Assistant Vice President, Technology Lead, Group Retirement Services

Bring us your passion for digital or data analytics and well put you to work on exciting initiatives that answer the challenge: How can we do that better Working with a dedicated team of energetic forward-thinking innovators youll stretch your imagination and sharpen your skills on the leading-edge projects that are keeping Sun Life Financial ahead of the curve. You want more than a job; you want a career - a career with a company that encourages learning and personal growth.You want to be one of the best.

Job Description:

Role Overview

The AVP Technology Lead Group Retirement Services (GRS) is a strategic technology leader responsible for running and building Sun Lifes wealth / retirement technology platforms to support sponsor and advisor experiences at scale. This role is accountable for embedding a world-class design and engineering culture across delivery teams with a strong focus on digital experiences stable core systems and critical capabilities that build and maintain an industry-leading wealth business.

The role combines strategic leadership technical oversight people leadership as well as vendor and financial management to drive technology excellence and business value. The AVP Technology Lead partners closely with Product Architecture Operations Enterprise Technology and Business Leads to ensure technology platforms data and digital front-end experiences enable sustained profitable business outcomes.

This role operates in a highly visible complex environment and requires a leader who can drive momentum make clear decisions and bring strong technical credibility.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technology Strategy Digital Enablement & Engineering

• Shape communicate and align technology and strategy across the business unit and the organization ensuring it supports both near-term delivery commitments and longer-term modernization objectives.
• Partner with Business Leads Operations Core IT / Infrastructure and Enterprise Architecture to define platform roadmaps and OKRs for technology capabilities including data integrations applications mainframe systems of record and digital user experiences.
• Provide thought leadership on how technology platforms should be developed adopted and governed. Promote adoption of technology stack standards and modern engineering practices balancing build vs. buy vs. partner decisions in a complex technology ecosystem.
• Ensure design and engineering decisions account for reusability scalability security and maintainability actively managing technical debt in non-greenfield environments. Seek opportunities to scale capabilities across wealth businesses.
• Plan for exceptional digital experiences for sponsors and advisors by enabling business teams with reliable scalable platforms and capabilities.

2. Platform Delivery & Execution

• Accountable for end-to-end delivery of technology platforms including oversight of delivery teams total cost of ownership and system integrator partners.
• Ensure platforms are intuitive transact with ease and deliver automated operational processes that reduce friction and drive sponsor and advisor satisfaction.
• Drive delivery excellence by improving velocity quality and reliability across multiple agile squads that are at varying levels of maturity. Leverage AI-driven development capabilities and automated processes to deliver faster.
• Track delivery metrics and implement targets for productivity and delivery maturity. Gain commitment of partners remove barriers to speed up execution and drive outcomes.
• Serve as the primary point of escalation for platform delivery and vendor-related issues facilitating rapid resolution in a complex environment.
• Use experimentation and test-and-learn approaches to continuously improve.

3. People Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead mentor and develop technology teams fostering a collaborative inclusive and execution-focused culture.
• Design and optimize team structures that achieve business and delivery outcomes.
• Inspire and empower teams through coaching learning and hands-on leadership. Empower your teams to test new ideas and solve problems.
• Develop your teams resilience and agility during times of change and uncertainty.
• Support succession planning and capability development for critical roles.
• Provide honest constructive feedback that enables individual development and builds capability for career movement.

4. Financial & Vendor Management

• Manage platform financials including budgeting cost tracking and capitalization.
• Govern strategic vendor and system integrator relationships holding partners accountable for delivery quality outcomes and knowledge transfer.
• Drive technology platform efficiencies such that savings can be reinvested in system capabilities as appropriate.

5. Operational Excellence & Risk Management

• Ensure platform stability security and technology currency of applications.
• Establish governance processes that balance speed of delivery with risk management and regulatory requirements.
• Partner with Technology Operations to ensure effective incident management change management and disaster recovery for enablement platforms.

6. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a strategic technology partner to value stream leaders across Product Client Experience and Business Operations.
• Collaborate with business and IT stakeholders to align technology plans with business priorities and client outcomes.
• Represent the GRS technology function in executive forums bringing external perspective and best practices from complex enterprise environments.

Accountabilities

• Clearly communicate priorities that inspire commitment to business outcomes. Align technology strategy with those business objectives and shared outcomes.
• Define and monitor platform roadmaps and OKRs. Set clear actionable goals based on the strategies prioritizing our Clients and business outcomes.
• Establish and execute automation roadmaps that enable Canadian Operations to seamlessly scale as our business grows.
• Deliver leading digital capabilities for sponsors and advisors that differentiate Sun Life from our competitors.
• Oversee platform execution across delivery teams and vendors.
• Establish governance track delivery metrics and drive productivity improvements.
• Manage technology budgets and vendor relationships. Take ownership of all technology expenses (applications infrastructure security etc.) and continually develop plans to reduce non-development technology expenses.
• Create and sustain a high-performing engaged and inclusive technology culture.

Typical Outputs

• Technology strategy platform roadmaps and OKRs.
• Competitive analysis and benchmarking as inputs to technology roadmaps.
• Modernized technology roadmaps that align to business priorities and emphasize re-use scale and simplicity.
• Initiative roadmaps and delivery plans for enablement capabilities.
• Delivery metrics vendor performance insights and productivity improvement plans.
• Strategic workforce management plans.
• Opportunities for delivery team improvements to ways of working and agile maturity.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science Engineering or related field (advanced degree or MBA is an asset).
• 10 years of experience in senior technology leadership roles with demonstrated success delivering complex mission-critical systems.
• Experience leading the modernization and enablement of wealth management platforms including sponsor and advisor web/mobile digital platforms.
• Proven ability to lead technology teams through modernization and transformation.
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing sizable budgets and portfolios.
• Strong understanding of wealth retirement and investment products
• Excellent communication stakeholder management and leadership skills.
• Experience in regulated financial services is valuable.

Mindset & Behaviors

• Decisive leader comfortable operating in uncertainty complexity and ambiguity.
• Strong technical credibility with the ability to challenge architecture delivery practices and CI/CD approaches.
• Builder mindset with equal focus on fixing scaling and enabling.
• Pragmatic outcomes-driven decision-maker and problem-solver.
• Collaborative leader/coach who builds trust and drives momentum.
• Critical thinker with a passion for challenging the status quo and driving innovation.
• Believes in a non-hierarchical culture of collaboration transparency and trust.
• Experimental mindset to drive continuous improvement.

As this position is posted in several locations we specify that bilingualism (French English both oral and written) is required for Quebec only as the position includes managing both French and English-speaking staff (Quebec and outside Quebec) and providing daily support to the team.

Whats in it for you

• Great Place to Work Certified for Most Trusted Executive Team in Canadaand 2023
• Great Place to Work Certified for Best Workplaces in Canada - 2025
• Canada Order of Excellence for Mental Health at Work certification from Excellence Canada. Sun Life is one of only four companies in Canada to ever receive this certification 2024
• Top Work Places for Remote Work Monster Canada - 2024
• Great Place to Work Certified for Best Workplaces in Canada 2024 and 2022
• Great Place to Work Certified for Best Workplaces for Women in Canada - 2024
• Flexible hybrid work model. #LI-Hybrid
• Pension stock and savings programs to help build and enhance your future financial security
• Work and professional development that is united by our Purpose: to help Clients and Employees achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives
• A friendly collaborative and inclusive culture
• Be part of our continuous improvement journey in developing the next greatest digital enterprise experience.
• Competitive salary and bonus structure influenced by market range data
• The opportunity to move along a variety of career paths with amazing networking potential

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 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 .

We are proud to be a hybrid organization that offers our employees the choice and flexibility to work from both the office and virtually based on the needs of the business our Clients and you! Several work options are available and can be discussed throughout the selection process depending on the role requirements and individual needs.

We may use artificial intelligence to support candidate sourcing screening interview scheduling.

We thank all applicants for showing an interest in this position. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

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