VP, Operations & Strategic Development

At Community Financial System, Inc. (CFSI), we are dedicated to providing our customers with friendly, personalized, high-quality financial services and products. Our retail division, Community Bank, N.A., operates more than 200 customer facilities across Upstate New York, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Vermont and Western Massachusetts. Beyond retail banking, we also offer commercial banking, wealth management, investment management, insurance and risk management, and benefit plan administration.

Just as our employees are committed to helping our customers manage their finances, we're committed to our employees. After all, they make it happen for our customers every day.

To ensure our people can enjoy long and successful careers here at CFSI, we offer competitive compensation, great benefits, and professional development and advancement opportunities. As an equal-opportunity workplace and affirmative-action employer, we celebrate and support a diverse workplace for the benefit of all: our employees, customers and communities.

The Vice President, Operations & Strategic Development - Creative Plan Design Services is a senior leadership role responsible for defining and operationalizing a unified BPAS consulting service model across all business lines.

This position ensures alignment across Consulting, Sales, and Relationship Management, consistent service delivery, accountability, and high-quality client experience. It combines strategic oversight with operational execution to improve efficiency, standardization, and scalability across the organization.

Essential Duties:

Core Focus Areas:

• Establish and implement a standardized BPAS consulting service model
• Align cross-functional leadership on goals, roles, and accountability
• Improve operational efficiency across billing, revenue recognition, TPA allowance processing, workflow, and service delivery
• Define capacity standards and ensure effective workload balancing across consulting teams
• Develop structured career paths across consulting roles (TPA, DB/DC Combo, OMNI/TPA) in partnership with senior leadership
• Implement performance metrics to drive accountability, service quality, and consistency
• Support successful integration of acquisitions, including talent alignment, onboarding, and training
• Enhance client outcomes through disciplined service execution and issue resolution
• Establish processes to identify at-risk plans and transition opportunities to the OMNI platform, in coordination with Sales

Expected Impact:

• Consistent, scalable service delivery across all consulting teams
• Stronger cross-functional alignment and accountability
• Improved employee development, retention, and succession planning
• Enhanced client facing communications and overall experience
• Increased operational efficiency and margin improvement
• Seamless onboarding of acquired teams and capabilities
• Enhanced overall client experience and service quality
• A stronger, more engaged culture with clear opportunities for growth and advancement

Education, Training and Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration or related field required
• A minimum of 10 years related experience necessary, as well as experience in Pension Plan Administration and Retirement Industry knowledge
• All applicants must be 18 years of age or older

Compensation: Commensurate with experience plus potential for annual merit increase. In addition to your competitive salary, you will be rewarded benefits including: 11 paid holidays, paid vacation, Medical, Vision & Dental insurance, 401K with generous match, Pension, Tuition Reimbursement, Banking discounts and the list goes on!

Physical Requirements:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be required to stand, walk or sit. Use hands and fingers, handle or feel, reach with hands or arms, and speak and hear. The employee may occasionally be required to lift and or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, and the ability to focus.

The Company is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.

The Company will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with a disability. If you have a physical or mental impairment and would like to request an accommodation with respect to the application process, please contact the Human Resources Department.