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 lead