The Revenue Operations Role That Didn’t Exist Five Years Ago

Traditional org charts don’t have a box for what Taylor Thomson does. That’s because the role he occupies didn’t really exist until recently.

Revenue operations—the function connecting marketing, sales, finance, and client success into a unified system—has emerged as one of the fastest-growing specializations in business. Yet most executives still don’t fully understand what it entails or why it matters.

Thomson’s path illustrates how these roles develop. After studying political science and economics at Davidson College, he spent three years in financial services before moving to marketing technology. Each stop added pieces: understanding how research works, learning B2B sales mechanics, seeing how agencies actually generate revenue. His professional trajectory reflects the interdisciplinary nature of modern revenue operations roles.

“Tumbling is probably the best description of how I got there,” Thomson admits. There was no clear career ladder because the destination role hadn’t been fully defined yet.

At WITHIN, where Thomson now leads finance and revenue operations, the scope extends far beyond traditional CFO responsibilities. He manages P&L reporting and financial forecasting, yes. But he also redesigns sales processes, oversees technology implementations, leads AI projects with data science teams, and develops client onboarding workflows. Taylor Thomson’s work at the Denver-based agency demonstrates how revenue operations has evolved from tactical coordination to strategic leadership.

The unifying thread: understanding how all pieces of the revenue engine connect. Marketing creates awareness. Business development qualifies interest. Sales closes deals. Client success drives retention and expansion. Finance measures everything. Revenue operations ensures these functions work together rather than optimizing in isolation.

“At the end of the day, the revenue org is there to make the company money,” Thomson notes. “If what we’re all doing isn’t aligned to drive revenue, then we’re all kind of wasting our time.”

This alignment requires someone who understands each function well enough to spot disconnects. When marketing generates leads that sales can’t close, is that a marketing quality problem or a sales capability problem? When client success struggles with onboarding, is that poor expectation-setting during sales or inadequate internal processes?

Revenue operations leaders need credibility across domains. Thomson’s background reporting to both marketing and sales leadership at previous companies gives him that credibility. Taylor Thomson discussed this cross-functional approach extensively when explaining how finance leaders must understand marketing to be effective. He’s not a finance person telling marketers how to do their jobs—he’s someone who understands their challenges from experience.

The role also demands comfort with ambiguity. “We’re kind of building the platforms as we go up,” Thomson says about WITHIN’s approach. There’s no playbook because the function is still being invented.

For professionals looking to move into revenue operations, Thomson’s trajectory suggests a path: gain experience across multiple revenue-related functions, develop the ability to synthesize across domains, and recognize that the most interesting roles often don’t have clear job descriptions yet. Those interested in following Taylor Thomson’s path can explore his documented career progression to understand how these roles emerge.