Director Production Operations

Payfirma Corporation; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 150,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits

Flexible work environment

Team events

Professional growth

Work-life balance

Job summary

KORT Payments in Toronto or remote is seeking a Director of Production Operations to lead our production environment across AWS and colocation, unifying SRE, DevOps, CloudOps, Security and DBA under one org. You will drive reliability, scalability, and uptime for mission-critical systems.

This leadership role requires deep AWS expertise, strong incident management, and a track record of organizational change.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in production operations, SRE, or platform engineering.
• 5+ years in leadership roles managing technical operations teams.
• Experience operating high-scale, highly reliable production environments.

Responsibilities

• Own production platform ownership and drive reliability.
• Lead SRE, DevOps, DBA and related teams.
• Manage incident response and service reliability.
• Oversee observability, monitoring, and performance engineering.
• Define cloud & infrastructure strategy (AWS + Hybrid).
• Manage vendor and partner relationships.
• Collaborate on security & compliance initiatives.
• Evolve IT Service Management (ISM).
• Provide vision and leadership in production engineering excellence.

Skills

Production operations

SRE

Platform engineering

Leadership

AWS

Incident management

ITIL

Observability

Cloud strategy

Vendor management

Tools

Terraform

CloudFormation

SQL Server

Job description

DIRECTOR PRODUCTION OPERATIONS

WHO WE ARE

Welcome to KORT Payments, where innovation meets excellence! We specialize in providing a state-of-the-art omnichannel payments platform designed to make business transactions a breeze. Our mission? To empower businesses with top-notch capabilities in compliance, risk management, and payment processing. Our trailblazing, enterprise-grade platform, coupled with a veteran management team, ensures we stay ahead of the curve in delivering unparalleled service and satisfaction.

We rebranded to showcase our expanded vision, yet we proudly continue to operate Merrco and Payfirma, under the KORT Payments banner. Our commitment to excellence and innovation remains stronger than ever.

LOCATION

Toronto OR remote

EMPLOYMENT TYPE

Full-time role

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING

As aDirector of Production Operations, you will lead and operationalize our entire production environment acrossAWS cloud platforms andcolocation hostedsystems.This is afoundational leadership roleaccountable for theend-to-end reliability, scalability, performance, and uptimeof all production systems.We expect the Director to bring together and leadSite Reliability Engineering (SRE), DevOps,CloudOps, Security, and Database Administration (DBA)functions into a unified production operations organization, while alsoowning key external partner relationships, including managed cloud operations and cybersecurity.

This leader willoperateat the intersection ofplatform engineering, reliability strategy, incident management, and IT service management (ITSM/ISM)—driving a mature, scalable, and audit-ready operational model aligned with KORT’s regulatory obligations (PCI, SOC2).

Some key responsibilities include:

• Production platform ownership
• Operational leadership (SRE, DevOps, DBA)
• Incident management & service reliability
• Observability, monitoring & performance engineering
• Cloud & infrastructure strategy (AWS + Hybrid)
• Vendor & partner Management
• Security & compliance collaboration
• IT Service Management (ISM) evolution
• Vision & leadership in production engineering excellence

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• 10+ years in production operations, SRE, or platform engineering
• 5+ years in leadership roles managing technical operations teams
• Has experience operating in or built high-scale, highly reliable production environments, and can clearly articulate what differentiates average from elite operations
• Proven experience operating high-availability, mission-critical systems
• Deep expertise in AWS (core services, architecture, operations), SRE and DevOps practices and Monitoring and observability
• Strong experience with Incident management and ITIL practices, Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation) and Database operations (SQL Server, cloud-managed DBs)
• Has experience driving organizational change, not just technical execution
• Excellent cross-functional communication and collaboration with technology teams, business stakeholders and customers

PREFERRED

• Experience in payments / fintech environments
• Experience managing third-party cloud or managed service providers
• Familiarity with PCI-DSS, SOC2, and regulated environments
• Familiarity with hybrid cloud/on-prem modernization and FinOps and cost optimization strategies

LIFE AT KORT PAYMENTS

We pride ourselves on cultivating an inspired culture characterized by customer-centricity, commitment, respect, and agility. Our high-growth environment promotes a supportive and collaborative atmosphere, fostering a growth mindset, intellectual curiosity, entrepreneurial spirit, and teamwork. Our leadership team is experienced and passionate about payments, taking pride in their achievements and the unique value they bring to the industry.

At KORT Payments, we believe work should be fulfilling and fun! Here’s a peek into what life with us is like:

Culture:

• Fearlessness: Encourage continuous learning, innovation, taking chances, and pushing boundaries.
• Accountability: Take ownership and be accountable to yourself, the company, partners, and clients.
• Collaboration: Leverage diverse perspectives and work as a team to get the job done.
• Transparency: Empower success through open communication, honesty, and inclusion.

Perks and Benefits:

• Comprehensive Benefits Package: We've got you covered with health, dental, and vision plans.
• Flexible and Inclusive Work Environment: We understand the importance of work-life balance and provide the flexibility you need to thrive.
• Fun Events: From team-building activities to company-wide celebrations, we love to have fun and recognize our hard work.
• Professional Growth: We support your career development with ongoing learning opportunities and the chance to take on new challenges.
• Work Hard, Play Hard: Enjoy a dynamic environment where your contributions are valued and your potential is unleashed.