Senior Operations Manager Retail Banking | Cebu IT Park

The Senior Operations Manager – Retail Banking & Disputes Operations provides strategic leadership and end-to-end operational governance across large-scale retail banking operations, with focused oversight on transaction disputes, unauthorized transaction claims, fraud investigations, and exception-processing workflows.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Operations Leadership

• Direct end-to-end retail banking operations and claims/disputes lifecycles, ensuring consistent achievement of contractual Service Level Agreements (SLAs), turnaround time (TAT), accuracy, productivity, and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT/NPS) benchmarks.
• Formulate and execute scalable operational strategies aligned with organizational growth, changing transaction volumes, and evolving client mandates.
• Oversee enterprise workforce management (WFM), dynamic capacity planning, scheduling efficiency, and headcount optimization across multi-shift production environments.

People Leadership & Organizational Development

• Provide direct leadership, coaching, and career architecture for Operations Managers, Assistant Managers, Team Leads, and frontline specialists.
• Foster an inclusive, high-performance delivery culture focused on talent retention, leadership succession, engagement, and continuous professional development.
• Establish robust performance management mechanisms, clear accountability frameworks, and targeted intervention strategies to address operational performance gaps.

Process Excellence & Digital Transformation

• Identify and lead digitization, straight-through processing (STP), and robotic process automation (RPA) opportunities to minimize manual touchpoints and reduce operational leakage.
• Deploy continuous improvement frameworks (Lean Six Sigma, Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping) to eliminate waste, streamline case routing, and optimize cycle times.
• Partner with technology, quality assurance, and product teams to integrate modern claims management systems, AI-driven triage, and core banking platforms.

Governance, Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management

• Enforce strict adherence to banking standards, consumer protection mandates, card association chargeback rules (Visa/Mastercard), and regulatory guidelines (such as Reg E, Reg Z, UCC, BSA/AML, and KYC).
• Lead audit readiness, compliance reviews, and proactive risk remediation initiatives; serve as the primary operational contact for internal, external, and client-led compliance audits.
• Develop robust internal control frameworks to mitigate financial loss, operational fraud, and data privacy vulnerabilities.

Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the strategic operational liaison and trusted partner for banking clients, enterprise stakeholders, and internal executive sponsors.
• Act as the ultimate operational escalation authority for high-exposure dispute files, VIP customer issues, compliance exceptions, and critical service disruptions.
• Lead Monthly Business Reviews (MBR), Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR), and governance meetings, delivering transparent operational narratives, predictive insights, and value-add solutions.

Operational Analytics & Business Intelligence

• Steer daily operational rhythms using real-time dashboards, SLA scorecards, workload management trackers, and predictive trend analytics.
• Translate raw operational data into actionable business intelligence to diagnose root causes of dispute volumes, repeat customer inquiries, and workflow bottlenecks.
• Deliver accurate volume forecasting, headcount modeling, and risk-assessment reports for senior leadership decision-making.

Financial & Commercial Stewardship

• Manage departmental P&L elements, OPEX budgets, seat utilization, overtime expenditures, and resource allocation.
• Drive operational cost-efficiency without compromising service quality through automated tooling, process re-engineering, and attrition management.
• Support pipeline expansion, client statement-of-work (SOW) reviews, and contract renewal strategies.

Qualifications & Experience

Required Experience

• Total Experience: Minimum of 8–10 years in BPO, shared services, or banking operations environments.
• Leadership Experience: At least 3–5 years in a Senior Operations Manager or senior delivery leadership role managing multiple leadership layers (leading managers of managers) and spans of 200+ FTEs.
• Domain Background: Substantial background in Retail Banking Operations, with focused expertise in consumer claims, transaction dispute resolution, card chargebacks, fraud operations, or exception payment processing.

Domain Knowledge & Regulatory Acumen

• Deep working knowledge of retail banking products (checking/savings accounts, debit/credit cards, wire transfers, ACH/P2P payments).
• Practical fluency with consumer finance regulations, banking disputes legislation (e.g., Regulation E, Regulation Z), and card network chargeback processing cycles (Visa/Mastercard/Amex rules).
• Proven experience handling financial crime risks, identity theft claims, and operational risk controls within the BFSI sector.

Preferred Certifications

• Lean Six Sigma (Green Belt or Black Belt certified)
• COPC Implementation Leader / Certified Coordinator
• Project Management Professional (PMP) / Agile Certified Practitioner
• Relevant banking, compliance, or anti-fraud certifications (e.g., CAMS, CFE, CRCM)

Work Setup & Demands

• Location: Fully onsite at the delivery center in Cebu IT Park, Cebu City, Philippines.
• Schedule: Must maintain flexibility to support 24/7 shifting operational requirements, including night shifts, client-aligned holidays, and weekend rotations based on global account coverage.