Vice President Process Improvement Manager - Merchant Client Onboarding and Servicing

JPMorganChase•Chicago, IL

About The Position

Join JPMorgan Chase and lead operational excellence and transformative impact as a Vice President, Process Improvement & AI Enablement within Merchant Services Client Onboarding and Servicing (COS). This role is responsible for identifying, designing, and implementing process improvements that do not require large-scale system development or significant technology investment. The focus is on leveraging artificial intelligence and data-driven approaches, as well as influencing policy and procedure changes, to eliminate manual work, automate workflows, consolidate activities, and optimize operational practices for maximum efficiency. As a Vice President Improvement Manager within Process Improvement & AI Enablement, you will drive targeted initiatives to optimize business processes and enable scalable, sustainable change. You will be responsible for identifying opportunities in an assigned area and partnering with business leaders and other cross-functional partners as needed, such as risk and controls, to deliver measurable improvements, accelerate adoption of AI-enabled solutions, and foster a culture of innovation and accountability. Success requires a proactive leader with a strong sense of urgency, drive, and ownership, comfortable exploring new ways of working and challenging the status quo. You will leverage your expertise in process improvement, analytics, and AI to identify opportunities, quantify impact, and drive execution in a regulated environment.

Requirements

7+ years in transformation roles within payments, merchant acquiring, or technology-enabled financial services.
Proven delivery in regulated environments with strong risk, control, and audit requirements, including documentation discipline and change control.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams through influence and drive adoption at scale.
Expertise in transformation delivery: integrated planning, dependency management, stakeholder readiness, go-live/hypercare, and benefits realization tracking.
Strong analytics mindset: define KPIs, quantify outcomes, and use data to drive prioritization and post-release iteration.
Experience with AI-enabled operational transformation, including agentic AI, workflow automation, and operational guardrails.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with modern data and reporting ecosystems (e.g., Snowflake; Cognos/Tableau/Power BI).
Experience in payments, merchant acquiring, or technology-enabled financial services.

Responsibilities

Identify, design, and implement process improvements that minimize manual work, eliminate unnecessary tasks, and consolidate activities to reduce handoffs, expedite timelines, and improve the client and employee experience.
Lead the adoption and integration of AI-enabled solutions, including workflow automation and emerging agentic AI patterns, by partnering with AI developers and technology teams to leverage existing systems and data.
Drive operational efficiency and effectiveness through small technology enhancements (e.g., adding a field, flag, or automating workflows), not through large-scale system development.
Influence and implement policy and procedure changes to streamline operations, enhance quality, and optimize risk management.
Ensure agentic AI changes are implemented with operational guardrails (human-in-the-loop approvals where appropriate, escalation paths, error handling, and evidence capture) to support auditability and predictable outcomes.
Establish monitoring routines for AI adoption, quality, and performance aligned to SLIs/SLOs and operational playbooks.
Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs), and quantify outcomes to inform prioritization.
Serve as a data product owner, collaborating with data domain owners to define metrics, develop reusable data assets, and support AI effectiveness and measurement.
Partner with cross-functional teams to ensure readiness, manage dependencies, and deliver benefits realization for process improvement initiatives.
Operate with discipline in regulated environments, maintaining strong risk, control, and audit standards—including documentation and change control.
Communicate complex challenges and solutions clearly to diverse audiences, tailoring messaging for senior management, stakeholders, and project teams and foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and accountability—encouraging creative problem-solving and the adoption of new technologies.