Job Description

You are as unique as your background, experience and point of view. Here, youll be encouraged, empowered and challenged to be your best self. You'll work with dynamic colleagues - experts in their fields - who are eager to share their knowledge with you. Your leaders will inspire and help you reach your potential and soar to new heights. Every day, you'll have new and exciting opportunities to make life brighter for our Clients - who are at the heart of everything we do. Discover how you can make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities around the world.
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Sun Life and our peers operate in a complex risk environment, with increasing threats posed to our critical operations from events like control failures, third-party disruptions, infrastructure outages, technology failures, cyber incidents, geopolitical incidents, pandemics, and natural disasters. A robust and concerted approach to operational resilience can enhance Sun Lifes ability to withstand, adapt to, and recover from these events while continuing to deliver our critical operations. This is key to protecting our clients and ensuring our services are available, when needed, through disruption.
The Director, Operational Resilience Product Owner will work alongside the AVP, Operational Resilience to lead the effective delivery of the anticipated multi-year effort for Sun Life to gain compliance with OSFIs E-21 Guideline. This revised Guideline will provide significantly new requirements addressing the transition from traditional Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery approaches to those of Operational Resilience.
This role will be pivotal in the implementation of the chosen technology tool that will be utilized to execute the global end to end Operational Resiliency Program. This role will act as the Product owner/Scum Master for the chosen tool. This role will work closely with the existing Director, Operational Resilience with converting all business, regulatory and process requirements of the Operational Resiliency program into technology functional requirements to successfully drive the implementation in a tool.
The scope of this role is Global in nature, and will report to the AVP, Operational Resilience.
WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING
Support Tool Implementation
Act as the Product Owner and the project management of the successful implementation of the selected Operational Resilience tool. This will entail working closely with the Tool provider (implementation team), Internal Technology support teams and end-users across the enterprise to:

• Gather insights from relevant stakeholders to support the product roadmap and the strategic vision for the platform
• Manage the inter dependencies with other teams and projects while identifying, building, and managing strategic partnerships with various stakeholders.
• Support messaging, communication and enterprise training as necessary.
• Prioritize and manage items in the backlog and maintain a laser focus on prioritization towards value.
• Facilitate release planning with tool service provider, internal key stakeholders as well as demos to establish feedback loops.
• Integrate usability studies and research into product requirements to enhance end-user experience.
• Working with the technology SMEs to establish the application and supporting infrastructure technical and configuration requirements for the implementation of the chosen tool. The tool will execute and automate the operational resilience process requirements including the identification of critical operations, asset dependency mapping, scenario testing, ongoing tracking and reporting against action/remediation plans.
• This role will become the application product owner subject-matter expert for maintenance of ongoing agile enhancements to be made to the tool during the operational resilience program build and as the program transitions to business as usual

Support Program Development and Sustainable Rollout
To develop the tool roadmap, participate in activities associated to developing a repeatable foundation for the mapping of critical operations end-to-end, inclusive of the following programs/disciplines:

• Technology
• People
• Premises
• Data
• Third Parties

• Processes (BCP, DR plans, containment playbooks, process documentation SOPs, operational design, internal controls (RCAs), etc.

• Participation in the development of tracking mechanisms in the tool with respect to resilience assessment, gaps, and remediation plans

• Participate in the establishment of a high-performance center of excellence capable of delivering initially on the Program requirements, subsequently structuring it for ongoing support and efficiency especially as it relates to supporting the training and ongoing use of the tool.

• As this complex multi-year program considers business-as-usual operations, this role will be critical to assist the integration of tools from across the various programs/disciplines (Technology, People, Premises, Data, Third Parties, Processes) as input into the Operational resilience tool.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO SUCCEED

• Successful completion of a bachelors degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Systems, IT Management or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of 10 years technology experience, with experience developing strategies, introducing innovation and applications delivery and implementation
• 5+ years of People Leadership experience
• In-depth technical knowledge and expertise of governance, risk and control workflow tools like ServiceNow, Fusion and Archer
• Technology knowledge with career spent in IT focused on applications delivery and/or execution of business requirements into suitable technical requirements.
• Deep understanding of industry technology trends in financial services industry
• Joint strategy development with cross IT and business leaders. Ability to engage IT and business leaders to drive innovation and shared solutions globally.
• Operational resilience planning or business continuity planning experience
• Experience with Agile Delivery Methodologies (Scrum/Kanban)
• Knowledge of industry security practices for data integration and authentication (e.g. oAuth)
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office and SharePoint including SharePoint administration
• Ability to effectively engage with executives and senior leaders globally

Assets:

• In depth understanding of data integration methods (e.g. REST API, SFTP, Bi-directional feeds)
• Experience in Agile delivery (Scrum, Kanban) and relevant IT certifications (Scrum Master, Green Belt, TOGAF, BABOK etc.) are an asset.
• In depth understanding and experience with implementing in cloud-based environments
• Lean design / process mapping skills
• Effective presentation, communication, negotiation, and conflict management skills
• Strong relationship management skills and a proven ability to gain and maintain credibility with key stakeholders
• Skilled at working collaboratively in a team environment

WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU

• The opportunity to move along a variety of career paths with amazing networking potential
• Flexible Benefits from the day you join to meet the needs of you and your family
• Were committed to creating an inclusive and respectful environment. Our goal is to make sure all our employees have the chance to live up to their full potential
• Were honoured to be recognized as a 2023 Best Workplaces in Ontario by Great Place to Workxc2xae Canada
• We are thrilled to be recognized by Excellence Canada with their top-level certification, the Canada Order of Excellence for Mental Health at Workxc2xae, for prioritizing employee well-being, fostering a positive work culture, and achieving excellence in mental health

The Base Pay range is for the primary location for which the job is posted. It may vary depending on the work location of the successful candidate or other factors. In addition to Base Pay, eligible Sun Life employees participate in various incentive plans, payment under which is discretionary and subject to individual and company performance. Certain sales focused roles have sales incentive plans based on individual or group sales results.
Diversity and inclusion have always been at the core of our values at Sun Life. A diverse workforce with wide perspectives and creative ideas benefits our clients, the communities where we operate and all of us as colleagues. We welcome applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds.
Persons with disabilities who need accommodation in the application process or those needing job postings in an alternative format may e-mail a request to .
At Sun Life we strive to create a flexible work environment where our employees are empowered to do their best work. Several flexible work options are available and can be discussed throughout the selection process depending on the role requirements and individual needs.
We thank all applicants for showing an interest in this position. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
Salary Range: 105,000/105 000 - 180,000/180 000
Job Category: Risk Management
Posting End Date: 17/04/2025