Director, IT Support Operations

Become an everyday champion - and build a career where your impact fuels financial progress.

What We Do CardWorks Financial Group is a diversified financial services platform building ethical solutions across credit, lending, and the full customer lifecycle. Through our family of companies, CardWorks Financial Group tackles the complex challenges that larger financial institutions leave behind. We’re embedded throughout the credit card ecosystem as a lender, servicer, and merchant acquirer.

Who We Are

• Merrick Bank: The bank that builds
• CardWorks Servicing: One partner, total performance
• Carson Smithfield: Resolution with respect

With nearly 40 years of operating history, our track record is solid: disciplined in downturns and built to accelerate in recovery. The CardWorks Financial Group companies take precise approach in complex markets, as a top three non-prime focused general purpose card issuer and a top fifteen U.S. merchant acquirer.

Our team tackles the industry’s most complex credit and payment challenges. And we believe that excellent work starts with a team that feels supported, respected, and empowered to grow.

CardWorks Servicing, LLC provides end-to end operational servicing functions for credit cards, secured cards, and installment loans. We service consumer and small business loans across the credit spectrum and offers backup servicing and due diligence services to capital providers and trustees.

Founded in 1997, Merrick Bank is an FDIC®-insured financial institution headquartered in South Jordan, Utah, with over $10 billion in assets. A wholly owned subsidiary of CardWorks Financial Group, Merrick Bank serves roughly five million cardmembers and more than 100,000 merchant customers, offering credit cards, recreational loans, deposit accounts, merchant services and bank sponsorships to consumers and businesses.

Carson Smithfield, LLC provides a variety of post-charge-off debt recovery services, including digital self-service, IVR, live agent, and external agency management.

Enterprise Support & Service Operations

• Own the end-to-end performance of Service Desk and End User Computing support services, including service quality, capacity, productivity, customer satisfaction, and operational health.
• Advance ITIL and ITSM maturity across incident, request, problem, knowledge, major incident, service-level management, and continual improvement practices.
• Establish and govern KPIs, SLAs, OLAs, experience measures, first-contact resolution, backlog, escalation, productivity, reliability, and service-quality metrics.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for critical employee-impacting incidents, executive support matters, and systemic service failures.

Employee Experience, Automation & Continuous Improvement

• Champion a secure, user-centered digital workplace that supports office, remote, and hybrid employees.
• Advance AI-assisted support, intelligent automation, self-service, knowledge-centered service, proactive issue detection, and automated remediation.
• Use service analytics, employee feedback, root-cause analysis, and industry benchmarks to eliminate recurring issues, reduce demand, and improve service reliability.
• Balance employee experience with security, compliance, cost, risk, and enterprise architecture requirements.

Digital Workplace Strategy & Leadership

• Define and execute the enterprise roadmap for digital workplace services, end-user support, automation, service modernization, and employee technology experience.
• Align technology investments, workforce models, service capabilities, and performance standards with business priorities and evolving employee needs.
• Advise executive leadership on digital workplace strategy, service performance, technology adoption, operational risk, and investment priorities.

Financial, Vendor & Commercial Management

• Manage operating budgets, workforce plans, forecasts, investment proposals, and cost-optimization strategies for digital workplace and support services.
• Govern third-party providers, contractual performance, service levels, financial commitments, operational risks, and continuous-improvement obligations.
• Partner with Sourcing, Vendor Management, Finance, Legal, Risk, and Technology leadership on vendor selection, contract negotiations, renewals, sourcing models, and service transitions.
• Establish measures for service cost, resource utilization, provider performance, productivity, and return on technology investments.

Organizational Leadership & Workforce Development

• Build and develop high-performing digital workplace, Service Desk, and End User Computing leaders and teams.
• Foster a culture of accountability, ownership, innovation, customer focus, operational discipline, and professional excellence.
• Transform support teams from reactive ticket-processing functions into proactive, consultative, and solution-oriented technology partners.
• Establish workforce strategies, succession plans, career pathways, capability requirements, and performance expectations aligned with the digital workplace roadmap.

Enterprise Program & Transformation Leadership

• Lead complex digital workplace, EUC, automation, and support transformation programs from strategy and business-case development through implementation and operational adoption.
• Establish program governance, financial requirements, resource plans, timelines, risk strategies, communications, and measurable success criteria.
• Ensure initiatives are delivered within approved scope, schedule, budget, risk tolerance, and business objectives.
• Maintain executive visibility into program performance, dependencies, investment requirements, adoption, risks, and realized business outcomes.

