li> </ul> What we look for: <ul> <li>Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Supply Chain, Hospitality, Information Systems, or a related field.</li> <li>10+ years of progressive leadership experience in Travel, Expense, Procurement, Finance Operations, Shared Services, or related functions.</li> <li>Proven success leading T&E transformation, automation, or digital modernization initiatives in high-growth or fast-paced organizations.</li> <li>Experience leading global or multinational T&E programs and managing regional operations and cross-border transformation efforts.</li> <li>Strong operational leadership with the ability to translate strategy into scalable execution.</li> <li>Deep expertise in T&E platforms, workflow automation, corporate card programs, and expense tec