VP, Operations & Execution

Accion Opportunity Fund Community Development; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Hybrid/remote work environment

Employer-paid medical, dental, vision,

Life and disability insurance

FSA

Legal assistance plans

403(b) retirement plan with employer 3

Unlimited paid vacation

Holidays and floating holiday

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF) seeks an experienced executive to lead operations, performance, and improvement across customer-facing and back-end processes. You will drive end-to-end process optimization, manage vendor partnerships, and ensure rigorous controls while aligning with the organization’s mission in financial inclusion.

The role requires deep experience in operations leadership within financial services or fintech, with a proven ability to manage large teams, data-driven decision

Qualifications

• Ten or more years of progressive experience in operations or a related discipline, including leadership of managers and distributed teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily performance of operations and service-delivery functions with clear ownership, SLAs, and quality standards.
• Resolve bottlenecks and escalations by coordinating with managers, frontline teams, vendors, and cross-functional partners.
• Translate priorities into practical workplans with owners, milestones, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.
• Penetrate end-to-end workflows, redesign processes to reduce friction, and implement adoption of changes to improve efficiency.
• Oversee governance, scorecards, and vendor relationships to ensure continuous performance improvement.

Skills

Operations leadership

Data-driven decisions

Vendor management

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Zendesk

Service Portal

Job description

Hybrid

Los Angeles area, Bay Area, NYC metro, and South Florida.

THE ORGANIZATION:

Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF) is a leading Community Development Financial Institution dedicated to providing underserved small business owners with access to capital, networks, and coaching. For over 30 years, AOF has helped small business owners create jobs, build wealth, and strengthen communities by providing responsible financing and business support services.

Since our founding, we have deployed more than $1 billion in financing and have served more than 4 million entrepreneurs through educational resources and business support programs. The majority of our clients come from historically underserved communities where access to traditional financing remains limited.

As AOF continues its mission of expanding financial inclusion, we are building a scalable, sustainable financial institution that combines mission impact with strong financial performance. Our strategic vision includes expanding our lending capabilities, strengthening enterprise risk management, and preparing for future growth across additional financial products, including Credit Union services.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Operational Leadership and Performance

• Lead the daily performance of assigned operations and service-delivery functions, establishing clear ownership, service levels, productivity expectations, quality standards, and operating routines.
• Maintain direct visibility into volume, capacity, backlog, cycle time, quality, customer outcomes, cost, and risk; use the data to identify problems early and drive corrective action.
• Resolve operational bottlenecks and escalations by working directly with managers, frontline teams, vendors, and cross-functional partners.
• Translate organizational priorities into practical workplans with accountable owners, milestones, dependencies, decision points, and measurable outcomes.
• Ensure operational commitments are completed on time and that unresolved issues are elevated with clear facts, options, and recommendations.

Process Improvement and Execution

• Examine end-to-end workflows and redesign processes to reduce friction, rework, handoffs, errors, and operating cost while strengthening the customer and employee experience.
• Lead implementation of operational changes from problem definition through testing, launch, adoption, stabilization, and benefit realization.
• Build practical controls, standard operating procedures, decision rights, and performance reporting that support consistent and audit-ready execution.
• Identify and implement automation and responsible AI use cases that improve speed, quality, capacity, and service delivery; ensure the operating teams adopt and sustain the changes.
• Partner on technology-enabled initiatives, including lending, servicing, customer support, and member-service capabilities, representing operational requirements and owning business readiness.

Customer and Member Operations

• Improve customer and member outcomes by strengthening the operational processes, service channels, case management, and handoffs that shape the experience.
• Use customer feedback, complaints, service data, and quality results to identify root causes and implement operational corrections.
• Drive effective use and continuous improvement of assigned service platforms, including Zendesk and the Service Portal, to increase self-service, improve response quality, and reduce avoidable contacts.
• Partner with Product and Marketing on customer journeys, communications, and campaigns while retaining accountability for operational readiness and execution within Operations.

People and Vendor Leadership

• Lead, coach, and hold accountable a team of operational leaders; establish clear goals, regular performance reviews, development plans, and succession coverage.
• Create an environment in which managers own results, address performance issues promptly, and remain close to the work of their teams.
• Manage workforce capacity and resource allocation across in-house and outsourced operations based on demand, service expectations, risk, and cost.
• Oversee assigned vendor and business-process-outsourcing relationships through clear contracts, scorecards, governance, issue resolution, and continuous performance improvement.
• Build productive relationships across Product, Technology, Marketing, Credit, Risk, Compliance, Finance, Data and Analytics, and other partners needed to deliver operational outcomes.

Risk Controls and Financial Stewardship

• Embed applicable regulatory, compliance, documentation, and control requirements into operating processes in partnership with Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Internal Audit.
• Monitor operational risks, control gaps, incidents, and remediation commitments; ensure corrective actions are completed and sustained.
• Manage assigned budgets, headcount, and vendor expenses; identify opportunities to improve unit economics without compromising service, control, or mission outcomes.
• Provide concise, fact-based reporting on operating performance, risks, decisions, and execution progress to senior leadership.

QUALIFICATIONS:

REQUIRED:

• Ten or more years of progressive experience in operations, servicing, customer operations, business-process management, or a related discipline, including leadership of managers and distributed teams.
• Demonstrated success improving operating performance and personally leading complex implementations from planning through sustained execution.
• Experience managing high-volume workflows, service levels, productivity, quality, controls, and customer escalations in a regulated or operationally complex environment.
• Strong command of operating data and performance management, with the ability to move from analysis to practical action.
• Experience managing third-party vendors or outsourced operations, including performance scorecards, governance, and issue remediation.
• Proven ability to work across functions, clarify ownership, make sound decisions, and maintain momentum when priorities or conditions change.
• Clear and direct communication skills, sound judgment, high accountability, and a willingness to work at the level of detail required to achieve results.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

PREFERRED:

• Operations leadership experience in financial services, fintech, community development finance, credit unions, or small-business lending.
• Knowledge of loan origination, funding, servicing, collections, customer support, or credit‑union member operations.
• Experience implementing workflow automation, AI‑enabled operations, case‑management platforms, or lending and servicing technology.
• Process‑improvement, project‑management, or change‑management training or certification.

LEADERSHIP PROFILE:

The strongest candidate will be a practical and highly engaged leader who earns credibility by understanding the work, making timely decisions, and helping teams deliver. This person must be equally comfortable coaching a manager, reviewing a performance dashboard, mapping a broken process, challenging a vendor, resolving an escalation, and presenting a clear recommendation to senior leadership. The role requires strategic judgment, but success will be measured through execution, operating performance, stronger managers, and sustained results.

WHY JOIN AOF:

At AOF, our mission drives everything we do. We believe that helping entrepreneurs succeed strengthens families, neighborhoods, and local economies. As a member of our leadership team, you will help shape the future of responsible small business lending while creating lasting economic opportunity for underserved communities.

We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package, including:

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.
• Flexible hybrid/remote work environment and monthly remote work reimbursement (phone and internet).
• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance for employees (based on plan selection).
• 90% employer-paid dependent medical coverage (based on plan selection).
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA).
• Supplemental Life and AD&D insurance.
• Legal assistance plans.
• 403(b) retirement plan with employer matching contributions.
• Unlimited paid vacation.
• Twelve paid holidays plus one floating holiday.
• Paid parental leave.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF) is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace where all employees are respected and valued. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Salary Range*: $190,000 – $235,000, plus a 15% Discretionary Annual Target Bonus

*Compensation will be based on the selected candidate’s qualifications, experience, geographic location, and overall fit for the position.