Director of IT Service Delivery

At Affinity Plus every employee understands how their work affects our members experience and we strive to provide an experience that can't be found anywhere else. Great service starts with great employees and that is why we focus on providing not only the best place our members will ever bank but the best place our employees will ever work. Between our one of a kind culture, incredible benefits, and work/life balance; we believe you will feel the Affinity Plus difference.

Position Summary
Director of IT Service Delivery is responsible for ensuring reliable, secure, and efficient technology operations across the organization. This leader oversees end-to-end service delivery encompassing Helpdesk (Level 1 Support), Support Operations (Level 2 Support), Security Operations, Change Management, and IT Audit readiness. The role focuses on operational excellence, service quality, and continuous improvement to deliver a seamless and secure technology experience for employees and members.

Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership
* Translate organizational vision into departmental strategies and priorities, ensuring teams are working toward long-term goals while adapting to changing circumstances
* Develop and execute departmental strategies that align with organizational objectives and long-term vision.
* Anticipate industry trends, market shifts, and organizational needs to adapt strategies proactively.
* Represent the department as a subject matter expert, influencing organizational-level strategy, goals, and priorities.
* Provide input on organizational policies, procedures, and risk management strategies.

Leadership and People Development
* Lead, mentor, and develop managers and senior leaders, ensuring a strong leadership pipeline and succession planning.
* Manage and develop multi-support teams creating an environment that fosters innovation, member-centric service, accountability, continuous improvement, and professional growth.
* Model organizational values and promote a culture of accountability, transparency, and collaboration.
* Drive organizational change initiatives, ensuring effective communication, engagement, and adoption across teams.

Operational Excellence & Service Delivery
* Oversee and own end-to-end IT service delivery, support and operational performance across IT teams (e.g., help desk, incident response, change management, and security operations), ensuring efficiency and high-quality outcomes.
* Drive incident, problem, and request management following ITIL principles.
* Identify opportunities for cost optimization, process automation and operational efficiency; allocate and manage departmental resources to maximize effectiveness and impact.
* Ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, risk controls, SLA/OLA adherence, and internal policies
* Ensure system reliability, availability, and risk management while maintaining governance and compliance with regulatory standards.
* Establish and monitor KPIs to drive IT service delivery performance, implement metrics-driven processes for ticket resolution and root cause analysis, and promote proactive issue prevention through "shift-left" strategies and self-service enablement.
* Lead continuous improvement initiatives, leveraging automation, AI, and self-service capabilities to enhance employee and member experience.

Cross-Functional Collaboration
* Partner with other senior, IT, and departmental leaders to align strategy with organizational goals.
* Facilitate collaboration with internal IT, business leaders and vendors to ensure effective uptime and production environment stability and ongoing improvements.
* Represent the department in executive forums, presenting critical updates, challenges, and opportunities.
* Act as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on technology investments and key communicator or large outages and other production related issues.

Financial & Business Management
* Develop and manage departmental budgets, ensuring responsible stewardship of organizational resources.
* Analyze financial data, market research, and operational metrics to inform decisions and drive performance.
* Support investment decisions by providing business cases, data analysis, and risk assessments.
* Manage vendor contracts, service-level agreements (SLAs), and sourcing strategies to maximize value.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) & Vendor Oversight
* Define, negotiate, and manage SLAs with internal stakeholders and external partners, ensuring alignment with business goals.
* Monitor SLA performance, benchmark results, and implement improvements based on trends and analysis.
* Maintain strong supplier and outsource relationships, ensuring accountability and continuous improvement.
* Communicate SLA strategies and performance metrics effectively to stakeholders and leadership

Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications and Skills

Knowledge and Experience
* 7+ years of progressive IT Service Management leadership experience, including 5+ years managing managers.
* Strong business and financial acumen with the ability to apply insights to drive strategic and operational outcomes.
* Experience in financial services or highly regulated industries, with a deep understanding of operational, regulatory, and competitive dynamics.
* Prior organizational-level leadership or strategy development experience.
* Prior experience implementing automation, AI, and self-service capabilities to enhance operational efficiency.
* Deep knowledge of the ITIL framework and a proven track record of improving service delivery.
* Experience with incident reduction, SLA management, production stabilization and change governance.
* Strong background in security operations, audits, and compliance frameworks.

People Leadership
* Proven track record of building, developing, and leading high-performing teams; skilled at coaching team and/or leaders to strengthen capability, accountability and engagement.
* Demonstrated ability to shape culture and promote organizational values at scale.
* Ability to navigate complex leadership scenarios, resolve complex performance issues, and elevate team and/or leadership effectiveness.

