Vp, Cloud Operations

The Clearing House Payments Company; Town of Liberty (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 214,000; Full time

Job summary

The Clearing House is seeking a VP of Cloud Operations to establish and scale a CloudOps organization, transforming legacy middleware and database teams into cloud-native, automation-driven operations. The role sits in the Cloud Transformation Office and focuses on operational excellence, platform reliability, and cloud modernization across the enterprise.

Responsibilities include leading 24x7 cloud operations, defining roles and career paths, implementing IaC and CI/CD, and driving cultural

Qualifications

• 15+ years in IT, with strong experience in infrastructure, middleware, and database operations.
• Experience leading cloud transformation initiatives and large-scale organizational change.
• Proven track record of building and scaling operations teams and driving DevOps/SRE culture.
• Deep knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP) and multi-cloud environments.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the CloudOps vision, operating model, and org structure.
• Establish 24x7 cloud operations across compute, middleware, databases, and storage.
• Transform traditional middleware and DBA teams into cloud-native operations.
• Implement SRE principles: SLIs/SLOs, incident management, postmortems, automation.
• Build self-service platforms and reusable platform blueprints.
• Enable cloud migration and modernization through playbooks and risk management.
• Governance, security, and compliance integration with policy-as-code.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration with security, architecture, and product teams.

Skills

Leadership & transformation

Cloud platforms

SRE practices

Automation & IaC

Platform engineering

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Cloud migration planning

Team building

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT or related field

Tools

Terraform

CloudFormation

GitOps tooling

Kubernetes

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Position Summary:

The VP, Cloud Operations is responsible for establishing, scaling, and operating the CloudOps organization while transforming traditional middleware and database teams into modern, cloud-native, automation-driven CloudOps teams.

This role sits within the Cloud Transformation Office (CTO) and plays a critical role in driving operational excellence, platform reliability, and cloud modernization across the enterprise. The leader will bridge legacy operations and next-generation cloud platforms, ensuring a seamless transition to a self-service, SRE-aligned, and highly automated operating model.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Build and Lead the CloudOps Organization

• Define the CloudOps vision, operating model, and organizational structure

• Establish 24x7 cloud operations capabilities across platforms (compute, middleware, databases, storage)

• Build high-performing teams aligned to:

  • Platform operations

  • Reliability engineering (SRE)

  • Automation and tooling

• Define roles, responsibilities, and career paths for CloudOps teams

Transform Middleware & Database Teams into CloudOps Teams

• Lead the transition of traditional middleware and DBA teams into cloud-native operations teams

• Upskill teams in:

  • Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)

  • Automation and Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

  • SRE practices

• Drive cultural shift from:

  • Ticket-based/manual operations self-service and automation

  • Component-based support platform ownership mindset

• Rationalize legacy platforms and align them to cloud strategy

Establish CloudOps Operating Model & SRE Practices

• Implement Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles across platforms:

  • SLIs, SLOs, error budgets

  • Incident management and postmortems

• Define and operationalize:

  • Monitoring and observability standards

  • Incident response and escalation frameworks

  • Reliability and resilience patterns

• Build runbook automation and self-healing systems

Drive Automation & Platform Engineering

• Lead adoption of:

  • Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Bicep, CloudFormation)

  • CI/CD for platform and database deployments

  • GitOps practices

• Establish self-service platforms for product teams:

  • Middleware stacks

  • Database provisioning

  • Integration services

• Build reusable platform blueprints and operational patterns

Enable Cloud Migration & Modernization

• Partner with Cloud Strategy, Architecture, and Engineering teams to:

  • Support workload migrations

  • Define operational readiness for cloud workloads

• Ensure legacy middleware and databases are:

  • Migration‑ready

  • Optimized for cloud operations

• Define modernization playbooks for:

  • Re‑platforming

  • Containerization

  • Managed service adoption

Governance, Security & Compliance

• Enforce operational governance for cloud environments

• Ensure adherence to:

  • Security policies

  • Compliance standards

  • Access control and audit requirements

• Partner with Security and Governance teams to embed policy‑as‑code

Stakeholder Engagement & Leadership

• Act as a key leader within the Cloud Transformation Office

• Collaborate with:

  • Application development teams

  • Enterprise architecture

  • Security and compliance teams

• Communicate transformation progress, risks, and value realization to executives

Qualifications Required:

Leadership & Transformation

• 15+ years in IT, with strong experience in:

• Infrastructure, middleware, and database operations

• Cloud transformation initiatives

• Proven track record of:

  • Building and scaling operations teams

  • Leading large-scale organizational change

  • Driving cultural transformation to DevOps/SRE models

Cloud & Platform Expertise

• Deep knowledge of at least one CSP:

  • AWS / Azure / GCP

• Work Experience with:

  • Cloud-native services

  • Managed databases and middleware platforms

  • Hybrid and multi‑cloud environment

Middleware & Database Domain Knowledge

• Strong expertise in:

  • Traditional middleware (WebLogic, WebSphere, MQ, etc.)

  • RDBMS (Oracle, SQL Server, DB2)

• Experience modernizing:

  • Middleware into containers/microservices

  • Databases into managed cloud services

CloudOps, DevOps & SRE

• Sound understanding of:

  • Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Cloud Formation, etc.)

  • CI/CD pipelines

  • Observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, etc.)

• Strong grounding in:

  • Reliability engineering

  • Incident management

  • Automation‑first operational models

Automation & Engineering Mindset

• Experience building:

  • Self-service platforms

  • Automated provisioning systems

  • Operational tooling and frameworks

Qualifications Desired:

• Executive communication and influencing skills

• Strong stakeholder management

• Ability to lead cross-functional and globally distributed teams

• Strategic thinking with hands‑on execution mindset

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The working environment is generally favorable. Lighting and temperature are adequate, and there are no hazardous or unpleasant conditions caused by noise, dust, etc. Work is generally performed within an office environment, with standard office equipment available. Travel may be required. Candidates will report to the office three days each week. Onsite work requirements may change at any time.

The anticipated annual salary range for NY-based candidates for this position is $180,000 to $214,000. Base salary and position level will be determined by the role, experience, skill set and location. For eligible positions, discretionary incentive compensation may be awarded contingent on personal and company performance. Our benefits program includes medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401k plan with company contribution and company match, tuition reimbursement and more.

About The Clearing House:

The Clearing House (TCH) is a banking association and payments company that is owned by the largest commercial banks in the United States. TCH owns and operates the core payments system infrastructure in the US and is currently working to modernize that infrastructure by launching a new, ubiquitous, real‑time payment system. TCH is the only private‑sector ACH and wire operator in the US, clearing and settling nearly $2 trillion in US dollar payments each day, representing half of all commercial ACH and wire volume. TCH has provided critical services to the banking industry since 1853, and today, our core products facilitate services including Direct Deposit of payroll, bill payments, and check image exchange.