Director, Technology Operations

Description

Summary

The Director of Technology Operations leads the teams responsible for the reliability, stability, and daily performance of all technology systems supporting employees, branches, and members across the credit union.

This leader owns both operational excellence and disciplined execution of strategic change. As the organization advances its digital transformation and migration to AWS, the Director ensures that modernization efforts are delivered safely while maintaining uninterrupted service for critical member-facing systems.

The role combines service leadership, infrastructure stewardship, vendor accountability, and hands-on incident command. The Director builds high-performing teams, strengthens operational rigor, and fosters a culture of accountability and hospitality where technology is dependable, secure, and easy to use.

Success in this role means fewer incidents, faster recovery, stronger vendor performance, predictable delivery of strategic initiatives, and a resilient environment that members and employees can trust.

Essential Functions

Operational Leadership

• Own end-to-end technology operations across service desk, infrastructure, and production systems
• Ensure high availability, performance, and reliability of all business-critical platforms
• Establish and measure SLAs/SLOs, service health metrics, and operational KPIs
• Lead incident, problem, and change management practices
• Drive operational maturity, standardization, and automation

Strategic Execution & Transformation

• Implement Technology and Credit Union strategy with clear operational roadmaps and priorities
• Lead execution of major initiatives including AWS migration, modernization, and automation programs
• Balance “run the business” reliability with “change the business” transformation
• Sequence work to reduce risk and avoid member or employee disruption
• Partner with Architecture, Security, and Application teams to ensure new solutions are supportable, scalable, and resilient
• Establish capacity planning and lifecycle management for sustainable growth

Major Incident Leadership (SWAT)

• Serve as incident commander for high-severity outages or critical business disruptions
• Lead cross-functional “SWAT” response teams during incidents
• Ensure rapid triage, clear decision-making, and business-aligned prioritization
• Communicate effectively with executive leadership and stakeholders during events
• Drive root cause analysis and long-term corrective actions
• Build a culture of preparedness through playbooks, drills, and post-incident learning

Vendor & Partner Management

• Own operational relationships with key technology vendors and service providers
• Establish clear SLAs, performance metrics, and accountability mechanisms
• Ensure vendors deliver measurable outcomes, not just services
• Integrate vendors seamlessly into incident response and operational processes

Client Services & Employee Experience

• Oversee helpdesk and desk-side support delivering responsive, hospitality-driven service
• Ensure effective triage, ticket management, and resolution across all technology domains
• Lead branch technology deployments and meeting room collaboration systems
• Improve employee productivity through frictionless, reliable technology experiences

Infrastructure & Cloud Platforms

• Lead design, build, and operation of cloud (AWS) and legacy infrastructure
• Oversee Microsoft ecosystem (M365, Entra, Active Directory, servers, endpoints)
• Ensure patching, lifecycle management, and security best practices
• Own backup and disaster recovery capabilities
• Guide modernization toward cloud-native and automated platforms

Site Reliability & Production Operations

• Establish SRE practices focused on stability, automation, and observability
• Oversee CI/CD pipeline operations and safe promotion of changes to production
• Lead monitoring, alerting, and proactive health management
• Reduce manual effort through automation and reliability engineering

People Leadership

• Lead and develop three managers and their teams
• Build a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement
• Coach leaders to scale themselves and their teams
• Promote collaboration and shared responsibility across technology functions
• Champion a service mindset grounded in professionalism and exceptional care for internal members

Requirements

Qualifications

Experience

• 10+ years progressive IT operations experience
• 5+ years leading managers and multi-team organizations
• Experience running mission-critical production environments
• Experience leading large-scale technology initiatives or migrations
• Demonstrated vendor management and service accountability experience
• Proven incident leadership during high-severity outages
• AWS cloud operations experience preferred
• Financial services or regulated industry experience preferred
• ITIL/SRE/DevOps operational practices preferred
• Disaster recovery and business continuity leadership preferred

Education

• Bachelor's degree in IT or other related field, or experience in lieu of education

Outcome & Results

Own your deliverables and KPIs-meet or exceed them by giving outcomes and overcoming obstacles.

Commitments

Treat W3s as promises – execute early, follow through consistently and renegotiate transparently when priorities shift. Reliability builds trust.

Business Maturity

Know your business – manage financials, operations and experiences with discipline and in full alignment with Sunward’s key results.

Growth Mindset

Be a learner now a knower – stay curious, ask questions, adapt quickly and embrace daily learning.

Preparation and Presence

Respect others by being early prepared snd fully tuned in – never distracted or multitasking.

Feedback

Fuel growth by inviting, giving and acting on feedback – always candid, respectful and forward-focused.

Talent & Culture

Build culture through people – hire top talent, coach relentlessly, celebrate wins and manage performance though our Culture of Accountability. Model the culture and values of Sunward.

Experience and Craftsmanship

Set the bar at “the best” – deliver experiences that stand apart and never compromise on quality.

Knowledge

• Deep understanding of IT operations, including service desk, infrastructure, cloud platforms, and production systems, with expertise in incident, problem, and change management.
• Knowledge of ITIL framework and best practices, including incident, problem, change, and service management, to drive operational excellence and service reliability.
• Knowledge of cloud modernization (AWS), digital transformation, automation, and operational risk management to support strategic initiatives while maintaining system reliability.
• Strong technical knowledge of infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, disaster recovery, business continuity, and security best practices.
• Understanding of team performance management, coaching, change management, and building a culture of accountability, service excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Knowledge of vendor management, compliance requirements, regulatory oversight, and integrating third-party services into operational workflows.

Skills/Abilities

• Maintains composure and makes effective decisions during high-severity incidents or business disruptions.
• Designs and implements structured, metrics-driven operational processes to improve reliability and efficiency.
• Delivers service excellence with a focus on dependability, usability, and member/employee experience.
• Communicates clearly and persuasively across all organizational levels, including executives, teams, and vendors.
• Establishes accountability and ensures follow-through across internal teams and external partners.
• Translates strategic priorities into actionable, operational plans and drives disciplined execution.
• Develops operational leaders, fosters high-performing teams, and builds a culture of rigor and reliability.

Physical Requirements/Work Environment

• Primarily office-based work with occasional visits to branch or data center locations.
• Extended periods of sitting and using computers, phones, and other office equipment.
• Ability to attend and lead on-site or virtual meetings, sometimes outside standard business hours.
• Must be able to respond quickly to high-severity incidents, which may require remote or on-site presence during off-hours.
• Occasional lifting or moving of light office or technology equipment (up to 25 lbs).
• Fast-paced, high-demand environment requiring focus, adaptability, and attention to detail under pressure.