diff --git a/tfx/dsl/compiler/placeholder_utils.py b/tfx/dsl/compiler/placeholder_utils.py
index 884b75e68f..3106bc7aa1 100644
--- a/tfx/dsl/compiler/placeholder_utils.py
+++ b/tfx/dsl/compiler/placeholder_utils.py
@@ -733,6 +733,16 @@ def _resolve_binary_logical_operator(
 
     raise ValueError(f"Unrecognized binary logical operation {op.op}.")
 
+  @_register(placeholder_pb2.DirNameOperator)
+  def _resolve_dir_name_operator(
+      self,
+      op: placeholder_pb2.DirNameOperator,
+      pool: Optional[descriptor_pool.DescriptorPool] = None,
+  ) -> str:
+    """Returns the directory name of the file."""
+    path = self.resolve(op.expression, pool)
+    return os.path.dirname(path)
+
 
 def debug_str(expression: placeholder_pb2.PlaceholderExpression) -> str:
   """Gets the debug string of a placeholder expression proto.
@@ -876,6 +886,10 @@ def debug_str(expression: placeholder_pb2.PlaceholderExpression) -> str:
       )
       return f"MakeProto({str(operator_pb.base).strip()}, {expression_str})"
 
+    if operator_name == "dir_name_op":
+      expression_str = debug_str(operator_pb.expression)
+      return f"dirname({expression_str})"
+
     return "Unknown placeholder operator"
 
   return "Unknown placeholder expression"
diff --git a/tfx/dsl/compiler/placeholder_utils_test.py b/tfx/dsl/compiler/placeholder_utils_test.py
index 49fe6446d9..08fe38161e 100644
--- a/tfx/dsl/compiler/placeholder_utils_test.py
+++ b/tfx/dsl/compiler/placeholder_utils_test.py
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@
     }
   }
 }
-output_metadata_uri: "test_executor_output_uri"
+output_metadata_uri: "/execution_output_dir/file"
 input_dict {
   key: "examples"
   value {
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@
     }
   }
 }
-stateful_working_dir: "test_stateful_working_dir"
+stateful_working_dir: "/stateful_working_dir/"
 pipeline_info {
    id: "test_pipeline_id"
 }
@@ -233,15 +233,20 @@ def setUp(self):
                 "proto_property": proto_utils.proto_to_json(self._serving_spec),
                 "list_proto_property": [self._serving_spec],
             },
-            execution_output_uri="test_executor_output_uri",
-            stateful_working_dir="test_stateful_working_dir",
+            execution_output_uri="/execution_output_dir/file",
+            stateful_working_dir="/stateful_working_dir/",
             pipeline_node=pipeline_pb2.PipelineNode(
                 node_info=pipeline_pb2.NodeInfo(
                     type=metadata_store_pb2.ExecutionType(
-                        name="infra_validator"))),
-            pipeline_info=pipeline_pb2.PipelineInfo(id="test_pipeline_id")),
+                        name="infra_validator"
+                    )
+                )
+            ),
+            pipeline_info=pipeline_pb2.PipelineInfo(id="test_pipeline_id"),
+        ),
         executor_spec=executable_spec_pb2.PythonClassExecutableSpec(
-            class_path="test_class_path"),
+            class_path="test_class_path"
+        ),
     )
     # Resolution context to simulate missing optional values.
     self._none_resolution_context = placeholder_utils.ResolutionContext(
@@ -309,7 +314,7 @@ def testJoinPath(self):
     )
     self.assertEqual(
         resolved_str,
-        "test_stateful_working_dir/foo/test_pipeline_id",
+        "/stateful_working_dir/foo/test_pipeline_id",
     )
 
   def testArtifactProperty(self):
@@ -823,7 +828,7 @@ def testMakeDict(self):
     )
     expected_result = {
         "plain_key": 42,
-        "test_stateful_working_dir": "plain_value",
+        "/stateful_working_dir/": "plain_value",
     }
     self.assertEqual(
         placeholder_utils.resolve_placeholder_expression(
@@ -1141,7 +1146,7 @@ def testExecutionInvocationPlaceholderAccessProtoField(self):
                            placeholder_pb2.PlaceholderExpression())
     resolved = placeholder_utils.resolve_placeholder_expression(
         pb, self._resolution_context)
-    self.assertEqual(resolved, "test_stateful_working_dir")
+    self.assertEqual(resolved, "/stateful_working_dir/")
 
   def testExecutionInvocationDescriptor(self):
     # Test if ExecutionInvocation proto is in the default descriptor pool
@@ -1634,6 +1639,7 @@ def testGetsOperatorsFromProtoReflection(self):
             "unary_logical_op",
             "artifact_property_op",
             "list_serialization_op",
+            "dir_name_op",
         },
     )
     self.assertSetEqual(
@@ -1698,6 +1704,38 @@ def testMakeProtoOpResolvesProto(self):
         resolved_proto,
     )
 
