Sr. Director, Partnership Operations & Chief of Staff

Early Warning® • Chicago, IL

12d • $188,000 - $282,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses. Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment. Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship. Overall Purpose The Senior Director of Partnership Operations leads and drives strategic initiatives across enterprise sales and partnership functions. This role develops and optimizes processes, performance metrics, and cross-functional alignment across Partnerships, B2B Marketing, Client Services, Finance, and other key areas. Reporting to the Chief Partnership Officer (CPO), the Senior Director manages day-to-day operations, provides strategic guidance, and supports executive communication to ensure alignment with organizational goals.

Requirements

• Education and/or experience typically obtained through completion of a bachelor’s degree.
• 15 or more years of related work experience, with at least 5 years of leadership experience.
• Experience in innovating, translating ideas into action plans, and delivering results.
• Effective communicator, able to convey complex ideas in a clear, concise manner – both verbally and in writing.
• Entrepreneurial approach and passionate strategic thinker with enterprise mindset.
• Highly professional and collaborative with proven ability to develop deep relationships with executives, decision makers, and industry partners.
• Effective leadership skills and passion for building highly engaged high-performance teams.
• Ability to effectively prioritize work, meet deadlines, achieve goals, and work under pressure in a dynamic and complex environment.
• Effective written, verbal, presentation, and public speaking skills.
• Strong analytical and process improvement skills.
• Ability to create and deliver compelling and persuasive arguments with an executive level audience.
• Comfortable establishing new relationships with and influencing customers from the analyst up to the C Suite both internally and externally.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree.
• Sales operations and compensation strategy experience
• Chief of staff experience
• Extensive project management experience and process improvement knowledge.
• Deep understanding of the Early Warning organizational landscape.
• Prior experience working in payments, financial services, or similar regulated industry.

Responsibilities

• Chief of staff: Serve as the CPO’s right hand, supporting strategic planning, prioritization, and execution of key initiatives. Manage business operating routines, materials preparation, decision tracking, and follow-ups. Coordinate and co-host recurring Partnership meetings and events.
• Program and process management: Own and execute sales policies, planning, reporting, quota management, and process optimization. Oversee training, program implementation, compensation design, and commission reviews in collaboration with HR and Finance. Ensure efficient systems and audit processes.
• Partnership Communications: Manage executive and broader company communications of relevant team KPIs, results and strategic programs. Partners with internal functions, including the internal communications team, to drive an organizational understanding of sales/partnership-driven business outcomes. This includes content creation for recurring and ad-hoc Partnership executive reporting and live event execution (such as lunch and learning), etc.
• Effective leadership: Build and lead a high-performing Sales/Partnership Enablement team responsible for the compensation process, Salesforce optimization, KPI reporting and dashboards, forecasting, pipeline management, and customer engagement initiatives. Build, retain, and motivate highly engaged, high-performance team through demonstrated commitment to talent management and training. Lead a sales/partner enablement team which optimizes the process for compensation, Salesforce optimization, KPI reporting and dashboards (revenue, ACV, lead mgmt., etc.), forecasting, pipeline management, customer engagement and communications initiatives, and customer satisfaction surveys.
• SaaS strategy Evolve the use of AI and manage an effective SaaS strategy for tools leveraged by Partnerships (Salesforce, TaskRay. LinkedIn etc.)
• Data-driven decisioning: Analyze sales data to identify trends, opportunities, and risks, recommending and implementing actionable improvements.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Partner with Marketing on ABM and client communication strategies. Maintain alignment across departments and foster strong internal relationships.
• Talent & Development: Partner with HR and L&D to promote skills development and industry knowledge across the Partnership organization.

Benefits

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
• Paid Time Off – Unlimited Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees