What are the responsibilities and job description for the Sr Loyalty Operations & Controls Specialist position at PenFed Credit Union?
Job Overview
PenFed is hiring a (Hybrid) Sr Loyalty Operations & Controls Specialist at our Tysons, Virginia location. The Sr Operations & Controls Specialist will play a critical role in establishing and managing the operational infrastructure, control environment, and risk management framework for the enterprise-wide PenFed Member Rewards program (PMR). This position will help ensure that loyalty operations-including points issuance and redemption, partner integrations, and member servicing-are executed accurately, comply with regulatory expectations, and align with the institution's risk appetite. The incumbent will partner cross-functionally with Product, Technology, Compliance, Risk, Legal, Finance, and external partners to design and operate a resilient, scalable, and trusted loyalty platform and member experience.
Responsibilities
Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of job duties, and the position will perform other duties as assigned.
Program Management & Ongoing Operational Excellence
Equivalent combination of education and experience is considered.
Required
This position may supervise employees.
Licenses and Certifications
There Are No Additional Licenses And/or Certifications Required.
Work Environment
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to an indoor office setting with moderate noise.
*Most roles require working in an office setting with moderate noise and the ability to lift 25 pounds.*
Travel
Ability to travel to various worksites, industry events, and be on call is required.
Benefits
At PenFed, we offer a robust benefits package designed to support you both personally and professionally. You'll have access to comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans; paid time off; and family-friendly benefits like paid parental leave, care support, and fitness center access. Financial wellness is encouraged through features like a 401(k) match, employee loan discounts, and fully paid life and disability coverage. We also support growth via education assistance, community involvement, and volunteer opportunities.
Our Purpose
Helping members achieve their dreams since 1935.
Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) is one of America's largest federal credit unions, serving 2.8 million members worldwide with $29 billion in assets. PenFed offers market-leading certificates, checking and savings, credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, auto loans, and a wide range of other financial services, always with members' interests in mind. PenFed is federally insured by the NCUA and is an Equal Housing Lender.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty, LLC is a full-service real estate company ready to assist our clients with buying, selling and renting a home. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of PenFed Credit Union and is the largest independently-owned brokerage in the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network, placing us in the top 1% of all real estate brokerages in the country.
With almost 60 offices and nearly 2,000 world-class sales professionals, we offer complete service coverage in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Kansas and Texas. In addition, we also offer specialized client services which include management of vacation properties and long-term rentals, corporate relocation services and national referral network.
Equal Employment Opportunity
PenFed management will maintain and observe personnel policies which will not discriminate or permit harassment or retaliation against a person because of race, color, creed, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, military or veteran status or obligation, the presence of a physical and/or mental disability or medical condition, genetic information, sexual orientation, and all statuses protected by applicable state or local law in all recruiting, hiring, training, compensation, overtime, position classifications, work assignments, facilities, promotions, transfers, employee treatment, and in all other terms and conditions of employment. PenFed will also prohibit retaliation against individuals for raising a complaint of discrimination or harassment or participating in an investigation of same.
PenFed will also reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability so that they can apply for a job or perform the essential functions of a job unless doing so causes a direct threat to these individuals or others in the workplace and the threat cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation or if the accommodation creates an undue hardship to PenFed. Contact human resources (HR) with any questions or requests for accommodation at 402-639-8568.
PenFed is hiring a (Hybrid) Sr Loyalty Operations & Controls Specialist at our Tysons, Virginia location. The Sr Operations & Controls Specialist will play a critical role in establishing and managing the operational infrastructure, control environment, and risk management framework for the enterprise-wide PenFed Member Rewards program (PMR). This position will help ensure that loyalty operations-including points issuance and redemption, partner integrations, and member servicing-are executed accurately, comply with regulatory expectations, and align with the institution's risk appetite. The incumbent will partner cross-functionally with Product, Technology, Compliance, Risk, Legal, Finance, and external partners to design and operate a resilient, scalable, and trusted loyalty platform and member experience.
Responsibilities
Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of job duties, and the position will perform other duties as assigned.
Program Management & Ongoing Operational Excellence
- Build and maintain the operating model for the loyalty program, including processes, workflows, service models, SLAs, and issue management routines.
- Oversee day-to-day program operations including points management, partner file exchanges, dispute handling, exception processing, and fulfillment.
- Collaborate with Technology teams to implement operational requirements, validate system functionality, support UAT, and establish ongoing operational monitoring.
- Develop dashboards and KPIs to track operational performance, accuracy, and service levels.
- Design and maintain the Loyalty Program control framework, including process-level controls, automated checks, reconciliations, and key risk indicators.
