Director and Head, Portfolio Management

Scotiabank • Toronto, ON

3d • Onsite

About The Position

The Director & Head, Portfolio Management reports into the VP, Delivery & Portfolio Management supporting the Enterprise Delivery Office (EDO) within technology. This role is primarily accountable for delivering the program portfolio within a CIO pillar, while other initiatives may be added as required to meet business objectives, ensuring alignment with Scotiabank’s business strategy. This role is a key advisor to leaders, providing strategic guidance, transformative and innovative thought leadership and robust governance, and operational and technical excellence to enable successful delivery of initiatives. This role champions a high-performance mindset and culture, fosters cross-functional collaboration and partnership, and is accountable for the end-to-end delivery of all program activities that aligns with and support Scotiabank’s strategy.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Technology, Project Management, or equivalent experience; MBA or PMP certification is a plus
• Strong Project Management background with experience in both Agile and waterfall programs, optimizing cross-team workflows for velocity and quality
• Minimum of 10 years of project/portfolio management experience, with a track record of successfully managing complex technology transformation in banking or digital business sector
• Proven track record for overseeing the strategic direction, implementation and overall success of large-scale complex programs in a portfolio
• Hands-on experience in working in an agile delivery environment; exposure to business agility is a plus
• Proven ability to navigate ambiguity, drive strategic change, and influence senior stakeholders
• Strong leadership skills and the ability to motivate and inspire cross-functional teams at all levels of the organization
• Experience with Enterprise Delivery Frameworks
• PM experience in the Canadian banking sector with PMP or equivalent certification.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills
• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills
• Proven experience in strategic planning and portfolio management
• Knowledge of regulatory and compliance requirements in the financial industry
• Results-driven mindset with a focus on delivering business outcomes
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic, and changing environment
• 12+ years leading large-scale business/technology programs
• 10+ years establishing and championing program governance, PMO practices, or agile delivery frameworks
• 7+ years managing and developing high-performing teams

Nice To Haves

• MBA or PMP certification is a plus
• exposure to business agility is a plus

Responsibilities

• Across the portfolio, accountable for end to end project/program ideation, initiation, execution and closure.
• Working with business in business case assessment, creation, ensuring direct alignment between all requirements are fully identified, documented and tied to the stated outcomes and value.
• Proactively manage project/program risk mitigation and issue resolution, within the portfolio.
• Concise communicator, highlighting and escalating critical issues to senior leadership with root cause identification with solutions for timely resolution.
• Strong business acumen, continuously builds relationships and connections with portfolio executive stakeholders to ensure execution delivery are meeting business strategic outcomes.
• Proven track record of building high performing team.
• Hands-on experience in managing large programs (20MM+) as program manager in financial industry is a must.
• Managed projects/programs in corporate functions areas in the financial industry.
• Strong financial acumen, responsible for end-to-end planning, forecasting, and estimation of accurate program/project financial planning &forecasting, resource capacity plan and forecast, vendor estimates, Statements of Work (SOW), Master Service Agreements (MSA) and contingent workers are in place.
• Responsible for tracking all financials, resource actuals against plan and identifying any discrepancies on time to ensure appropriate mitigations are deployed to avoid any delays on the project/program.
• A passionate problem solver that is adept at proactively , uncovering, highlighting and escalating critical issues to senior leadership with root cause identification with solutions for timely resolution.
• Responsible for the management of program and project objectives, coordination, and enable activities between the governance, design, delivery and support of workstreams.
• Leverage robust project management skills, including agile and waterfall methodology, to lead the senior executive program streams, and manage multiple concurrent projects, ensuring timely delivery and adherence to budget and quality standards.
• Ensure alignment of program strategy and objectives are delivered within the established timelines, ensuring pro-active identification of all associated risks are managed and mitigated appropriately.
• Deliver thought leadership for the assigned portfolio and serve as a key advisor to executive leadership on project prioritization, preventive project risk management, and effective resource allocation.
• Accountable for planning and prioritizing initiatives across portfolios that support business strategy.
• Primarily accountable for Leading and guiding teams within the assigned portfolio through all phases of program and project management including planning, execution, monitoring, and closure to ensure successful delivery of expected outcomes.
• Accountable for the engagement and involvement of all technical stakeholders and requirements (i.e., Architectural, Infrastructure, Hosting and Network etc) are fully aligned and will deliver on the stated business benefit and outcomes.
• Consistently interact with clients both in business and technology to manage project expectations and deliverables within allocated timelines and budget.
• Accountable for developing, monitoring and reporting on project governance and key performance indicators to executive leadership.
• Track portfolio progress, prepare and distribute status reports to internal and external stakeholders.
• Primarily responsible for managing and motivating program and project management resources ensuring quality planning, delivery, including resource allocation and day-to-day people management.
• Responsible for establishing and managing portfolio integrated plan in collaboration with project delivery teams.
• Identify and implement rigorous and continuous improvements to project management methodologies, tools, and processes.
• Champion the adoption of best practices and drive operational excellence.
• Organize and lead multiple portfolio status meetings. (i.e. Organizing Committees and executive Steering groups).
• Primarily accountable to Conducting post-project/program evaluations and identify successful and unsuccessful elements to drive for continuous improvement of delivery.
• Understand how the Bank’s risk appetite and risk culture should be considered in day-to-day activities and decisions.
• Create an environment in which their team pursues effective and efficient operations of their respective areas in accordance with Scotiabank’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.
• Build a high-performance environment and support a people strategy that attracts, retains, develops and motivates the team by fostering an inclusive work environment and using a coaching mindset and behaviours; communicate vision/values/business strategy; and manage succession and development planning for the team if applicable.

Benefits

• A competitive rewards package that includes a base salary, a performance bonus, company matching programs on pension and profit sharing, paid vacation, personal & sick days, medical, vision, and dental and much more
• Access to thousands of online and in-person courses so you can hone your current skills, or learn new ones

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director