Senior Director, Crisis Management

About the role

As the Senior Director, Crisis Management, you will own the operational readiness and response execution for network-wide disruptions across the global payment network. This position centers specifically on network availability, transaction integrity, clearing and settlement continuity, and ecosystem stability. You will work in direct partnership with the Enterprise Crisis Program, global command centers, and technology/product organizations to continuously raise the bar for network resilience. Acting as the strategic bridge between internal operations and external ecosystem stakeholders, you will design response playbooks that address the unique operational risks of the network and lead coordinated responses with global participants—including issuers, acquirers, processors, and strategic merchants.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the strategic lead for major network disruptions, aligning enterprise command centers, regional operational hubs, and executive leadership to restore network services rapidly.
• Responsible for coordinating the management of crisis response for GPN.
• Activates the GPN Crisis Management Core Team and Extended Team as needed based on established severity thresholds.
• Monitors multiple operational channels for crisis response thresholds to ensure timely detection and action.
• Interfaces directly with Technology for High Severity event response when GPN is impacted.
• Coordinates GPN associate communications for customer-facing roles to ensure strict alignment of “customer back” messaging.
• Partners seamlessly with the Enterprise Crisis Program and functional command centers (e.g., NOCs, SOCs) to ensure unified escalation pathways, synchronized communications, and cohesive governance.
• Designs and executes crisis response frameworks built specifically around unique payment network failure modes, including transaction processing outages, clearing/settlement delays, messaging protocol failures, and liquidity disruptions.
• Establishes playbooks and communication protocols for coordinating directly with external network participants (issuers, acquirers, co-brand partners) during systemic industry events or widespread network issues.
• Collaborates with Engineering, Product, and Technology teams to embed resilience into the product development lifecycle and drive structural improvements that raise the operational baseline across all network offerings.
• Partners to facilitate complex, network-focused exercises and simulations with command center staff, tech leads, and key global participants to test and validate incident playbooks.
• Drives rigorous post-incident reviews following major network events, ensuring actionable remediation items are prioritized on technology and product development roadmaps.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or military experience
• At least 7 years of experience in Risk Management
• At least 3 years of experience in Operations Management
• At least 3 years of experience in Project Management
• At least 3 years of experience in People Management

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Business Management, Finance, Accounting, Economics, Mathematics, or Project Management
• At least 10 years of experience in Risk Management or Governance
• Business Process Management certification (internal Capital One certification)
• Six Sigma Lean, Green Belt, or Black Belt certification
• Agile Coach certification
• Compliance Certification (CRCM)

Pay

Richmond, VA: $217,000 – $247,700

Chicago, IL: $217,000 – $247,700

McLean, VA: $238,700 – $272,400

New York, NY: $260,400 – $297,200

Riverwoods, IL: $217,000 – $247,700

Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered will be reflected in the candidate’s offer letter. This role is also eligible to earn performance-based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long-term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non-discretionary depending on the plan.