Senior Director, Payment Operations

We are seeking a strategic Senior Director of Payment Operations to lead the design, deployment, and maintenance of our complex payment processing infrastructure. This role is critical to ensuring the scalability, reliability, and security of our global payment systems. You will lead cross-functional teams, drive innovation in payment technologies, and ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations.

What you'll do:

• Team Leadership: Lead, manage and mentor a high-performing team of IT and operations professionals, fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

• Strategic Leadership: Define and execute the long-term vision for payment operations, aligning with business goals and emerging industry trends.

• Infrastructure Oversight: Align system architecture to enterprise roadmaps, drive deployment, and ensure maintenance of high-availability, low-latency payment platforms.

• Operational Excellence: Ensure 24/7 uptime and performance of payment systems, including transaction routing, settlement, reconciliation, and fraud prevention.

• Vendor & Partner Management: Collaborate with external payment processors, card networks, and financial institutions to optimize transaction flows and resolve issues.

• Compliance & Risk Management: Ensure adherence to PCI-DSS, SOX SOC1/SOC2, GDPR, and other regulatory requirements. Partner with Cyber Security and Legal teams to manage and mitigate risk.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Leverage analytics and KPIs to monitor system health, identify trends, and drive operational improvements toward strategic and business unit goals.

What you'll bring:

• 15+ years of experience designing, deploying, and maintaining complex payment processing infrastructure and operations.

• 10+ years of hands-on experience in the payments industry, including card processing, ACH, real-time payments, and digital wallets.

• 8+ years of progressively responsible people management experience, including leading large, distributed teams.

• Demonstrated passion for continuous improvement.

• Relentlessly curious and results oriented.

Technical Expertise:

• Deep understanding of payment gateways, acquiring and issuing systems, tokenization, modern payment platforms and fraud detection technologies.

• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures (AWS, GCP, or Azure), microservices, and DevOps practices.

• Familiarity with lean-agile practices, technical application management and operating teams at scale.

• Strong grasp of transaction lifecycle, settlement processes, and reconciliation systems.

• Deep experience delivering PCI compliant platforms and services.

​Leadership & Communication:

• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive cross-functional initiatives.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business terms.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in the nonprofit space, Donor advised funds, gift management, et cetera.

• Experience at a leading payment processor, fintech, or financial institution (e.g., PayPal/Venmo, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Square).

• Experience with international payment systems and international transactions.

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Blackbaud is a remote-first company which embraces a flexible remote work culture.  Blackbaud supports hiring and career development for all roles from the location you are in today!

Blackbaud is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive work environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, or veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.

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Benefits Include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance

• Remote-first workforce

• 401(k) program with employer match

• Flexible paid time off

• Generous Parental Leave

• Volunteer for vacation

• Opportunities to connect to build community and belonging

• Pet insurance, legal and identity protection

• Tuition reimbursement program