Director of Bank Operations

The Opportunity

Apex Bank has been awarded the Top Performing Community Bank in Tennessee and the #2 Community Bank in the Nation. We are a Tennessee state-chartered community bank with a 95-year history, nearly $1.5 billion in assets, and 22 branches. We are highly profitable and growing.

Apex is entrepreneurial, nimble, and built around doing meaningful things. Decisions get made in conversations. Scope is real, approval cycles are short, and we pursue opportunities with urgency. We have leaders who think differently, move fast, care about community, and like to build.

There is significant runway in this role. Our operations teams are experienced and know their work well, and there is genuine appetite for modernizing how that work gets done — automating routine steps, putting better tools in the team’s hands, and creating more space for innovation. The Director of Bank Operations will own that agenda, along with the path forward for our core and digital platforms, at a bank growing fast enough for the work to matter.

What You Will Lead

• Deposit Operations — ACH, wires, item processing, returns and exceptions, legal orders, account maintenance, and related deposit back-office functions.
• Digital and Card Operations — online and mobile banking, bill pay, positive pay, remote deposit capture, debit and ATM card operations, disputes and chargebacks.
• Loan Operations — consumer and commercial loan processing, closing and boarding, servicing and maintenance, escrow, tax and insurance administration, collateral perfection and releases.
• Core System Ownership — business ownership of the bank’s core operating system, including product and parameter setup, testing, releases, product development, and upgrade roadmap.
• People — managers, team leads, and specialists across our Camden and Knoxville operations centers.

What This Role Is Really About

• Hands-on leadership. Leading from the floor in a fast-paced environment. Sitting with our specialists to understand a process before redesigning it, and doing the work yourself when the team needs it.
• Talent development. Recruiting, retaining, and growing operations talent. Eliminating single points of failure through real cross-training and documented backup coverage.
• Innovation and automation. Systematically taking manual work off the team’s plate using bots, scripting, report and workflow automation, document intelligence, and AI.
• Tech stack judgment. Charting a credible path forward for our core, digital, and other key platforms. Knowing what we should buy, what we should build, and what we already have that can do more.
• Operational excellence and risk control. Accuracy, cycle times, service standards and metrics, clean audits and exams, and a documented control environment across every function.
• Trust and culture. Building teams where people know their leader has their back. Being a partner our front-line bankers and other support teams can rely on.
• Competitive advantage. Keeping a clear view of how our operational products and services stack up against peer banks and client expectations and leading the work to stay ahead.

Key Qualifications and Attributes

• 7 years of progressively responsible bank operations experience, including at least three years leading teams and other leaders. Deposit and loan operations experience strongly preferred; digital and card operations experience a plus.
• Hands-on experience with bank core processing systems and sound judgment about core and digital platform strategy.
• Demonstrated track record of eliminating manual work through technology-based automation with measurable results.
• Working knowledge of applicable regulatory and network requirements, including NACHA, Regulations CC and E, and card network rules. Experience supporting audits and examinations and remediating findings.
• Experience leading operational projects and cross-functional initiatives from initiation through post-implementation review. Merger conversion experience a plus.
• Strong analytical skills and real comfort working with operational data. Business-minded approach to making investments that generate returns.
• Direct, candid, clear communicator who can explain operational tradeoffs plainly to non-operations audiences.
• Accountable for outcomes, including the ones that go wrong.
• Treats “we have always done it this way” as a question rather than an answer.
• Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience. AAP, APRP, NCP, or CRCM certification, and Lean, Six Sigma, or project management training, are all a plus.
• Community bank experience between $500 million and $5 billion in assets beneficial.
• Must pass a pre-employment background check.

Location, Compensation, and Benefits

In-office position based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with regular travel to our Camden operations center and periodic travel across the Apex Bank footprint.

• Competitive salary based upon experience
• Performance incentive eligibility
• 401(k) with matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Referral program
• Vision insurance