Risk, Compliance & Service Governance

• Establish governance and operational controls for digital workplace and support services within a regulated financial services environment.
• Maintain alignment with applicable FDIC, PCI-DSS, SOX, ITGC, SOC 1, SOC 2, security, privacy, records-management, and internal control requirements.
• Partner with Risk, Audit, Compliance, Legal, and Cybersecurity to maintain audit readiness and remediate control deficiencies and emerging risks.
• Integrate risk and control requirements into service design, vendor oversight, technology deployments, operational processes, and transformation initiatives.

Stakeholder & Business Relationship Management

• Serve as the principal relationship owner for digital workplace and employee support services across business and technology leadership.
• Build strategic partnerships that align service capabilities with operational priorities, workforce requirements, and employee needs.
• Communicate service performance, investment requirements, risks, transformation progress, and improvement outcomes with executive-level credibility.
• Represent Digital Workplace & Support Services in enterprise governance, planning, risk, and investment forums.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, or related discipline.
• 7+ years of progressive IT experience, including 5+ years leading multiple support teams and support leaders.
• Demonstrated leadership of both Service Desk and End User Computing organizations.
• Proven success leading large-scale operational transformation, process improvement, and support modernization.
• Experience with automation, self-service, workflow optimization, knowledge management, and enterprise technology initiatives.
• Strong project/program management experience.
• ITIL Foundation required; ITIL Managing Professional, PMP, Lean Six Sigma, or equivalent preferred.
• Experience in highly regulated environments subject to PCI-DSS, SOX, FDIC, SOC, ITGC, or similar requirements.
• Experience with ServiceNow, workflow automation, knowledge management, endpoint management, and operational reporting/analytics platforms.

Summary of Qualifications

• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence stakeholders and drive organizational change.
• Proven ability to build high-performance teams, improve engagement, and transform organizational culture.
• Deep knowledge of ITSM, ITIL, Service Desk, EUC, and enterprise support operations.
• Strong operational management, workforce planning, service delivery, and continuous improvement capabilities.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, decision-making, communication, and executive presentation skills.
• Ability to translate business objectives into actionable operational strategies.
• Strong understanding of automation, AI-assisted support, workflow optimization, and digital transformation.
• Experience managing KPIs, SLAs, OLAs, customer satisfaction, productivity, resolution, escalation, and reliability metrics.
• Results-oriented, solution-focused leader who can independently manage competing priorities with minimal supervision.
• Willingness and ability to assume additional responsibilities as business needs evolve.

Leadership Competencies

• Ownership: Accountable for outcomes and results.
• Execution Excellence: Delivers measurable results through disciplined operations.
• Continuous Improvement: Eliminates waste and continuously improves processes and performance.
• Innovation: Leverages technology, automation, AI, and creative thinking to modernize support.
• People Development: Builds teams, develops leaders, and strengthens organizational capability.
• Customer Focus: Prioritizes employee experience and business outcomes.
• Change Leadership: Drives cultural, organizational, and operational transformation.
• Solution Orientation: Solves systemic problems rather than maintaining the status quo.
• Operational Discipline: Uses data, metrics, governance, and accountability to drive sustainable performance.
• Some travel to Cardworks & Merrick Bank locations may be required

Ideally, the qualified candidate will work at one of the following location(s): Woodbury, NY, Orlando, FL, South Jordan, UT.

The salary range for this position, if located in NY Metro/NY State is $137,853 to $153,170. However, please note that the salary range will vary for other geographic areas. #INDCW

Our Employee Value Proposition

• Competitive Pay, including a Bonus Target or Variable Pay Incentive Program
• Benefits Package -Medical, Dental, and Vision (plus much more)
• 401(k) Plan with Company Match
• Short- & Long-Term Disability
• Wellness Programs
• Group Life and AD&D Insurance
• Paid Vacation, Sick Days and bank Holidays
• Employee Engagement Activities including Employee Appreciation Day, DEI Employee Resource Groups, Corporate Social Responsibility, Service Recognition

We offer a total rewards package comprised of a competitive base rate of pay, variable pay incentive programs based on the role, and a comprehensive benefit suite. Offered rates of pay are determined based on job-related knowledge, relevant experience, skills, certifications, and geographic location.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to age, race, color, sex, or gender identity/expression (including pregnancy, childbirth, transgender status, or sexual orientation), religion or creed, ancestry, citizenship, national origin, disability, military or veteran status, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or retaliation. Employment decisions are based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs. Everyone is welcome here, and we hire based on your ability to do the job, not any protected characteristics.

If you need help or reasonable accommodation during the application or hiring process, please let your TA Partner know.