AVP Corporate Functions Technology

Permanent Full Time

The AVP, Corporate Functions Technology is accountable for leading the delivery and enablement of business and technology outcomes, aligned to strategy, journeys and processes. You will be responsible for evolving the roadmap, leading technology delivery, driving organizational maturity, leading modernization and integration of enterprise automation capabilities with core business capabilities.

In this role you will direct and provide leadership for the strategies, architecture, design, development, maintenance, and implementation of technology and processes to enable new ways of working. You will be responsible to reflect an experiential mindset, drive velocity, consistency and transformation adoption cross-functionally with measurable progress against the Canada Life and Lifeco overall strategies.

You will lead a high performing team, fostering engagement, continuous development, and effective succession planning. Success in this role requires exceptional relationship management, deep technology expertise, and the ability to collaborate and influence across a complex, matrixed enterprise environment. With a strong focus on customer experience, technological modernization, and disciplined execution, the AVP will help shape the future of technology within Corporate Functions.

What you will do:

• Oversee technology product, data and cloud roadmaps, including architecture, development and implementation

• Drive an agile mindset within the technology stack that measures progress over perfection

• Work with Business and IT stakeholders to ensure Product roadmaps are accurate and achievable

• Develop and maintain senior level relationships within stakeholders, application development teams, external vendors and industry forums for the purpose of influencing product and technology directions, promoting effective collaboration and leading change management efforts

• Hold yourself and your team accountable to contribute to the overall digital modernization of the organization

• Ensure solutions are enhanced, secured, and upgraded to evolve the roadmap

• Ensure effective and efficient use of financial and people resources

• Implement and maintain best practice standards and guidelines with custom and out-of-the-box software development, integration, and deployment of solutions

• Oversee the establishment of a framework with other related teams for integrating into new stack

• Ensure standards are in place for integration of third-party applications into new stack

• Ensure security standards are in place for current and future development

• Drive productivity improvements in areas such as process, procedures, tools, and practices

• Work with Vendor Relations on vendor procurement, contract negotiation and vendor onboarding for delivery of business capabilities and solutions

• Management of integrators/partners and technology services

• Drive a high-performance culture for staff and promote culture changes within the organization.

• Set clear goals and ensure clarity of accountability

• Ensure leaders, staff and vendors work together to drive performance and deliver to high expectations

• Identify and invest in opportunities (processes, training, systems) to enhance individual and team effectiveness

What you will bring:

• Ability to flex between and be comfortable with influencing, advising, and collaboration

• Inspires a vision that adapts to new realities, articulating meaningful expectations and creating clear pathways to desired outcomes

• Ability to provide insight into the relationship between technology and business strategy

• Ability to use knowledge of industry, business and systems to solve business problems

• Strong understanding of business unit people, products and processes

• Strong communication and relationship building skills

• Using credibility and trusted advice, fosters collaboration

• Promotes innovation with customer centric outward thinking

• Ability to deal with ambiguity and flexibility of approach

• Drives results and changes processes to improve performance; creates a culture of accountability

• Has a bias to action

• Technology and systems expertise

• Attracts, motivates, and develops talent to build the right team

• Ability to manage and challenge vendor relationships to meet quality, cost, and performance goals

• Understanding of internal economy and financial processes

• Ability to oversee and manage budgets

• 5+ years of experience in an engineering or technology leadership position

• Experience with technology and engineering practices such as microservices, data services, event-streaming, cloud hosting, on-premises infrastructure, automated observability, IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service)

• Experience leading through transformations

• Experience with technology vendor relationship management

• Bachelor of Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent

• Agile delivery experience

• Project delivery experience

Career opportunities will be open a minimum of 5 business days from the date of posting, closing dates will vary depending on the search activity. All applications received will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Grow with Canada Life

We’re united by a shared purpose: to improve the financial, physical and mental well-being of Canadians. Our company is trusted by 1 in 3 Canadians and contributes to the strength of communities across the country.

We’re looking for people who live our values everyday: we step up, we do the right thing, and we deliver – for our customers, communities and each other. Are you someone who always strives to do the right thing, who steps up for themselves and others, and who delivers with impact? Then we want to hear from you!

What we offer:

We’re committed to supporting our employees through every stage of their career. Here’s what you can expect as a full-time or part-time permanent team member:

• Career Development: Opportunities for career advancement, access to industry-leading learning programs and up to $2,000 annually towards education reimbursement.
• Health & Wellness: Flexible health and dental benefits, plus a $5,000 mental health benefit to support your well-being.
• Time Off: In addition to regular vacation and personal days, we support community involvement with a volunteer day.
• Financial Security: Company-matching pension plan, share ownership program and additional investment options.
• Rewards and Recognition: Employee recognition programs, service milestone celebrations, employee discounts and more!
• Emphasis on Community: We provide a workplace where employees feel connected and supported through Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), mentorship programs, social clubs and events.

Learn more about Canada Life.

We’re committed to removing barriers and ensuring equal access to employment. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation during the application process may contact talentacquisitioncanada@canadalife.com. All information provided will be handled in accordance with applicable laws and Canada Life policies.

Canada Life would like to thank all applicants, however only those who qualify for an interview will be contacted.