Director of Technology Operations (San Francisco)

San Francisco, CA / New York City, NYTechnology – CTO Office /Full-time /HybridVaro is an entirely new kind of bank. All digital, mission-driven, FDIC insured and designed for the way our customers live their lives. A bank for all of us.About the JobWe are seeking a skilled Director to lead our Hybrid Infrastructure and Platform Operations unit at Varo Bank. This role involves maintaining 24/7 system uptime and production resiliency, serving as the primary bridge between internal engineering teams and critical third-party vendors like AWS, Accenture, and Visa. The ideal candidate will have experience leading massive infrastructure shifts, such as cloud migrations or data center shutdowns, and expertise in AWS and cloud cost governance. In this role, you will be responsible for cloud cost governance and the technical lifecycle of the platform, including patching and compliance. You will also act as an enforcer for technical debt, ensuring that developers prioritize stability and performance over just shipping new features. Our team thrives on a highly autonomous, ownership-first work style, where individuals treat uptime as a personal mission rather than a 9-to-5 task.What you'll be doingSystem Resiliency: Maintain 24/7 uptime and production stability, acting as an enforcer for technical debt to prioritize performance over feature shipping.Strategic Vendor Management: Serve as the primary liaison and manager for critical third-party partners, including AWS, Accenture, Visa, and the Fed.Executive Alignment: Collaborate directly with the CTO and SVP to ensure the platform roadmap supports the bank’s broader AI and resiliency objectives.Cloud & Lifecycle Governance: Lead the development and implementation of cloud cost governance and technical lifecycle strategies.Modernization Leadership: Drive the large-scale migration from legacy infrastructure to modern, automated platforms.Cross-Functional Coordination: Manage dotted-line relationships with TPMs and PPF teams to synchronize infrastructure requests and product needs.Crisis Response: Act as the first point of contact for fintech partners during outages, coordinating real-time responses and ensuring strict SLA compliance.You'll bring the following required skills and experiencesExecutive Infrastructure Leadership: Proven Director-level experience leading large-scale transformations, including cloud migrations and data center transitions.SRE & Automation Mastery: Deep expertise in Site Reliability Engineering and AI-driven automation to transition teams from manual firefighting to self-healing operations.Strategic Vendor Governance: Adept at managing high-value delivery partnerships with major providers like Accenture, AWS, and Temenos.Observability & Incident Management: Expert in incident frameworks and single-pane-of-glass tools (e.g., Datadog, CloudWatch) to ensure system visibility.Cloud Financial Operations: Specialized in cloud cost governance, technical lifecycle management, and optimizing infrastructure spend.Crisis Decisiveness: Ability to maintain a calm, authoritative presence while navigating high-stakes ambiguity and critical system outages.Cross-Functional Influence: Strong leadership skills to bridge technical and business gaps between architects, engineering teams, and external stakeholders.$200,000 - $280,000 a yearFor cash compensation, we set standard ranges for all US-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar-stage growth companies. Per applicable law, the salary range for this role is $200,000 - $280,000. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors as well as candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the identified range.This role is also eligible for a bonus, equity, and competitive benefits.We recognize not everyone will have all of these requirements. If you meet most of the criteria above and you’re excited about the opportunity and willing to learn, we’d love to hear from you!About VaroVaro launched in 2017 with the vision to bring the best of fintech into the regulated banking system. We’re a new kind of bank – all-digital, mission-driven, FDIC-insured, and designed around the modern American consumer. As the first consumer fintech to be granted a national bank charter in 2020, we make financial inclusion and opportunity for all a reality by empowering everyone with the products, insights, and support they need to get ahead. Through our core product offerings and suite of customer-first features, we aim to address a broad range of consumer needs while profitably serving underserved communities that have been historically excluded from the traditional financial system.Learn more about Varo by following us:Facebook - Instagram - LinkedIn - Varo is an equal opportunity employer. Varo embraces diversity and we are committed to building teams that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.Beware of fraudulent job postings!Varo will never ask for payment to process documents, refer you to a third party to process applications or visas, or ask you to pay costs. Never send money to anyone suggesting they can provide work with Varo. If you suspect you have received a phony offer, please e-mail [email protected] with the pertinent information and contact information. CCPA Notice at Collection for California Employees and Applicants: may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.