Strategic Operations Lead

About Team / Role

This role leads complex, high-impact strategic projects, operational transformations, and technology-enabled initiatives across Health, Corporate Payments, and Mobility. The role manages advanced initiatives from definition through implementation and stabilization, often spanning multiple business lines, operational functions, systems, and cross-functional stakeholders.

Operating with a high degree of autonomy, the Strategic Operations Lead translates complex or ambiguous business needs into structured programs of work, establishes governance and accountability, manages significant risks and dependencies, and drives decisions necessary to achieve intended business outcomes.

The role combines advanced project management and operational expertise to identify and lead opportunities to simplify, standardize, automate, redesign, or eliminate inefficient processes. This role also advances AI and automation capabilities across the organization by identifying high-value opportunities, leading complex implementations, and ensuring measurable and sustainable business benefits.

How You'll Make an Impact

PROJECT MANAGEMENT & DELIVERY

• Lead complex, high-impact projects and operational transformations, including initiatives spanning multiple business lines, functions, systems, or workstreams, from definition through implementation and stabilization.

• Translate ambiguous or evolving business needs into clear scope, objectives, deliverables, governance, resource requirements, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.

• Establish and lead project governance, executive reporting, decision management, and risk and issue escalation appropriate to the complexity and impact of assigned initiatives.

• Coordinate cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders, establishing clear ownership and driving decisions where priorities, requirements, or accountabilities conflict.

• Anticipate and manage significant risks, dependencies, resource constraints, and downstream impacts, developing recommendations and corrective actions when project health is at risk.

• Ensure operational requirements, financial and operational controls, capacity, business continuity, training, documentation, and implementation readiness are addressed before launch.

• Lead implementation and stabilization and validate that intended outcomes, sustainable business ownership, and appropriate performance measures are established.

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT & OPERATIONAL TRANSFORMATION

• Lead complex process improvement and operating-model initiatives spanning multiple teams, business lines, systems, or functional boundaries.

• Analyze workflows, data, financial exposure, operational incidents, control findings, and stakeholder feedback to identify systemic issues and root causes.

• Design and implement future-state processes that improve capacity, quality, service, controls, risk management, and scalability.

• Identify opportunities to standardize or consolidate processes across business lines where common solutions can reduce fragmentation, duplication, and manual effort.

• Establish measurable business outcomes and validate that expected operational, financial, capacity, risk, and service benefits are realized.

AI, AUTOMATION & TECHNOLOGY ENABLEMENT

• Identify and lead high-value opportunities to apply AI, automation, analytics, and technology across business lines to reduce manual effort, improve accuracy and risk detection, increase capacity, and strengthen management visibility.

• Partner with operational leaders, Product, Technology, and automation resources to translate complex business problems into scalable technology-enabled solutions.

• Lead complex automation initiatives through requirements, prioritization, testing, implementation, controls, adoption, and stabilization.

• Challenge existing processes before automation to ensure technology supports effective future-state workflows rather than replicating inefficient manual activity.

• Establish measurable outcomes automation initiatives, including capacity released, financial benefit, quality and service improvement, risk reduction, and control effectiveness.

• Ensure appropriate human oversight, data handling, controls, governance, and sustainable operational ownership are incorporated into AI and automation solutions.

PORTFOLIO, PRIORITIZATION & GOVERNANCE

• Maintain visibility across assigned strategic projects, transformation initiatives, and technology-enabled work and identify dependencies or conflicts across the portfolio.

• Partner with leadership to evaluate and prioritize initiatives based on strategic alignment, business impact, risk, resource requirements, dependencies, and expected return.

• Provide leadership with clear recommendations when competing priorities, capacity constraints, risks, or dependencies require trade-off decisions.

• Establish reporting that provides concise visibility into project health, milestones, risks, decisions, dependencies, benefits, and outcomes.

• Identify patterns across projects and operational issues that indicate broader systemic risks or improvement opportunities.

STAKEHOLDER & CROSS-FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

• Build effective partnerships across Health, Corporate Payments, Mobility, Product, Technology, Finance, Risk, Compliance, Commercial, and other functions required to deliver complex initiatives.

• Lead cross-functional working sessions, governance forums, and executive discussions that drive decisions, resolve barriers, and maintain accountability.

• Translate complex operational, technical, financial, and project information into clear options and recommendations for senior leadership.

• Influence senior stakeholders without direct authority and navigate competing business priorities, requirements, and perspectives to advance organizational objectives.

• Establish clear ownership, decision rights, handoffs, and escalation paths for initiatives spanning multiple organizations.

• Serve as a senior project-management resource, providing guidance and structured problem-solving support on complex initiatives and project delivery practices.

These statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed rather than give an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities.

Experience You'll Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operations, Project Management, Information Systems, Finance, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience.
• Typically 6+ years of progressive experience in project management, business operations, process improvement, technology implementation, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional projects involving multiple workstreams, systems, business functions, or senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently in ambiguous environments, establish structure, and drive complex initiatives from definition through implementation and stabilization.
• Advanced analytical, critical-thinking, and root-cause-analysis skills with demonstrated ability to solve complex operational and business problems.
• Demonstrated ability to manage significant risks, dependencies, competing priorities, and organizational constraints.
• Strong business and operational acumen with the ability to understand financial, operational, technology, and control implications of proposed solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority and drive decisions across organizational boundaries.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate complex information into clear recommendations for senior leadership.
• Demonstrated experience leading process improvement, AI, automation, analytics, or technology-enabled transformation.
• Must successfully pass a background investigation.
• PMP, Lean, Six Sigma, or comparable project/process-improvement certification.
• Experience managing cross-functional projects within payments, financial services, financial operations, risk operations, or another controlled environment.
• Experience developing business cases, benefit estimates, capacity models, or return-on-investment analysis.
• Experience with Jira, Monday.com, Salesforce, Power BI, Tableau, or comparable project, workflow, and analytics platforms.
• Experience working with Product and Technology teams and within SOX, SOC, regulatory, or comparable control environments.

The base pay range represents the anticipated low and high end of the pay range for this position. Actual pay rates will vary and will be based on various factors, such as your qualifications, skills, competencies, and proficiency for the role. Base pay is one component of WEX's total compensation package. Most sales positions are eligible for commission under the terms of an applicable plan. Non-sales roles are typically eligible for a quarterly or annual bonus based on their role and applicable plan. WEX's comprehensive and market competitive benefits are designed to support your personal and professional well-being. Benefits include health, dental and vision insurances, retirement savings plan, paid time off, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability insurance, tuition reimbursement, and more. For more information, check out the "About Us" section.

Pay Range: $85,800.00 - $108,300.00