Program Manager

Story Behind the Need:

• Business group: COO-Productivity & Project Mgmt
• Project: Need a Program director for the Segmentation program
• The Director, PMO Transformation Programs, Segmentation contributes to the overall success of the Canadian Bank by providing functional oversight and delivery leadership in the Segmentation Program.
• This role applies deep program management expertise to shape initiative scope, sequence delivery activities, and guide execution across a portfolio of assigned initiatives to ensure alignment to business priorities and transformation standards.
• Operating as a senior delivery leader, with a direct reporting line to the Vice President, Program Management and a dotted reporting line to the Vice President, Special Programs, Canadian Banking, the role ensures that initiative plans are robust, interdependencies are actively managed, risks are escalated appropriately, and outcomes are delivered with discipline, transparency, and accountability.
• As Director, Transformation Programs, Segmentation, you will partner closely with business and technology stakeholders to manage project management needs across the functional area, while supporting program managers with the contextual guidance required to deliver effectively in a complex transformation environment.
• You will play a key role in connecting business priorities, technology delivery, and Go-To-Market execution, ensuring initiatives move from strategy to implementation with clear readiness plans, stakeholder alignment, sequencing, change management, communications, and post-launch performance visibility.
• You will engage and influence senior stakeholders and executives across Canadian Banking, lead preparation and planning for Steering Committee forums, and drive alignment on key priorities, decisions, risks, and accountabilities.
• You will monitor initiative health, dependencies, and capacity pressures, escalate material risks and constraints to the appropriate program governance forums, and maintain clear performance visibility through transparent reporting.
• Through your leadership, you will drive PMO accountability for end-to-end delivery by ensuring initiatives are fully defined, appropriately resourced, sequenced for execution, and tracked against milestones and expected outcomes.
• You will also champion continuous improvement by identifying more effective ways of working, strengthening delivery practices, and driving consistency across transformation programs.
• Reason: Large scale high-priority initiative. Additional support.

Candidate Value Proposition:

• The successful candidate will contribute to a high visibility Large scale high-priority transformational initiative.

Responsibilities:

• Champions a client focused culture to deepen client relationships and leverage broader Bank relationships, systems and knowledge.
• End-to-End Initiative Delivery & Scope Leadership; Lead the end-to-end delivery of assigned transformation initiatives by applying deep functional and topic expertise to shape scope, clarify outcomes, sequence key activities, and drive execution against plan. Ensure initiatives are structured for success, with clear deliverables, owners, timelines, and dependencies, while proactively resolving blockers that could impede progress or outcomes.
• Workstream Partnership & Program Management Support; Partner with Workstream Leaders, the VP, Program Management and VP, Special Programs, Canadian Banking to identify, coordinate, and deliver the project management support required across the functional area. Provide direction on planning, sequencing, project management governance, and delivery approach to ensure initiatives remain aligned to transformation priorities, business needs, and agreed standards.
• Functional Oversight, Initiative Health & Interdependency Management; Provide functional oversight across assigned workstreams by supporting program managers with contextual guidance, issue resolution, and escalation support. Monitor initiative health, delivery performance, and interdependencies across workstreams to identify risks, capacity gaps, and execution challenges early, and take action to maintain momentum and delivery confidence.
• Risk Escalation, Governance & Delivery Transparency; Escalate material risks, interdependency issues, and capacity constraints to the appropriate Program Governance forums in a timely and well-structured manner, ensuring senior leaders have the visibility required to make decisions and remove barriers. Maintain strong governance discipline through accurate, transparent reporting on initiative status, milestone performance, risks, and delivery outlook across the functional area.
• Executive Stakeholder Management & Steering Committee Leadership; Lead effective engagement with senior stakeholders and executives across Canadian Banking to drive alignment, decision-making, and accountability against key transformation priorities. Prepare for and facilitate Steering Committee forums, ensuring materials are executive-ready, decisions are clearly framed, actions are tracked, and follow-through is maintained across business and functional partners.
• Planning, Resourcing & Accountability for Outcomes; Drive accountability for delivery outcomes by ensuring initiative plans are complete, realistic, and aligned to business objectives; resources are in place; milestones are clearly defined; and progress is actively tracked. Reinforce a disciplined execution environment by ensuring commitments are visible, ownership is clear, and performance information supports timely intervention and decision-making when delivery is at risk.
• Understand how the Bank’s risk appetite and risk culture should be considered in day-to-day activities and decisions.
• Actively pursue effective and efficient operations of their respective areas in accordance with client’s Values, its Code of Conduct and the Global Sales Principles, while ensuring the adequacy, adherence to and effectiveness of day-to-day business controls to meet obligations with respect to operational, compliance, AML/ATF/sanctions and conduct risk.
• Champion a high performance environment and contributes to an inclusive work environment.

Candidate Requirements/Must Have Skills:

• 10+ years of progressive experience as Director in program management, transformation delivery, or business change leadership, including ownership of complex initiatives across multiple workstreams.
• Deep domain or functional expertise relevant to the assigned transformation area, with the ability to apply subject matter knowledge to shape scope, sequence activities, and guide delivery decisions.
• Experience partnering with senior leaders, executives, workstream owners, and project delivery teams to coordinate planning, manage interdependencies, facilitate governance forums, and maintain execution momentum.
• Proven experience developing and executing Go-To-Market plans, including readiness planning, stakeholder alignment, implementation sequencing, change management, communications, and post-launch performance tracking.
• Demonstrated success supporting and guiding program managers, strengthening delivery quality, and creating visibility into initiative health, capacity, and risks
• Strong governance, reporting, and risk management capabilities, with experience escalating issues clearly and enabling timely decisions through transparent performance reporting.

Nice-To-Have Skills:

• Retail Banking experience an asset
• Recent experience with Client segmentation and transformation initiatives is highly preferred.

Soft Skills (Must have):

• Extensive experience partnering across business and technology teams to translate strategic priorities into integrated delivery plans, manage cross-functional dependencies, and ensure solutions are practical, scalable, and aligned to business outcomes.
• Strong executive communication, stakeholder management, governance facilitation, and execution leadership skills, with the ability to influence senior audiences, drive accountability, remove blockers, and deliver outcomes in a fast-paced transformation environment.

Degrees or certifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Management, or a related field required; advanced degree or relevant executive education is an asset.
• Certifications such as PMP, PgMP, MSP, or equivalent program/project management credentials are considered an asset.

Best vs. Average Candidate:

• The ideal candidate would be an expereinced Program director with progressive experience in program management, transformation delivery, Client segmentation and transformation initiatives. Strong executive communication, stakeholder management, governance facilitation, and execution leadership skills is critical for this role.
• Note: The profiles submitted previously were not aligned with the requirements of the role, as they reflected Project/Program Manager-level experience rather than the depth and breadth of leadership experience expected for a Director-level position.

Candidate Review & Selection:

• 2 Rounds of interviews
• 1st round – 45mins with the Hiring Manager over Video MS-Teams
• Behavioral questions based on previous experience.
• 2nd Round with 2 VP’s
• Behavioral questions based on previous experience.
• Focusing on the Role and Team fit

Please note:

• AI is not used to screen, assess, or select candidates.
• This role reflects an existing vacancy at the time of posting.