Sr Loyalty Operations & Controls Specialist

PenFed is hiring a (Hybrid) Sr Loyalty Operations & Controls Specialist at our Tysons, Virginia location.  The Sr Operations & Controls Specialist will play a critical role in establishing and managing the operational infrastructure, control environment, and risk management framework for the enterprise-wide PenFed Member Rewards program (PMR). This position will help ensure that loyalty operations—including points issuance and redemption, partner integrations, and member servicing—are executed accurately, comply with regulatory expectations, and align with the institution’s risk appetite. The incumbent will partner cross-functionally with Product, Technology, Compliance, Risk, Legal, Finance, and external partners to design and operate a resilient, scalable, and trusted loyalty platform and member experience.

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of job duties, and the position will perform other duties as assigned.

Program Management & Ongoing Operational Excellence

• Build and maintain the operating model for the loyalty program, including processes, workflows, service models, SLAs, and issue management routines.
• Oversee day‑to‑day program operations including points management, partner file exchanges, dispute handling, exception processing, and fulfillment.
• Collaborate with Technology teams to implement operational requirements, validate system functionality, support UAT, and establish ongoing operational monitoring.
• Develop dashboards and KPIs to track operational performance, accuracy, and service levels.

Risk, Compliance & Controls Management

• Design and maintain the Loyalty Program control framework, including process-level controls, automated checks, reconciliations, and key risk indicators.
• Ensure compliance with financial services regulations, privacy standards, audit requirements, and partner contractual obligations.
• Lead operational risk assessments, identify control gaps, drive remediation plans, and support audits/exams.
• Establish and manage routines, including root-cause analysis and preventive controls.

Vendor & Partner Oversight

• Serve as the operational owner for loyalty vendors and partners, ensuring they meet contractual operational and control standards.
• Oversee partner onboarding, operational integration, and ongoing performance monitoring.

Customer Service Operations & Issue Resolution

• Partner with Member Service teams to optimize loyalty service experiences.
• Develop and maintain processes for escalations, disputes, exceptions, and breakage.
• Support the management and resolution of customer-impacting incidents.

Data Integrity & Financial Governance

• Oversee end-to-end points lifecycle management, including issuance, redemption, expirations, liability management, and breakage tracking.
• Partner with Finance on reconciliation routines and financial controls.
• Ensure data accuracy across systems, partner files, and reporting.

Equivalent combination of education and experience is considered.

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field required; master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in operations, risk management, audit, compliance, and controls within financial services, payments, loyalty, or fintech industries.
• Strong understanding of control frameworks, operational risk, and regulatory expectations in a financial institution.
• Experience building or managing processes at scale, ideally in new-to-launch environments.
• Experience with designing and implementing data integrity processes, reconciliation routines, and financial controls.
• Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional initiatives and collaborate with technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Proven success managing complex, cross-functional projects involving technology integrations, vendor/partner coordination, and regulatory oversight.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills.

Preferred

• Experience with loyalty, rewards, credit card programs, or partner ecosystems.
• Experience with Salesforce, especially Salesforce Loyalty Cloud.
• Experience with SQL and working in a Snowflake environment.
• Familiarity with data integrity processes, reconciliation routines, and financial controls.
• Background in vendor management or third‑party risk oversight.
• Exposure to Agile environments and product development cycles.
• Experience using A.I. tools preferred

Competency

• Operational Rigor: High attention to detail, processes, and quality.
• Risk Mindset: Proactively identifies issues and strengthens controls.
• Strategic & Tactical Balance: Can build frameworks while managing daily execution.
• Cross-Functional Leader: Comfortable influencing without authority.
• Customer-Centric Thinking: Designs operations with the end-user (PenFed members) in mind.

Supervisory Responsibility

This position may supervise employees.

Licenses and Certifications

There are no additional licenses and/or certifications required.

Work Environment

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to an indoor office setting with moderate noise.

*Most roles require working in an office setting with moderate noise and the ability to lift 25 pounds.*

Travel

Ability to travel to various worksites, industry events, and be on call is required.