Operations Group Manager - Payments at U.S. Bancorp in Cincinnati

Operations Group Manager - Payments

Location: Cincinnati, OH

At U.S. Bank, we’re on a journey to do our best. Helping the customers and businesses we serve to make better and smarter financial decisions and enabling the communities we support to grow and succeed. We believe it takes all of us to bring our shared ambition to life, and each person is unique in their potential. A career with U.S. Bank gives you a wide, ever-growing range of opportunities to discover what makes you thrive at every stage of your career. Try new things, learn new skills and discover what you excel at—all from Day One.

Job Description

The Operations Group Manager, Payments Operations is a senior executive leadership role responsible for defining and executing the strategic direction and operational transformation of a large-scale payments organization. This leader will establish and advance an integrated, end-to-end payments operating model designed to deliver a consistent client and partner experience, strengthen operational performance and controls, and position the organization for continued growth and innovation.

The Operations Group Manager will lead enterprise-wide strategies across payment operations, service delivery, payment investigations, digital adoption, technology resiliency, automation, data, and payment rail integration. The role will bring together currently interconnected operational capabilities to create a more unified, scalable, and technology-enabled payments ecosystem.

The successful leader will operate across business, operations, technology, product, risk, and other partner organizations to translate the bank's payments strategy into measurable operational outcomes. This executive will establish clear governance and accountability, modernize processes, leverage artificial intelligence and automation, and build the operational infrastructure necessary to support an increasingly complex, digital, and real-time payments environment.

Key Responsibilities

Payments Operations Strategy & Transformation

• Define and execute a comprehensive, multi-year strategy for Payments Operations aligned with broader business, client, technology, and risk priorities.
• Build a connected, end-to-end payments ecosystem that increases consistency across payment products, rails, operational processes, and servicing capabilities.
• Establish an integrated operating model that connects strategy, execution, service delivery, technology, data, controls, and client experience.
• Evaluate the existing operating environment and identify opportunities to simplify processes, reduce fragmentation, eliminate manual work, and increase scalability.
• Develop appropriate performance measures, governance structures, and executive reporting to demonstrate operational effectiveness and strategic progress.
• Lead significant organizational and operational change while maintaining strong execution and service continuity.

End-to-End Client & Partner Experience

• Drive a consistent end-to-end client and partner experience across the payments organization.
• Establish measurable service outcomes and accountability for performance across operational and partner teams.
• Identify friction points throughout the payments lifecycle and develop strategies that improve client experience, responsiveness, transparency, and resolution times.
• Partner across product, sales, relationship management, technology, risk, and operations to ensure the operating model supports both client expectations and business objectives.
• Champion digital adoption and leverage technology to simplify client and partner interactions.

Escalation Management & Service Excellence

• Design and strengthen an enterprise-wide escalation framework that enables faster issue identification and resolution, clear ownership, and end-to-end transparency.
• Establish governance for complex operational issues and ensure appropriate accountability across Payments Operations and partner organizations.
• Advance the use of platforms such as ServiceNow to create scalable escalation management, workflow automation, improved visibility, analytics, and reporting.
• Establish clear protocols for Level 2 and Level 3 issue management, escalation, ownership, root-cause identification, and closure.
• Develop performance metrics that measure issue resolution, recurring operational themes, service quality, and effectiveness of corrective actions.

Payments Technology, AI & Automation

• Develop and execute an operations technology strategy that supports the future-state payments ecosystem.
• Advance AI and automation initiatives, including capabilities such as SkanAI, to improve operational efficiency, accuracy, scalability, and service delivery.
• Identify opportunities to automate highly manual operational processes and redirect capacity toward higher-value activities.
• Partner closely with technology leadership to establish priorities, technology investments, implementation roadmaps, and measurable business outcomes.
• Drive adoption of digital tools and capabilities across Payments Operations.
• Strengthen technology resiliency and operational readiness to support highly available and business-critical payment services.

Payment Rail Integration

• Develop an operating strategy that supports greater integration and consistency across payment rails.
• Partner with product and technology organizations to ensure operational readiness for new and evolving payment capabilities.
• Identify opportunities to standardize processes, controls, data, servicing, and investigations across payment types.
• Establish scalable processes that can accommodate continued changes in the payments landscape without creating unnecessary operational complexity.

Data Strategy & Operational Intelligence

• Drive adoption and effective utilization of the Payments Data Mart across the payments organization.
• Establish a strategy for using operational data to improve decision-making, client service, capacity planning, risk management, and performance measurement.
• Improve data coordination across payments business lines and supporting organizations.
• Develop meaningful executive-level performance measures and insights that provide greater visibility into service quality, operational health, trends, risks, escalations, and improvement opportunities.

Payment Investigations

• Establish a centralized and consistent operating model for payment investigations.
• Oversee the strategy for investigation intake, routing, research, escalation, clearing, and resolution.
• Coordinate complex payment investigations with core operational and partner teams to improve resolution speed and accountability.
• Create greater consistency in investigation procedures, service expectations, controls, and client communication.
• Leverage workflow technology, data, AI, and automation to improve investigation routing, research, decision-making, and resolution.
• Establish centralized oversight, governance, performance metrics, and quality standards across payment investigations.