- Ensure compliance with financial services regulations, privacy standards, audit requirements, and partner contractual obligations.
- Lead operational risk assessments, identify control gaps, drive remediation plans, and support audits/exams.
- Establish and manage routines, including root-cause analysis and preventive controls.
- Serve as the operational owner for loyalty vendors and partners, ensuring they meet contractual operational and control standards.
- Oversee partner onboarding, operational integration, and ongoing performance monitoring.
- Partner with Member Service teams to optimize loyalty service experiences.
- Develop and maintain processes for escalations, disputes, exceptions, and breakage.
- Support the management and resolution of customer-impacting incidents.
- Oversee end-to-end points lifecycle management, including issuance, redemption, expirations, liability management, and breakage tracking.
- Partner with Finance on reconciliation routines and financial controls.
- Ensure data accuracy across systems, partner files, and reporting.
Equivalent combination of education and experience is considered.
Required
- Bachelor's degree in a related field required; master's degree preferred.
- Minimum of five (5) years of experience in operations, risk management, audit, compliance, and controls within financial services, payments, loyalty, or fintech industries.
- Strong understanding of control frameworks, operational risk, and regulatory expectations in a financial institution.
- Experience building or managing processes at scale, ideally in new-to-launch environments.
- Experience with designing and implementing data integrity processes, reconciliation routines, and financial controls.
- Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional initiatives and collaborate with technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
- Proven success managing complex, cross-functional projects involving technology integrations, vendor/partner coordination, and regulatory oversight.
- Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills.
- Experience with loyalty, rewards, credit card programs, or partner ecosystems.
- Experience with Salesforce, especially Salesforce Loyalty Cloud.
- Experience with SQL and working in a Snowflake environment.
- Familiarity with data integrity processes, reconciliation routines, and financial controls.
- Background in vendor management or third-party risk oversight.
- Exposure to Agile environments and product development cycles.
- Experience using A.I. tools preferred
- Operational Rigor: High attention to detail, processes, and quality.
- Risk Mindset: Proactively identifies issues and strengthens controls.
- Strategic & Tactical Balance: Can build frameworks while managing daily execution.
- Cross-Functional Leader: Comfortable influencing without authority.
- Customer-Centric Thinking: Designs operations with the end-user (PenFed members) in mind.
This position may supervise employees.
Licenses and Certifications
There Are No Additional Licenses And/or Certifications Required.
Work Environment
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to an indoor office setting with moderate noise.
*Most roles require working in an office setting with moderate noise and the ability to lift 25 pounds.*
Travel
Ability to travel to various worksites, industry events, and be on call is required.
Benefits
At PenFed, we offer a robust benefits package designed to support you both personally and professionally. You'll have access to comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans; paid time off; and family-friendly benefits like paid parental leave, care support, and fitness center access. Financial wellness is encouraged through features like a 401(k) match, employee loan discounts, and fully paid life and disability coverage. We also support growth via education assistance, community involvement, and volunteer opportunities.
Our Purpose
Helping members achieve their dreams since 1935.
Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) is one of America's largest federal credit unions, serving 2.8 million members worldwide with $29 billion in assets. PenFed offers market-leading certificates, checking and savings, credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, auto loans, and a wide range of other financial services, always with members' interests in mind. PenFed is federally insured by the NCUA and is an Equal Housing Lender.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty, LLC is a full-service real estate company ready to assist our clients with buying, selling and renting a home. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of PenFed Credit Union and is the largest independently-owned brokerage in the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network, placing us in the top 1% of all real estate brokerages in the country.
With almost 60 offices and nearly 2,000 world-class sales professionals, we offer complete service coverage in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Kansas and Texas. In addition, we also offer specialized client services which include management of vacation properties and long-term rentals, corporate relocation services and national referral network.
Equal Employment Opportunity
PenFed management will maintain and observe personnel policies which will not discriminate or permit harassment or retaliation against a person because of race, color, creed, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, military or veteran status or obligation, the presence of a physical and/or mental disability or medical condition, genetic information, sexual orientation, and all statuses protected by applicable state or local law in all recruiting, hiring, training, compensation, overtime, position classifications, work assignments, facilities, promotions, transfers, employee treatment, and in all other terms and conditions of employment. PenFed will also prohibit retaliation against individuals for raising a complaint of discrimination or harassment or participating in an investigation of same.
PenFed will also reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability so that they can apply for a job or perform the essential functions of a job unless doing so causes a direct threat to these individuals or others in the workplace and the threat cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation or if the accommodation creates an undue hardship to PenFed. Contact human resources (HR) with any questions or requests for accommodation at 402-639-8568.