Senior Director, Operational Excellence

Senior Director, Operational Excellence

Company: Upstart

About Upstart:
Upstart's mission is to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Using creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI, we reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially. As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 1,800 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions. We are digital-first, offering flexibility to work from home or offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, and New York City (opening Summer 2026), with intentional in-person connection opportunities.

The Team:
The Lending Operations team ensures exceptional customer experiences and strong operational controls across the lending lifecycle. Operational Excellence is a critical function for scaling Upstart, ensuring customer issues are resolved effectively, risks are mitigated, and processes continuously improve. The Senior Director, Operational Excellence will build and lead functions including Issue Management, Customer Complaints, Identity Theft & Credit Disputes, and Quality Control.

How You'll Make an Impact:

• Build and lead a high-performing Operational Excellence organization.
• Develop the long-term strategy, operating model, and performance management framework.
• Establish scalable processes for issue identification, investigation, tracking, and resolution.
• Create and oversee complaint management programs for timely resolution and root-cause analysis.
• Lead strategy and execution for identity theft investigations and credit dispute operations, ensuring regulatory compliance.
• Design and mature a quality control program to evaluate performance and drive improvements.
• Partner with Compliance, Legal, Risk, Internal Audit, Product, Engineering, and Operations leaders to strengthen controls and mitigate risks.
• Develop executive-level reporting and dashboards for operational health and risk trends.
• Drive a culture of accountability, operational rigor, and continuous improvement.
• Recruit, develop, and mentor leaders and team members.
• Lead large-scale operational improvement initiatives.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 12+ years of experience in operations, operational risk, operational excellence, complaint management, quality assurance, compliance operations, or related functions within financial services, fintech, banking, lending, or consumer finance.
• 7+ years of people leadership experience, including managing managers.
• Experience building and scaling operational programs, teams, and governance frameworks in a regulated environment.
• Experience leading customer complaint management, issue management, quality control, audit, risk, or compliance functions.
• Experience developing and presenting operational performance metrics and executive-level reporting.
• Experience driving cross-functional initiatives involving Operations, Product, Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Technology teams.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading Operational Excellence, Operational Risk, Complaint Management, Quality Assurance, or Control functions within a lending, banking, fintech, or consumer financial services organization.
• Experience supporting regulatory examinations, audits, remediation programs, and control enhancement initiatives.
• Knowledge of consumer protection regulations and operational risk management practices.
• Experience building issue management and root-cause analysis frameworks.
• Experience leveraging automation, workflow tools, and data analytics.
• MBA or other advanced degree.
• Experience operating in a high-growth technology or fintech environment.

Position Location: Remote (US-based)

Time Zone Requirements: The team operates on East/West coast time zones.

Travel Requirements: Regular team onsites (frequency varies by team/role).

Compensation & Benefits (US):

• Anticipated Base Salary Range: $198,000—$275,000 USD
• This role is eligible for target bonuses, equity compensation, and generous benefits packages (including medical, dental, vision, and 401k with company match).
• Benefits include competitive compensation, retirement benefits with company match, ESPP, comprehensive health coverage, HSA contributions, income protection, paid time off, family/parental leave, employee assistance program, financial wellness resources, annual wellness/productivity allowances, and connection/community opportunities.