Director of Financial Operations

Tax Relief Advocates•Irvine, CA

9d•$150,000 - $185,000•Onsite

About The Position

Tax Relief Advocates is seeking an experienced Director of Financial Operations to lead and strengthen the operational side of our finance organization. This is not a traditional accounting or FP&A position. We are looking for a highly operational financial leader with experience in industries such as mortgage lending, auto lending, consumer finance, loan servicing, fintech, payment processing, or other high-volume financial services environments. The ideal candidate understands how money moves through a complex organization and has experience overseeing billing, payments, merchant processing, reconciliations, financial vendors, offshore teams, service-level agreements, reporting, controls, and operational performance. This individual will work closely with executive leadership and oversee the Finance Manager while helping build scalable systems, processes, controls, and accountability across the organization.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in financial operations, lending operations, payment operations, loan servicing, consumer finance, or a related field
3+ years in a Director, Senior Manager, VP, or comparable leadership position
Experience managing high-volume payment or billing operations
Strong understanding of merchant processing, ACH, credit card payments, chargebacks, refunds, reconciliations, and payment exceptions
Experience managing offshore, outsourced, or BPO teams
Demonstrated experience creating and managing SLAs and operational KPIs
Experience negotiating and managing financial vendors and service providers
Strong process-improvement and operational problem-solving skills
Experience working with CRM, ERP, payment, banking, or financial management systems
Advanced reporting and analytical capabilities
Demonstrated ability to build scalable processes in a fast-growing organization

Nice To Haves

Experience in mortgage lending, auto lending, consumer lending, fintech, payment processing, or loan servicing
Spent years inside a high-volume financial services organization and understands the operational details behind thousands of financial transactions.
Knows how to look at a billing or payment operation and quickly determine where money is being lost, where controls are weak, where vendors are underperforming, and where processes can be automated.
Comfortable managing both internal and offshore teams, holding vendors accountable to SLAs, negotiating with payment providers, reviewing operational data, and working directly with executives.
A builder and problem solver who can take ownership of financial operations and continuously make them more accurate, efficient, scalable, and accountable.

Responsibilities

Oversee day-to-day financial operations, including billing, payment processing, reconciliations, refunds, chargebacks, merchant processing, and related workflows
Ensure accurate and timely movement and reconciliation of funds across multiple systems and accounts
Establish controls to identify discrepancies, payment failures, billing errors, duplicate transactions, and other financial exceptions
Develop reporting and dashboards to provide leadership with visibility into financial operations and key performance indicators
Identify manual processes and implement automation and scalable solutions
Manage relationships with merchant processors, payment providers, banking partners, and other financial vendors
Monitor processing costs, merchant fees, chargebacks, declines, reserves, and payment performance
Review merchant statements and pricing structures and identify opportunities to reduce processing costs
Manage escalations involving payment processing and financial vendors
Support implementation and integration of new payment platforms and financial technologies
Oversee billing processes and ensure client accounts are billed accurately and consistently
Develop controls around payment plans, failed payments, refunds, cancellations, credits, and account adjustments
Monitor payment performance and identify trends affecting collections and cash flow
Work cross-functionally with Sales, Operations, Compliance, Technology, and Client Services to resolve systemic billing and payment issues
Manage financial operations performed by offshore and third-party teams
Establish clear expectations, workflows, KPIs, and SLAs for internal and outsourced teams
Monitor SLA performance, accuracy, productivity, turnaround times, and quality
Conduct regular vendor performance reviews and hold partners accountable for contractual obligations
Identify opportunities to improve cost, quality, efficiency, or staffing models
Document and continuously improve financial workflows, SOPs, controls, and approval processes
Identify operational bottlenecks, financial leakage, unnecessary costs, and control weaknesses
Partner with Technology to automate repetitive processes and improve system integrations
Build scalable processes capable of supporting continued company growth
Establish clear ownership and escalation procedures for financial exceptions
Provide leadership and oversight to the Finance Manager and financial operations team
Establish measurable KPIs and performance expectations
Develop team members and create clear accountability across the department
Serve as the primary escalation point for complex financial operational issues
Provide executive leadership with clear analysis, recommendations, and solutions rather than simply reporting problems