Canada Initiative Leader

As an Initiatives Leader within Canada Operations, this role is accountable for the end-to-end execution and successful delivery of complex, mid-to-large scale strategic initiatives, including both mandatory and discretionary programs. These initiatives are highly cross-functional in nature, often span multiple years, and may impact multiple business units, portfolios, operational capabilities, and technology platforms across the organization.

The Initiatives Leader serves as the primary execution leader for transformation efforts, overseeing all aspects of initiative delivery including strategic planning, financial management, stakeholder alignment, resource planning, organizational change management, risk mitigation, service readiness, operational implementation, and overall execution. The role holds significant influence across Canada Operations, driving solutions that affect systems, processes, organizational structures, people, controls, and client experiences.

This role is critical to advancing strategic initiatives across Digital and Canada Operations. Success requires extensive orchestration and collaboration with senior business and Digital leaders, strategic vendors, and a broad network of internal partners, including Technology, Infrastructure, Architecture, Cybersecurity, Digital Product Management, Cloud, Data & AI, Compliance, Legal, Wealth Management, Risk Management, and Field Management teams.

In addition to initiative delivery, the role provides strategic leadership by helping shape business direction, influence organizational strategy, strengthen operational capabilities, and support talent development. The Initiatives Leader plays a key role in ensuring the organization is positioned to effectively manage risk, achieve regulatory compliance, optimize operational performance, and deliver sustainable business outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Initiative Leadership

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of complex, high-impact initiatives that span multiple functions, portfolios, business units, and technology domains.
• Develop and execute strategic plans that align initiative outcomes with organizational priorities and long-term objectives.
• Establish and maintain initiative governance structures, ensuring transparency, accountability, and effective decision-making.
• Drive organizational transformation efforts involving systems, processes, operating models, controls, and workforce capabilities.
• Ensure successful execution of multi-year initiatives while balancing strategic objectives, operational requirements, regulatory obligations, and client needs.

Technology, Process, and Solution Delivery Leadership

• Hold overall accountability for technology and process design, budget management, implementation execution, and operational readiness.
• Ensure a cohesive and integrated approach to solution development, delivery, and deployment with clearly defined quality, performance, and measurement metrics.
• Align technical solution designs with target-state architecture, business strategies, and operational requirements.
• Facilitate collaboration among Architects, Technology Leaders, Product Leaders, and business stakeholders to ensure end-to-end solution integrity.
• Oversee end-to-end testing activities, implementation planning, and readiness assessments as appropriate.

Stakeholder and Organizational Leadership

• Build alignment and commitment among senior leaders, executives, and cross-functional teams to achieve strategic outcomes.
• Facilitate complex conversations and decision-making across organizations impacted by initiative delivery.
• Partner with business, operations, technology, and vendor teams to manage competing priorities, dependencies, and delivery risks.
• Influence key strategic decisions with long-term organizational impact, including technology investments, vendor selection, solution design, and operating model changes.

Financial and Resource Management

• Manage initiative budgets and financial forecasts, ensuring effective allocation of funding and resources.
• Oversee resource planning strategies across multiple teams and organizational boundaries.
• Monitor benefit realization and ensure initiatives deliver measurable business value and operational improvements.

Risk, Governance, and Regulatory Oversight

• Serve as the primary escalation point for complex, cross-functional risks, issues, and dependencies throughout the solution lifecycle.
• In partnership with Senior Technology Executives (STEs), Release Train Engineers (RTEs), and other leaders, ensure risks are effectively identified, mitigated, and managed.
• Verify compliance with legal, regulatory, security, operational, and organizational requirements.
• Ensure established governance practices, standards, controls, guidelines, and working agreements are consistently followed across teams.
• Facilitate Go/No-Go decision processes and confirm alignment with operational readiness plans.

Continuous Improvement and Operational Excellence

• Lead efforts to improve operational efficiency, effectiveness, and scalability through process redesign and technology enablement.
• Foster innovation and continuous improvement in a fast-paced, high-volume, deadline-driven environment.
• Identify integration opportunities across business areas and promote strong partnerships that enhance organizational performance.
• Support the evolution of organizational capabilities, operating models, and talent development strategies to meet future business needs.

Scope and Impact

This position exercises significant influence over decisions with long-term strategic and operational implications, including technology architecture, vendor selection, process design, and service delivery models. Decisions made in this role may impact multiple departments, business divisions, advisors, branches, clients, and enterprise platforms. Given the scale and complexity of the initiatives led, ineffective decisions could have substantial operational, financial, regulatory, and reputational consequences.

The role operates with a high degree of autonomy and leadership responsibility and serves as a critical driver of Canada Operations’ transformation agenda, supporting the organization’s strategic objectives and long-term growth.