Director, Payment Operations

At Valley Bank, we believe in people's growth potential. We invest in it. We protect it. We focus it. For nearly 100 years, we've been the Bank that clients from every industry turn to for our expertise, strategies, and advice--building the kind of trust that can fuel every goal. We are the leading relationship bank built for growth--with over $60 billion in assets, 3,800 experts, and more than 200 consumer branches and commercial banking offices in communities across the US.

At Valley, we're all driven by an ambition that goes deeper than just having a job. That's why when you work for us, we make it our goal to help you focus on what drives you--working to turn your passions and strengths into assets you can use to propel your ambitions and build the professional legacy you want. Because when we say we're a relationship bank built for growth, that's not just reserved for our clients--that includes all our associates as well.

The Director of Payment Operations is responsible for the strategic oversight, daily execution, and risk governance of payment channels including wires (USD, & FX), CHIPS, SWIFT and ACH and ensures that all payment operations are executed with accuracy, compliance and strong fraud controls.

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Responsibilities Include But Are Not Limited To

• Provide end-to-end leadership of all payment operations, including USD domestic wires, international wires, CHIPS, SWIFT, ACH origination, and compliance processes, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and regulatory adherence.
• Act as the organization's payment operations subject matter expert and primary escalation point for complex transactions and client-impacting issues.
• Build and sustain a high-performance culture emphasizing accountability, cross-training, and operational discipline while fostering team engagement and development.
• Define and enhance KPIs and service standards for payment accuracy, fraud detection, exception management, and throughput; monitor performance and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
• Champion automation, workflow modernization, and straight-through processing strategies to optimize efficiency and client experience across payment channels.
• Strengthen operational resiliency through robust business continuity planning, dual-control frameworks, and uptime assurance.
• Oversee fraud monitoring and anomaly detection for ACH and wire transactions; partner with risk and compliance teams to reinforce control frameworks and regulatory adherence.
• Ensure full compliance with internal policies and regulatory requirements (OCC, FDIC, FFIEC, NACHA, BSA, OFAC, Reg E, Reg CC, Reg DD), meeting audit expectations and mitigating operational risk.
  
  

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Required Skills

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in payment operations or treasury operations.
• Deep expertise in ACH, Nacha, wire operations (Fedwire, CHIPS, SWIFT), sanctions screening, fraud monitoring and payment investigations.
• Forward thinking leader who anticipates risk, embraces change and drives modernization.
• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management capabilities.
  
  

Required Experience

• Bachelors Degree and a minimum of 10 years within a financial industry handling operational functions, payment operations, or treasury operations and 3 years of management experience.
  
  

Preferred Experience

• Minimum 5 years of experience managing operations, ACH, Wires, or Risk function.