Decision Making
* Ability to think strategically while maintaining awareness of operational detail and downstream impacts.
* Demonstrated ability in using sophisticated judgment in evaluating complex organizational challenges, weighing multiple stakeholder interests, and making high-impact decisions that balance competing priorities.
* Skilled in assessing risk, evaluating tradeoffs, and choosing solutions that support longterm organizational health and strategic direction.
* Proven ability to make decisions in ambiguous, highpressure, or rapidly changing environments.

Collaboration and Relationship Building
* Skilled at influencing and collaborating across functions and levels of the organization.
* Demonstrated ability to build trustbased relationships with senior leaders, leadership, and external partners.
* Proven ability to oversee large scale operations, complex projects, and cross functional initiatives with organization wide impact.
* Ability to break down silos, foster shared ownership, and ensure alignment across teams or divisions.

Accountability
* Demonstrated ability to set strategic direction, define organizational goals, and ensure execution across multiple cross-functional teams.
* Holds self and leaders accountable for high performance, operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and financial stewardship.
* Takes ownership for organizational outcomes, including culture, strategy delivery, member/employee experience, and longterm results.
* Proven ability to manage through complexity while maintaining focus, clarity, and measurable progress.

Communication
* Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to inspire, align, and mobilize diverse groups toward shared strategic objectives.
* Skilled in delivering clear, compelling messages to executive leadership, boards, stakeholders, and large, multiteam audiences.
* Demonstrated ability to facilitate difficult conversations, support change communications, and maintain transparency across levels.
* Strong executive presence and credibility in representing the organization internally and externally.

Learning
* Commitment to fostering inclusion, accountability, innovation, and a culture of continuous learning.
* Demonstrated commitment to personal leadership development through reflection, feedback, and ongoing growth.
* Proven ability to identify emerging trends, technologies, and industry shifts and translate them into organizational readiness or innovation opportunities.

Adaptability
* Demonstrated ability to lead organizational change, manage complexity, and navigate ambiguity with clarity and confidence.
* Proven success driving transformation initiatives or major process improvements that enhance scale, efficiency, and experience.
* Skilled in adjusting strategy, resources, or priorities in response to evolving organizational needs, environmental factors, or emerging risks.

Other Skills
* Experience managing budgets, financial performance, and operational risk.
* Effective time management skills and the ability to prioritize workload based on member and employee needs
* Advanced computer and technology skills and knowledge, with the ability to navigate between multiple systems with ease.
* Ability to complete tasks with accuracy and thoroughness.
* Demonstrated reliability, integrity, and ability to maintain confidentiality.
* Demonstrated success managing vendor contracts, enterprise tools, and departmental budgets.

Work Environment
* This is a Virtual First role requiring reliable internet access and home office setup.
* Sitting 98% and standing 2%
* Working at a computer 90% of the day, utilizing the phone 10%
* Bending, twisting, kneeling, stooping, or crouching when appropriate, on occasion
* Repetitive movements, including but not limited to typing, using a mouse, phones, etc.
* Lift, carry, push or pull up to approximately 30 pounds
* Requires onsite presence based on coordination of work with other employees and/or departments. May require travel to attend on-site meetings/events for collaboration, connection, project work, All-Employee Day, etc.

Required Work Schedule
Standard Monday through Friday business hours with a willingness to work a flexible schedule as needed. Consistent and reliable attendance is a required essential function of this role to meet the needs of the department/team and organization.

Location

This position has the opportunity to work virtual with onsite expectations at least weekly for leader and team meetings, typically in St. Paul, MN. Candidates should live within a reasonable commuting distance to the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area.

Compensation

This position has a starting pay range of $140,700 - $182,900 annually.

In alignment with our commitment to pay transparency, we are providing a good-faith estimate of the pay range for this position. This range reflects what we anticipate offering a successful candidate based on factors such as the role's responsibilities, required qualifications, and relevant experience. The actual pay may vary depending on the selected candidate's skills, experience, and other qualifications.

Total Rewards

Affinity Plus offers a comprehensive Total Rewards package that goes beyond base pay. In partnership with the State of MN Employer Group, Affinity Plus provides low-cost medical, dental and vision insurance coverage options. Additionally, Affinity Plus frontloads all sick time hours and a portion of vacation hours for all new employees, offers a variety of paid leave options, a monthly wellness benefit, and immediate 401K matching up to 5%. Our Total Rewards philosophy is designed to support your well-being and growth while fostering a fair and inclusive workplace.

Disclaimer

Applicants must have current authorization to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants may be subject to a background and credit check. Employees in this position must be able to satisfactorily perform the essential functions of the position. If requested, Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union will make every effort to provide reasonable accommodations to enable employees with disabilities to perform the position's essential job duties. As markets change and the Organization grows, job descriptions may change over time as requirements and employee skill levels evolve. With this understanding, Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union retains the right to change or assign other duties to this position.

Application Deadline

Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union accepts applications on a rolling basis.