Director, Financial Services Operations

A career at CoBank can offer you the opportunity to make a personal impact on the people and communities where we do business. In order to be the best, we hire the best!

Benefits Offered by CoBank

• Careers with a purpose
• Time-Off Packages, 20 days of vacation, 10 paid sick days and 11 paid holidays
• Competitive Compensation & Incentive
• Hybrid work model: flexible arrangements for most positions
• Benefits Packages, including Medical, Dental and Vision coverage, Disability, AD&D, and Life Insurance
• Robust associate training and development with CoBank University
• Tuition reimbursement for higher education
• Outstanding 401k: up to 6% matching and additional 3% non-elective contribution & Student Loan Match
• Community Impact: United Way Angel Day, Volunteer Day and Associate Directed Contribution
• Associate Resource Groups: creating a culture of respect and inclusion
• Recognize a fellow associate through our GEM awards

Provides strategic leadership, management oversight, and technical guidance to the Lease Operations department. Ensures the effective and efficient operation of all lease processing-related functions. Provides strategic and tactical guidance, leadership, development and specialized expertise to all lease operations associates. Responsible for task and initiative prioritization, resource and capacity management, team quality assurance, customer service, escalations, service level agreement adherence, and department projects as assigned.

• Provides leadership to all lease operations functions and teams and serves as the department leader (40+ FTE). The management team is comprised of several levels of leadership. Works closely with the Vice President and Head of Operations, as well as other operations leaders, to manage people and processes cross-functionally. Works with the senior leaders to establish and advance a positive culture and work environment for all associates.
• Acts as a strategic partner to business leaders. Develops and maintains strong partnerships with risk, credit, sales leadership and teams, enabling cross-functional alignment and strategy realization. Aligns operations with enterprise initiatives.
• Provides strategic and tactical guidance for the end-to-end financial service product life cycle to include deal processing, documentation, booking, funding, collateral management and other various administration activities in lease operations. Provides support to other operational teams including loan, and export finance operations.
• Possesses a cross-functional understanding of processes and issues across all transaction teams, as well as upstream and downstream constituencies and processes.
• Ensures strong control environment and audit readiness. Establishes and ensures adherence to processes, procedures, and controls. Provides oversight and strategy for quality assurance and regular monitoring of compliance with key controls, operational, ICFR and SOC related. Partners with Risk and Compliance to mitigate operational risk.
• Proactively identifies areas of risk and suggests strategies for elimination or mitigation of such risks. Coordinates with Internal Control and Operational Risk along with the Operations Process & Controls Manager to document and mitigate any known control issues/failures or losses.
• Drives operational excellence initiatives, leads workflow platform implementation and optimization. Identifies and facilitates opportunities for process improvement and automation across all teams and promotes a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Proactively supports department workflow and oversees deployment and cross-functional sharing of resources across all teams as workloads, nature of work and transactional volumes warrant. Is responsible for staffing models, budget and contract labor required to support department processes.
• Leverages data analytics to drive decision-making. Establishes KPI frameworks and continuous improvement metrics. Uses metrics and analytics to, among other things, manage performance, monitor efficiency and deploy resources.
• Manages operational budgets and resource planning. Drives efficiency and cost optimization.
• Serves as primary escalation point for issues identified by internal and external customers, and regularly coordinates with internal customers to manage volume, proactively identify potential issues and assess satisfaction.
• Manages the training and development needs of the team and regularly coordinates training and development opportunities to meet identified needs.
• In coordination with specialized resources within the bank, leads change management initiatives and acts as a change agent across Operations.
• Provides mentorship and serves as a resource to managers, supervisors and associates in Operations.
• As a people manager at CoBank, you will be expected to manage and lead associates. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, associate performance management, talent strategy, workforce planning, change management, conflict resolution, and relationship management. You will drive and be accountable for the team’s development, alignment with the division’s objectives, as well as with CoBank’s strategy and mission.

This job description is not intended to include an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and qualifications that may be associated with the job. Management reserves the right to add, subtract, or change the duties of the job at any time.

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline required.

• 12 years of experience in banking or financial services, ideally in commercial loan, leasing, or export finance required. 
• 7 years of experience supervising direct reports, preferably in banking or financial services industry required.

Other Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge of the commercial loan, lease, or export finance processes, and the ability to provide advice, interpret policies, and apply and adapt processes and procedures to meet customer needs.
• Advanced knowledge of operational systems and financial servicing activities.
• Strong knowledge of CoBank’s customers, products, financial business processes, and the Farm Credit System preferred.
• Demonstrated competence in identifying risk areas and proactively determining and applying appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Excellent business acumen, analytical problem solving and decision-making skills, with the ability to apply creative and innovative solutions and focus on results, while meeting the needs of the customer and the business.
• Knowledge of product management and implementation techniques, process reengineering, and change management.
• Ability to design and implement process improvements and best practices.
• Demonstrated management, leadership, mentoring and team-building skills.
• Proven experience managing, training, developing, and motivating associates, with the ability to instill accountability for efficiency, accuracy and customer satisfaction.
• Excellent customer service skills and strong customer focus, with the ability to effectively promote services and represent the division to internal and external customers.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to exercise influence cross-functionally, work collaboratively and build and maintain effective working relationships with all levels of associates and management across the bank, and with internal and external customers.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills, as well as high attention to detail.
• Ability to manage and schedule workload and projects in order to navigate peaks, prioritize competing commitments, and complete assignments in accordance with established deadlines.
• Excellent verbal, written communication and presentation skills.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Word and Excel) and applicable business software applications, including databases, queries and reporting.

The typical base pay range for this role is between $146,500 - $180,100. Compensation may vary based on individual job-related knowledge, skills, expertise, and experience. This position is eligible for a discretionary annual incentive program driven by organization and individual performance. The listed salary, other compensation and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. This job will be posted for a minimum of five (5) business days or until the position is filled. CoBank reserves the right to adjust compensation for all positions and to modify or discontinue benefits programs at any time in its sole discretion, subject to applicable law.

CoBank is a cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states. The bank also provides wholesale loans and other financial services to affiliated Farm Credit associations serving more than 76,000 farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in 23 states around the country. CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of banks and retail lending associations chartered to support the borrowing needs of U.S. agriculture, rural infrastructure and rural communities. Headquartered outside Denver, Colorado, CoBank serves customers from regional banking centers across the U.S. and also maintains an international representative office in Singapore.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

We are committed to ensuring that our online application process provides an equal employment opportunity to all applicants, including qualified individuals with disabilities. If you are an applicant with a disability, or are assisting an applicant with a disability, and require accessibility assistance or would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any aspect of the application process, including completing an application, interviewing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please submit a request by emailing recruiting@cobank.com. Include your contact information and specific details about your requested accommodation.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

CoBank is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.