Data Integration & Client Implementation Support

• Provide strategic oversight for data integration setup and servicing capabilities.
• Establish centralized support for DI setups, client servicing, client-file testing, feedback, and data mapping.
• Lead efforts to consolidate DI setup and core support capabilities where greater centralization will improve scale, consistency, quality, and accountability.
• Strengthen coordination of data requirements and capabilities across payments business lines.
• Ensure implementation and servicing processes provide consistent experience from client onboarding through ongoing operational support.

Risk, Controls & Resiliency

• Ensure the Payments Operations organization operates within established risk appetite, regulatory expectations, policies, and control standards.
• Build operational risk and control considerations into transformation initiatives from inception through implementation.
• Strengthen technology and operational resiliency across critical payment processes.
• Establish governance and accountability for significant operational risks, incidents, issues, and remediation activities.
• Partner with Risk, Compliance, Audit, Technology, and other control functions to identify emerging risks and ensure timely and sustainable remediation.

Executive Leadership & Talent

• Lead and develop a large, complex organization through senior leaders and functional teams.
• Establish a high-performance culture centered on client experience, accountability, collaboration, innovation, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Develop organizational structures and talent strategies that support the future-state Payments Operations model.
• Attract, develop, and retain strong payments, operations, technology, and transformation talent.
• Serve as a senior strategic partner to executives across Payments, Technology, Product, Risk, Finance, and other business and corporate functions.
• Influence decisions across organizational boundaries and lead initiatives requiring significant stakeholder alignment and organizational change.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in banking, financial services, payments, operations, technology, or a related discipline.
• Significant senior leadership experience managing large, complex operational organizations.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing enterprise or business-line strategies and large-scale transformation initiatives.
• Experience leading through senior managers and influencing across multiple organizations and executive stakeholder groups.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Advanced degree such as an MBA or other relevant graduate degree.
• Extensive knowledge of payments, treasury management, transaction banking, or large-scale financial services operations.
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end payments lifecycle, including payment processing, servicing, investigations, exception management, and operational controls.
• Experience developing strategies across multiple payment rails and operating environments.
• Demonstrated success designing and implementing large-scale operating model transformations.
• Experience applying AI, intelligent automation, workflow technology, and data analytics to operational processes.
• Experience with workflow and service-management platforms such as ServiceNow.
• Strong understanding of technology resiliency, business continuity, operational risk, regulatory requirements, and controls within a large financial institution.
• Proven ability to translate strategic objectives into clearly defined operating plans, performance measures, governance structures, and measurable outcomes.
• Exceptional executive communication and presentation skills, including the ability to influence senior leaders and build consensus across highly matrixed organizations.
• Strong analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex change while balancing client experience, growth, efficiency, risk, controls, and operational resiliency.
• Proven track record of building and developing high-performing executive and senior-leadership teams.

Location Requirements
This role requires working from a U.S. Bank location three (3) or more days per week.

If there’s anything we can do to accommodate a disability during any portion of the application or hiring process, please refer to our disability accommodations for applicants.

Benefits:

Our approach to benefits and total rewards considers our team members’ whole selves and what may be needed to thrive in and outside work. That's why our benefits are designed to help you and your family boost your health, protect your financial security and give you peace of mind. Our benefits include the following:

• Healthcare (medical, dental, vision)

• Basic term and optional term life insurance

• Short-term and long-term disability

• Pregnancy disability and parental leave

• 401(k) and employer-funded retirement plan

• Paid vacation (from two to five weeks depending on salary grade and tenure)

• Up to 11 paid holiday opportunities

• Adoption assistance

• Sick and Safe Leave accruals of one hour for every 30 worked, up to 80 hours per calendar year unless otherwise provided by law

Review our full benefits available by employment status here.

U.S. Bank is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or veteran status, and other factors protected under applicable law.

E-Verify

U.S. Bank participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program in all facilities located in the United States and certain U.S. territories. The E-Verify program is an Internet-based employment eligibility verification system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Learn more about the E-Verify program.

The salary range reflects figures based on the primary location, which is listed first. The actual range for the role may differ based on the location of the role. In addition to salary, U.S. Bank offers a comprehensive benefits package, including incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase 401(k) contribution and pension (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). Pay Range: $164,390.00 - $193,400.00

U.S. Bank will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment. U.S. Bank conducts background checks consistent with applicable local laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act as well as the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. U.S. Bank is subject to, and conducts background checks consistent with the requirements of Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA). In addition, certain positions may also be subject to the requirements of FINRA, NMLS registration, Reg Z, Reg G, OFAC, the NFA, the FCPA, the Bank Secrecy Act, the SAFE Act, and/or federal guidelines applicable to an agreement, such as those related to ethics, safety, or operational procedures.

Applicants must be able to comply with U.S. Bank policies and procedures including the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and related workplace conduct and safety policies.

Posting may be closed earlier due to high volume of applicants.