Global Director, AI-Driven Vendor Strategy & Operations

Affirm; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 226,000 - 335,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care coverage

Flexible Spending Wallets

Time off

ESPP

Job summary

Affirm is reinventing credit to make it more honest and friendly, giving consumers the flexibility to buy now and pay later without hidden fees or compounding interest. Affirm is seeking a senior leader to join the global operations team as Director, Vendor Strategy & Operations to lead the global BPO and vendor operations program and partner across the business.

You will own strategy, governance, AI-driven operations, performance, analytics, and cross-functional leadership for a large,

Qualifications

• 15+ years in customer operations - including large-scale global vendor BPO program management, operations strategy, or consulting for fast-paced, multi-million-customer businesses using vendor networks (or demonstrated equivalent leadership trajectory).
• 10+ years leading managers and/or complex global operational and vendor organizations.
• Proven success managing large-scale outsourced operations and global vendor networks across multiple international geographies.
• Experience leading and optimizing supply and demand management with global work force management teams.
• Demonstrated experience deploying AI or automation to improve customer operations or BPO environments at scale.
• Strong analytical background, using data to drive strategic decisions and operational outcomes.
• Track record leading large cross-functional initiatives with measurable business impact.
• Deep cultural fluency across global geographies - a proven ability to lead and motivate diverse international teams and to build a customer-centric, high-performing culture across varied call-center and BPO environments.
• Exceptional communication, executive presence, and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the long-term strategy for affirm's global customer operations vendor network, balancing customer experience, operational efficiency, resiliency, compliance, and business continuity across all global vendors.
• Reinvent how we resolve customer issues and deliver experience across the vendor network, treating the BPO vendor network as an innovation hub rather than a cost center.
• Establish governance frameworks, performance standards, and accountability mechanisms across the global vendor ecosystem.
• Lead executive-level vendor governance forums, including Quarterly Business Reviews, strategic planning, and escalation management.
• Partner with Financial Partnerships on vendor selection, expansion, remediation, and network design, evaluating capabilities, geographic footprint, and concentration risk to inform future-state decisions.
• Partner deeply across product, engineering and operations teams to deploy agent and customer facing AI and automation across servicing workflows within the vendor network - agent assist, quality, forecasting, and customer resolution - to reinvent cost-to-serve and elevate vendor agent and customer experience.
• Bring an experimentation mindset, using AI in everyday problem-solving to reimagine the vendor operating model and program, not just optimize the current one.
• Own overall vendor network performance across servicing functions, including CSAT, SLA, compliance, QA, productivity, and efficiency outcomes.
• Build mechanisms for vendor performance management, escalation handling, and vendor accountability, and drive systemic improvements across vendors and functional PODs.
• Lead recovery efforts for high-risk or underperforming vendor relationships.
• Drive target cost optimization programs across all global vendors.
• Partner with Analytics to define vendor reporting requirements, scorecards, and operational health metrics.
• Translate operational trends into actionable recommendations for senior leadership, ensuring decisions are grounded in data and measurable outcomes.
• Build a global 'one team' mentality that treats the vendor network as strategic partners rather than order-takers.
• Serve as the primary operational leader for vendor-supported servicing functions, partnering with Product, Engineering, Workforce Management, QA, Training, Risk, and Compliance.
• Lead large-scale initiatives - vendor migrations, specialization efforts, operating-model transformations, and regulatory implementations.
• Act as the executive escalation point for complex vendor, operational, and customer-experience issues.
• Lead and develop a team of Vendor Managers and In-Country Vendor Managers, embodying a customer-centric culture and affirm's values by example.
• Establish role clarity, operating rhythms, and performance expectations across the organization.
• Coach leaders to strengthen analytical rigor, strategic thinking, vendor-management capability, and cross-functional influence.
• Build a high-performing organization anchored in accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement.

Skills

Vendor management

Operations leadership

AI & automation

Data-driven decision making

Executive stakeholder management

Job description

Affirm is reinventing credit to make it more honest and friendly, giving consumers the flexibility to buy now and pay later without hidden fees or compounding interest. Affirm is seeking a senior leader to join the global operations team as Director, Vendor Strategy & Operations to lead the global BPO and vendor operations program and partner across the business.

You will own strategy, governance, AI-driven operations, performance, analytics, and cross-functional leadership for a large,