Sr Director, Managed Operations

Dayforce; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Dayforce seeks a Senior Director, Managed Operations to lead a global Managed Services organization spanning onboarding, payroll operations, tax and compliance, benefits, and support. You will drive strategic transformation, automation, and scalable processes while building a high-performance, diverse team across regions.

The role emphasizes customer outcomes, leadership development, and collaboration with Product, Technology, Sales, and HR to deliver measurable business impact.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive leadership in large service orgs (Managed Services/Operations).
• Proven cross-functional leadership across regions and functions.
• Strong financial acumen in workforce planning and governance.
• Customer-centric leadership with data-driven decision making.

Responsibilities

• Lead global Managed Services across onboarding, payroll, tax/compliance, benefits, support, and shared services.
• Develop and execute long-term strategy, drive AI-enabled transformation and automation.
• Build trusted advisor relationships, improve customer experience and reduce issues through continuous improvement.

Skills

AI transformation

Leadership

Change management

Operational excellence

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Dayforce is a global human capital management (HCM) company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, with operations across North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and the Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region.

Our award-winning Cloud HCM platform offers a unified solution database and continuous calculation engine, driving efficiency, productivity and compliance for the global workforce.

Our brand prom ise - Makes Work Life Better ™ - Reflects our co mmitment to employees, customers, partners and communities globally.

About the Opportunity

The Senior Director, Managed Operations is responsible for leading a Managed Services organization that delivers exceptional customer outcomes through operational excellence, consultative customer partnerships, and continuous transformation. This leader oversees multiple Managed Services and Operations functions, which may include a combination of Customer Onboarding, Payroll Operations, Tax & Compliance, Benefits, Customer Support, and Shared Services, while leading a high-performing team distributed across multiple global regions. The role is responsible for building a customer-centric organization that scales effectively while leveraging the strengths of a diverse global workforce.

Success in this role is measured not only by operational performance, but by the ability to develop leaders, strengthen customer relationships, improve employee engagement, simplify operations, and drive meaningful business transformation. The successful candidate is a strategic leader who approaches every challenge with curiosity, objective problem solving, and a beginner’s mindset. They continuously challenge assumptions, seek better ways of working, and inspire teams to improve the customer experience every day.

This executive partners across Product Management, Technology, Sales, Finance, HR, Customer Success, and Professional Services to deliver measurable customer outcomes while fostering collaboration across a globally distributed workforce. The successful leader will shape the future of Managed Services by driving AI-enabled transformation, operational scalability, customer success, and leadership excellence across teams located in multiple countries and regions.

What You'll Get to Do

• Lead the Managed Services organization across Customer Onboarding, Payroll Operations, Tax & Compliance, Benefits, Customer Support, and Shared Services, ensuring delivery of contractual customer commitments, SLA performance, operational governance, and business continuity across a globally distributed workforce.
• Develop and execute the long-term strategy for Managed Services by leading AI transformation, simplifying operations, increasing automation, improving scalability, and delivering initiatives that improve quality, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and employee experience.
• Build trusted advisor relationships with customers by understanding business objectives, delivering consultative solutions, evaluating operational decisions from the customer’s perspective, proactively improving the customer experience, and reducing recurring customer issues through continuous improvement rather than reactive escalation management.
• Partner closely with Product Management, Technology, Sales, Finance, HR, Customer Success, Professional Services, and regional operational leaders to influence enterprise decisions using data, customer insights, and thoughtful recommendations while ensuring consistent service delivery and operational excellence worldwide.
• Lead and develop a diverse workforce across multiple geographies by building an engaged, high-performing, and accountable culture through coaching, mentoring, succession planning, talent development, inclusion, psychological safety, transparency, and consistent communication.
• Develop annual operating plans, budgets, workforce strategies, capacity models, and operational performance metrics while driving productivity, consistency, operational quality, compliance, risk management, and continuous improvement across all regions.
• Champion transformational leadership by continuously challenging assumptions, simplifying complexity, improving employee and customer experiences, driving automation, embracing AI-native operating models, solving root causes using data, and making enterprise-wide decisions that benefit the business as a whole.
• During the first 12 months, demonstrate measurable progress in transformation through simplified operational processes, increased automation, reduced manual effort, and multiple completed improvement initiatives.
• Improve customer satisfaction, strengthen executive customer relationships, reduce recurring escalations, and improve customer retention.
• Increase employee engagement, strengthen the succession bench and leadership capability, and reduce regrettable attrition across the global workforce.
• Improve SLA performance, productivity, operational consistency, and quality metrics across all operating regions.

Skills and Experience We Value

• Demonstrated success leading AI transformation initiatives while driving aligned process re-engineering and operational excellence through automation and continuous improvement, with customer outcomes and satisfaction as the primary objective.
• Proven ability to drive innovation, continuous improvement, enterprise thinking, change leadership, and cross-functional collaboration while delivering measurable business and customer outcomes.
• A customer-obsessed leadership style that places customers at the center of every decision, develops trusted partnerships, measures success through customer outcomes, and builds strong relationships with Customer Success organizations.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience managing large service organizations, including Managed Services and Operations, Payroll, HCM, SaaS Operations, BPO, Shared Services, or similarly complex customer-facing operations.
• Proven experience leading geographically dispersed teams across multiple countries and cultures while managing organizational change, executing business transformation, and building high-performing leadership teams.
• Strong financial acumen with experience in workforce planning, organizational management, operational governance, capacity planning, and business performance management.
• Demonstrated customer-centric leadership, strategic thinking, systems thinking, executive presence, collaboration, influence, and data-driven decision-making in complex service organizations.

What Would Make You Stand Out

• A demonstrated ability to consistently ask, "How could this be dramatically better?", simplify complexity, improve employee and customer experiences, and lead organizations toward an AI-native future.
• Experience leading large, globally distributed teams while creating a unified culture across regions, functions, and time zones.
• A natural curiosity that seeks to understand before recommending solutions, respectfully challenges assumptions, encourages experimentation, and promotes continuous learning.
• Exceptional objective problem-solving skills that focus on data, root-cause analysis, transparency, and creating an environment where problems are solved rather than hidden.
• An enterprise mindset that enables collaboration across organizational boundaries and balances regional needs with consistent global service delivery.

What’s in it for you

Dayforce is fueled by the diversity of our talented employees. We are an equal opportunity employer and consider and embrace ALL individuals and what makes them unique. We believe our employees should be happy and healthy, with peace of mind and a sense of fulfillment.

We encourage individuals to apply based on their passions.

Dayforce employees and their families are eligible to participate in the following benefits programs: medical, dental, vison, and life insurance. Dayforce employees are also eligible to participate in a 401k plan (plus match) and a Global Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Employees also receive unlimited Time Away FromWork (in lieu of accrued vacation time), 10 paid US holidays, up to 80 hours of paid sick time and 17 weeks of paid parental leave, subject to the terms of the applicable policy or program.

With a commitment to community impact, including volunteer days and our charity, Dayforce Cares we provide opportunities for you to thrive both in your career and personal life. Our focus is not just on your job but on supporting you to be the best version of yourself.

About the Salary Ranges

Please note that the salary range mentioned in this job description should serve simply as a guide. The final compensation offered may vary based on a variety of factors, including bonuses and/or incentives, or a candidate’s experience, skills, budget and location. Our company is committed to providing a fair, equitable, and competitive package that reflects the value an individual brings to the organization.