Sr. Director IT Operations

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses. Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment. Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship. Overall Purpose The Sr. Director, IT Operations is responsible for leading enterprise-wide IT Operations and Infrastructure capabilities that ensure the reliability, performance, and availability of the company’s products, platforms, and services. This role oversees 24x7 operations, including monitoring, alerting, incident management, and technical support, while also driving the strategy and execution of infrastructure hosting, cloud platforms, and technology lifecycle management. This leader serves as a critical connector across Technology, Security, and Business teams, ensuring operational excellence, rapid incident response, and continuous improvement of systems that support customers and internal stakeholders. The role is accountable for establishing scalable operating models, advancing automation, and aligning infrastructure and operations strategies with the company’s broader technology vision. Essential Functions Provides executive leadership across IT Operations and Infrastructure teams, fostering a high-performing, highly engaged organization focused on reliability, accountability, and customer outcomes. Leads enterprise 24x7 operations including monitoring, alerting, incident management, and technical support, ensuring rapid detection, response, and resolution of production issues. Establishes and drives a consistent IT Service Management (ITSM) framework, including incident, problem, and change management disciplines aligned with ITIL best practices. Owns enterprise monitoring and alerting strategy and governance, ensuring comprehensive visibility across applications, infrastructure, and data flows. Directs the strategy, engineering, and lifecycle management of infrastructure platforms, including data centers, private and public cloud environments, compute, storage, and network systems. Develops and executes infrastructure technology roadmaps aligned with enterprise architecture, scalability, resilience, and performance requirements. Leads technology lifecycle management, including hardware/software refresh programs, capacity planning, and prevention of technology obsolescence. Drives adoption of automation and modern tooling to improve provisioning, monitoring, incident response, and operational efficiency. Oversees business continuity and disaster recovery strategies, ensuring readiness, testing, and alignment with enterprise risk management requirements. Acts as the central point of accountability for major incident management, driving cross functional coordination and executive communication during critical events. Serves as the voice of the customer for operational performance, ensuring proactive communication and continuous improvement of service delivery. Partners with Security, Risk, and Compliance teams to ensure infrastructure and operations adhere to regulatory, security, and data protection standards. Collaborates with Engineering, Architecture, and DevOps teams to ensure operational readiness, scalability, and supportability of new systems and services. Manages vendor relationships, including cloud providers, colocation partners, and infrastructure vendors, ensuring service levels, cost efficiency, and performance expectations are met. Drives a culture of continuous improvement through metrics, performance management, and operational excellence frameworks. Supports the company’s commitment to risk management and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data. Minimum Qualifications Typically, a minimum 15+ years of progressive experience in IT Operations, Infrastructure, or Technology leadership roles, including leading multiple teams and functions. Demonstrated experience managing enterprise-scale 24x7 operations in a highly available, customer-facing environment. Strong experience with ITSM/ITIL frameworks, including incident, problem, and change management. Deep understanding of infrastructure platforms, including data centers, cloud (public and private), compute, storage, networking, and identity management. Experience leading infrastructure lifecycle management, capacity planning, and largescale platform environments. Proven ability to lead during high-pressure incidents and drive fact-based decision making in real time. Strong experience in automation, DevOps practices, and modern operational tooling. Demonstrated ability to manage risk across technology operations and infrastructure domains. Proven ability to communicate effectively with senior leadership, technical teams, vendors, and business stakeholders. Strong leadership, organizational, and stakeholder management skills in complex, matrixed environments. Background and drug screen. Preferred Qualifications Advanced degree in a related field. ITIL certification or advanced service management credentials. Experience in financial services or other highly regulated industries. Experience with large-scale cloud transformations or hybrid infrastructure environments. Experience leading data center migrations, consolidations, or cloud adoption initiatives. Familiarity with Agile and DevOps operating models. The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow instructions and perform other related duties as assigned by their supervisor. Physical Requirements Working conditions consist of a normal office environment. Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours. Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling and reaching. Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently. Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers. Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers. Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation. The base pay scale for this position in: Phoenix, AZ/ Chicago, IL / Washington, DC in USD per year is: $188,000 - $235,000. New York, NY/ San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $226,000 - $282,000. Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary incentive plan and benefits. This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate’s education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes. Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses. 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility. Paid Time Off – Flexible Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day. 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work. And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process! Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Early Warning Services, LLC (“Early Warning”) considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees. CURRENT EMPLOYEES: Apply for open positions via Job Hub in your Workday Account. Early Warning Services® delivers innovative payment and risk solutions to financial institutions nationwide. For over 25 years, Early Warning has been a leader in technology that helps protect and advance the financial system. We serve a diverse network of approximately 2,500 financial institutions, government entities and payment companies. Our product solutions enable real-time funds availability for a variety of payment types through our payments network. Early Warning Services, LLC (“Early Warning”) considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees. Early Warning Services® aims to make our recruitment process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or a special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, please email View email address on click.appcast.io for an assistance request. View supplemental EEO is the law poster Early Warning has developed and maintains a written AAP and upholds pay transparency nondiscrimination. E-Verify Early Warning Services LLC is a proud participant in E-Verify, a federal program to help ensure a legal and authorized workforce. As part of our hiring process, we electronically verify the employment eligibility of all new hires through E-Verify. For more information on your rights and responsibilities under E-Verify please visit Home | E-Verify. Privacy Notice Effective: May 2, 2025 This privacy notice is intended to inform California residents of the personal information we collect, how it’s used and disclosed, and the rights you have in regard to such information. Click below for the full privacy notice