Director, Cost Transformation & Governance

The Company PayPal has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalized, and secure, PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy.  We operate a global, two-sided network at scale that connects hundreds of millions of merchants and consumers. We help merchants and consumers connect, transact, and complete payments, whether they are online or in person. PayPal is more than a connection to third-party payment networks. We provide proprietary payment solutions accepted by merchants that enable the completion of payments on our platform on behalf of our customers. We offer our customers the flexibility to use their accounts to purchase and receive payments for goods and services, as well as the ability to transfer and withdraw funds. We enable consumers to exchange funds more safely with merchants using a variety of funding sources, which may include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products such as gift cards, and eligible credit card rewards.  Our PayPal, Venmo, and Xoom products also make it safer and simpler for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. We offer merchants an end-to-end payments solution that provides authorization and settlement capabilities, as well as instant access to funds and payouts. We also help merchants connect with their customers, process exchanges and returns, and manage risk. We enable consumers to engage in cross-border shopping and merchants to extend their global reach while reducing the complexity and friction involved in enabling cross-border trade.  Our beliefs are the foundation for how we conduct business every day.  We live each day guided by our core values of Inclusion, Innovation, Collaboration, and Wellness. Together, our values ensure that we work together as one global team with our customers at the center of everything we do – and they push us to ensure we take care of ourselves, each other, and our communities. Job Summary: PayPal is undertaking a company-wide Cost & AI Transformation Program to deliver approximately $2B in run-rate savings by Q2 2028. The program spans organizational simplification, workforce optimization, geographic strategy, contractor insourcing, procurement, automation, AI, and broader operating efficiencies. We are seeking a seasoned transformation leader to build and lead the governance model for this enterprise program. This individual will create the operating system that moves opportunities from initial sizing through validation, business case approval, implementation, and realized financial benefits. The role will also help govern how AI and automation contribute to PayPal’s transformation agenda aligning AI plans across the company, tracking investments and outcomes, and ensuring benefits are realized within the required timelines. Job Description: Essential Responsibilities: Scope: The project & program responsibilities are focused on internal information system-specific project tasks or non-technical project completion using an internal customer perspective, both typically from initiation through delivery. Develop and implement process improvements for program management. Manage a variety of programs/projects for completeness and compliance. Guide prioritization of projects and utilization of resources. Deliver progress reports to leadership. Develop performance metrics and dashboards. Ensure alignment with strategic objectives. Steer programs through the lifecycle with sponsors and stakeholders. Minimum Qualifications: 10+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience. Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications : Key Responsibilities Build the enterprise cost governance operating model, including decision rights, accountabilities, approval thresholds, escalation paths, and required evidence at each stage. Establish the stage-gate process from ideation and sizing through validation, business cases, implementation planning, execution, and benefits realization. Define consistent standards for pipeline, validated, committed, approved, and realized savings, including net recurring benefit, cost avoidance, one-time costs, investments, and timing. Design and run the required executive forums, including CFO and CEO Office reviews, steering committees, workstream reviews, business checkpoints, and benefits-realization reviews. Create the ongoing the integrated enterprise view of targets, baselines, opportunities, initiatives, owners, milestones, dependencies, investments, and realized benefits. Establish processes for managing target and baseline changes, including reorganizations, employee movements, delayed actions, scope changes, and overlapping benefits. Build and maintain the enterprise RAID log, decision log, action tracker, and escalation process, with clear ownership, due dates, service levels, and closure criteria. Partner with Finance to reconcile planned and realized savings to budgets, forecasts, actuals, cost centers, and P&L outcomes. Govern the AI and automation contribution to the transformation program, including aligning plans across AI teams and business functions, clarifying investment and value expectations, and ensuring initiatives are connected to enterprise priorities. Ensure AI and automation plans are aligned with value-realization guidelines and that benefits are recognized in the appropriate planning, budgeting, and financial reporting cycles. Define the tooling and data requirements for the program, including integration across HR, Finance, workforce, planning, procurement, project management, AI, automation, and reporting systems. Track exe