AVP System Operations, Entertainment - CA

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The Associate Vice President (AVP) of System Operations provides oversees systems, support, and operational infrastructure serving entertainment industry clients within a PEO environment. This role leads teams of Support Specialists and System Experts, ensuring stable system performance, effective troubleshooting, rigorous system testing, standardized operating procedures, and comprehensive training that support complex entertainment payroll and workforce needs.

The AVP partners closely with executive leadership, technology, compliance, client services, and external vendors to drive operational excellence, mitigate risk, and support growth across entertainment verticals.

• Provide executive oversight for entertainment system operations, including system support, issue resolution, testing, documentation, and training functions.
• Establish scalable service and support models that align with production schedules, touring demands, and episodic employment cycles.
• Define operational priorities, service levels, and performance metrics to ensure reliable, accurate, and compliant system operations.
• Ensure teams are structured to provide timely frontline support, advanced troubleshooting, and system expertise for high volume, time sensitive entertainment clients.
• Oversee daytoday and escalated system support for payroll, timekeeping, onboarding, and workforce management platforms.
• Act as an escalation point for critical, high impact, or client sensitive system incidents.
• Ensure comprehensive system testing strategies are in place, including user acceptance testing (UAT), regression testing, and productio.n readiness validation.
• Partner with Technology and Product teams to validate functionality against entertainment specific operational requirements.
• Oversee the creation, maintenance, and governance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to system support, payroll processing, exception handling, and compliance workflows.
• Ensure documentation is clear, current, and standardized across entertainment clients and operational teams.
• Ensure system support, testing, and operational processes comply with labor regulations, union/guild requirements, and PEO standards.
• Partner with Compliance, and Internal Audit teams to reduce operational risk and support audits or regulatory reviews.
• Identifies training needs and ensures proper training is developed and provided.
• Oversees the daily workflow of the department.

• Deep knowledge of entertainment industry workforce and payroll operations, including film, television, live events, touring, and episodic employment models.
• Strong understanding of PEO operating models, coemployment structures, and regulatory responsibilities.
• Expertise in enterprise payroll, timekeeping, onboarding, and workforce management systems, including system integrations and data flows.
• Working knowledge of union and guild agreements, complex pay structures, fringes, residuals, and multijurisdictional labor requirements.
• Knowledge of system support operations, incident management frameworks, testing methodologies (UAT, regression), and release readiness practices.
• Advanced problem solving and troubleshooting leadership skills, with the ability to assess root causes and drive longterm solutions.
• Strong system testing and validation leadership, ensuring operational requirements are met prior to production releases.
• Excellent process design and SOP development skills, with an emphasis on standardization, efficiency, and compliance.
• Strong cross functional collaboration skills, partnering effectively with Technology, Product, Compliance, Legal, Client Services, and Sales teams.
• Ability to anticipate operational risks related to system changes, compliance requirements, or workforce scale and proactively mitigate them.
• Ability to translate business and client needs into system, support, and process requirements.
• Ability to lead through change, including system upgrades, regulatory shifts, and organizational growth.

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, Information Systems, Human Resources, or a related field required; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in system operations, payroll operations, HR technology, or workforce support within a complex, high volume environment.
• 5+ years of senior leadership experience managing managers, system experts, and/or support specialists across multitiered support or operational teams.
• Demonstrated experience supporting enterprise payroll, workforce management, timekeeping, or HRIS platforms, including system support, troubleshooting, testing, and production readiness.
• Proven experience leading system support functions, including incident management, rootcause analysis,…