+  def testDirNameOp(self):
+    placeholder_expression = text_format.Parse(
+        r"""
+        operator {
+          dir_name_op {
+            expression {
+              operator {
+                proto_op {
+                  expression {
+                    placeholder {
+                      type: EXEC_INVOCATION
+                    }
+                  }
+                  proto_field_path: ".output_metadata_uri"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+        """,
+        placeholder_pb2.PlaceholderExpression(),
+    )
+    resolved_result = placeholder_utils.resolve_placeholder_expression(
+        placeholder_expression, self._resolution_context
+    )
+    self.assertEqual(resolved_result, "/execution_output_dir")
+
+    actual = placeholder_utils.debug_str(placeholder_expression)
+    self.assertEqual(
+        actual,
+        "dirname(execution_invocation().output_metadata_uri)")
+
 
 class PredicateResolutionTest(parameterized.TestCase, tf.test.TestCase):
 
diff --git a/tfx/dsl/placeholder/placeholder.py b/tfx/dsl/placeholder/placeholder.py
index 4f94a18f2f..43545b2293 100644
--- a/tfx/dsl/placeholder/placeholder.py
+++ b/tfx/dsl/placeholder/placeholder.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 # for historical reasons, it's not actually in the __init__ file.
 # pylint: disable=g-multiple-import,g-importing-member,unused-import,g-bad-import-order,redefined-builtin
 from tfx.dsl.placeholder.placeholder_base import Placeholder, Predicate, ListPlaceholder
+from tfx.dsl.placeholder.placeholder_base import dirname
 from tfx.dsl.placeholder.placeholder_base import logical_not, logical_and, logical_or
 from tfx.dsl.placeholder.placeholder_base import join, join_path, make_list
 from tfx.dsl.placeholder.placeholder_base import ListSerializationFormat, ProtoSerializationFormat
diff --git a/tfx/dsl/placeholder/placeholder_base.py b/tfx/dsl/placeholder/placeholder_base.py
index 5d129a9fe2..07a792a7d7 100644
--- a/tfx/dsl/placeholder/placeholder_base.py
+++ b/tfx/dsl/placeholder/placeholder_base.py
@@ -757,6 +757,25 @@ def encode(
     return result
 
 
+def dirname(
+    placeholder: Placeholder,
+) -> _DirNameOperator:
+  """Runs os.path.dirname() on the path resolved from the input placeholder.
+
+  Args:
+    placeholder: Another placeholder to be wrapped in a _DirNameOperator.
+
+  Example:
+  ```
+  ph.dirname(ph.execution_invocation().output_metadata_uri)
+  ```
+
+  Returns:
+    A _DirNameOperator operator.
+  """
+  return _DirNameOperator(placeholder)
+
+
 class _ListSerializationOperator(UnaryPlaceholderOperator):
   """ListSerializationOperator serializes list type placeholder.
 
@@ -810,6 +829,28 @@ class _CompareOp(enum.Enum):
   GREATER_THAN = placeholder_pb2.ComparisonOperator.Operation.GREATER_THAN
 
 
+class _DirNameOperator(UnaryPlaceholderOperator):
+  """_DirNameOperator returns directory path given a path."""
+
+  def __init__(
+      self,
+      value: Placeholder,
+  ):
+    super().__init__(
+        value,
+        expected_type=str,
+    )
+
+  def encode(
+      self, component_spec: Optional[type['types.ComponentSpec']] = None
+  ) -> placeholder_pb2.PlaceholderExpression:
+    result = placeholder_pb2.PlaceholderExpression()
+    op = result.operator.dir_name_op
+    op.expression.CopyFrom(self._value.encode(component_spec))
+
+    return result
+
+
 def internal_equals_value_like(
     a: Optional[ValueLikeType], b: Optional[ValueLikeType]
 ) -> bool:
diff --git a/tfx/proto/orchestration/placeholder.proto b/tfx/proto/orchestration/placeholder.proto
index 29710d8a1c..4aac0d6351 100644
--- a/tfx/proto/orchestration/placeholder.proto
+++ b/tfx/proto/orchestration/placeholder.proto
@@ -51,9 +51,16 @@ message PlaceholderExpressionOperator {
     ListConcatOperator list_concat_op = 12;
     MakeDictOperator make_dict_op = 13;
     MakeProtoOperator make_proto_op = 14;
+    DirNameOperator dir_name_op = 16;
   }
 }
 
+// DirNameOperator extracts the directory name from a file path.
+message DirNameOperator {
+  // Required. It must evaluate to a file path string.
+  PlaceholderExpression expression = 1;
+}
+
 // ArtifactUriOperator extracts the Artifact URI from a placeholder expression.
 // ArtifactUriOperator: Artifact -> String
 message ArtifactUriOperator {