Senior Director, Operational Excellence

The Team:

The Lending Operations team is responsible for delivering exceptional customer experiences while maintaining strong operational controls across the lending lifecycle. As Upstart continues to scale, Operational Excellence serves as a critical function that ensures customer issues are resolved effectively, risks are identified and mitigated, and operational processes continuously improve.

The Senior Director, Operational Excellence will build and lead several high-impact functions, including Issue Management, Customer Complaints, Identity Theft & Credit Disputes, and Quality Control. This leader will establish the strategy, operating model, and team structure needed to drive consistent execution, regulatory readiness, customer-centric outcomes, and continuous improvement across Lending Operations. They will partner closely with Operations, Compliance, Legal, Risk, Product, and Engineering to identify root causes, strengthen controls, and elevate operational performance.

How you’ll make an impact

• Build and lead a high-performing Operational Excellence organization spanning Issue Management, Customer Complaints, Identity Theft & Credit Disputes, and Quality Control.
• Develop the long-term strategy, organizational design, operating rhythms, and performance management framework for the Operational Excellence function.
• Establish scalable processes for identifying, investigating, tracking, and resolving operational issues while ensuring appropriate governance and accountability.
• Create and oversee complaint management programs that drive timely resolution, root-cause identification, trend analysis, and continuous improvement.
• Lead the strategy and execution for identity theft investigations and credit dispute operations, ensuring compliance with applicable regulatory requirements and customer protection standards.
• Design and mature a quality control program that evaluates operational performance, identifies process gaps, and drives measurable improvements in customer and business outcomes.
• Partner with Compliance, Legal, Risk, Internal Audit, Product, Engineering, and Operations leaders to strengthen operational controls and mitigate emerging risks.
• Develop executive-level reporting, dashboards, and governance mechanisms to provide visibility into operational health, customer experience, and risk trends.
• Drive a culture of accountability, operational rigor, and continuous improvement through data-driven decision making.
• Recruit, develop, and mentor leaders and team members while fostering an inclusive, high-performance environment.
• Lead large-scale operational improvement initiatives that improve efficiency, reduce risk, and enhance the customer experience.

Minimum Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in operations, operational risk, operational excellence, complaint management, quality assurance, compliance operations, or related functions within financial services, fintech, banking, lending, or consumer finance.
• 7+ years of people leadership experience, including managing managers and leading multi-functional organizations.
• Experience building and scaling operational programs, teams, and governance frameworks in a regulated environment.
• Experience leading customer complaint management, issue management, quality control, audit, risk, compliance, or related operational functions.
• Experience developing and presenting operational performance metrics and executive-level reporting to senior leadership.
• Experience driving cross-functional initiatives involving Operations, Product, Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Technology teams.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading Operational Excellence, Operational Risk, Complaint Management, Quality Assurance, or Control functions within a lending, banking, fintech, or consumer financial services organization.
• Experience supporting regulatory examinations, audits, remediation programs, and control enhancement initiatives.Knowledge of consumer protection regulations and operational risk management practices applicable to lending operations.
• Experience building issue management and root-cause analysis frameworks that drive measurable business outcomes.
• Experience leveraging automation, workflow tools, and data analytics to improve operational effectiveness and customer experience.
• MBA or other advanced degree.
• Experience operating in a high-growth technology or fintech environment.

Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote

Time zone requirements The team operates on the East/West coast time zones.

Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.

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