Retirement Plan Operations Director

Mid-sized retirement plan in New York City seeks a senior operations leader to oversee and enhance the administration, servicing, and operational infrastructure supporting retirement plans and annuity products. This individual will bring strong industry knowledge, operational leadership, and a continuous-improvement mindset to help build scalable processes, improve service delivery, and advance strategic business initiatives.

The role will work across operations, technology, compliance, customer service, and other business functions to identify opportunities, solve complex operational challenges, and implement improvements that enhance efficiency, controls, scalability, and the overall participant and employer experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead strategic operational initiatives spanning retirement plan administration, recordkeeping, participant servicing, and annuity operations.
• Partner with business and technology leaders to evaluate operational challenges and develop practical, scalable solutions.
• Identify opportunities to streamline workflows, automate processes, improve data quality, and strengthen operational controls.
• Lead cross-functional projects from initial concept and requirements gathering through implementation and ongoing optimization.
• Work closely with business analysts and technology teams to translate operational needs into clear business and functional requirements.
• Assess existing processes, identify control gaps and operational risks, and implement sustainable solutions to improve consistency and execution.
• Drive organizational change by introducing new processes, technologies, and operating models while ensuring effective adoption across impacted teams.
• Collaborate with operations leaders and direct reports to resolve complex issues and support broader business transformation initiatives.
• Promote a strong customer-focused culture centered on service quality, operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement.
• Monitor industry developments and benchmark operating practices to identify opportunities to enhance retirement administration and servicing capabilities.
• Support initiatives designed to improve participant and employer experiences, workflow management, data integrity, operational reporting, and service outcomes.
• Provide strategic insight and recommendations to senior leadership on operational opportunities, risks, and improvement initiatives.

Qualifications

• Significant leadership experience within retirement plan administration, recordkeeping, annuities, and related financial services operations.
• Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional initiatives and operational transformation efforts.
• Strong understanding of retirement products, administration processes, servicing models, and operational controls.
• Proven ability to analyze complex business problems and develop practical, business-focused solutions.
• Experience with process optimization, automation, technology implementations, and change management.
• Strong communication, consulting, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in a complex environment, manage ambiguity, and influence across organizational boundaries.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with a focus on measurable business and customer outcomes.

This is a hybrid role based in midtown Manhattan

Base salary 150-190k DOE