Senior Innovation Lead - Financial Product Innovation - 986 EN
About The Position
Join the EDC Team! At EDC, we support Canadian businesses to succeed globally. We provide the financial tools and expertise they need to explore new markets, reduce risks, all towards the goal of making Canada and the world better through trade. Export Development Canada (EDC) operates in a hybrid work environment, with a current requirement of two in-office days per week, increasing to three days per week in September 2026 (subject to change). This role can be performed from EDC’s headquarters in Ottawa or from one of our Community Hubs located in Toronto, Mississauga, Montreal, Brossard, Laval, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, or Vancouver. Relocation assistance is available for candidates who meet the eligibility criteria. At Export Development Canada (EDC), we empower Canadian businesses to succeed globally. As a financial Crown corporation, we offer innovative financial solutions and expert insights to help businesses explore new markets, mitigate risks, and achieve growth. The Financial Product & Innovation (FPI) team is focused on holistic product management that aligns financial products to business strategy and strategic shifts; driving innovation to ensure EDC delivers products that are valuable to customers, partners, and EDC; championing the product function and customer-centered product design principles; and providing strategic direction from a product perspective. To provide relevant, compelling solutions that create impact for Canada’s international trade, FPI’s core Product Suite Management function strategically manages the entire suite of EDC’s financial products and encompasses three (3) key services: Product Strategy Enablement, Product Development, and Product Lifecycle Management. These services require a balance of strategic thinking, understanding the bigger picture, customer needs, and cross-functional collaboration. The Senior Innovation Lead enables FPI’s mandate by leading complex product strategy, product development, and lifecycle initiatives through the consistent application of product management best practices and a deep understanding of market, customer, and partner needs. This individual brings strong technical expertise in financial products, product design, risk considerations, and product management, and acts as a trusted partner to connect insights, trade-offs, and recommendations for senior decision-making.
Requirements
- Undergraduate degree in Commerce, Business Administration, Finance, Marketing, or another related field.
- Minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in product management, product development, innovation, solution delivery, or financial services.
- Deep knowledge of financial products, including lending, insurance, guarantees, equity, and international trade.
- Strong financial, analytical, research, and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to translate internal and external insights into options, recommendations, and decision-ready materials.
- Demonstrated experience in stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, facilitation, and influencing across senior and cross-functional audiences.
- Customer-centric mindset focused on financial products that deliver in a cross-functional environment value to customers/end users and solve meaningful needs.
Nice To Haves
- Bilingual in both official languages (English and French).
- MBA or other relevant graduate degree; CPA, CFA, or other professional designation.
- Product management certifications such as Certified Product Manager (CPM), Agile Certified Product Manager and Product Owner (ACPMPO); or exposure to product management frameworks, discovery techniques or delivery methodologies.
- Experience in financial services, innovation, public sector, management consulting, fintech, or internationally focused organizations.
Responsibilities
- Create and/or leverage systems that use internal and external data to monitor, analyze, and evaluate product suite performance, effectiveness, relevance, and strategic alignment with business strategy.
- Lead structured and deep product reviews or assessments by connecting product performance, customer/end-user needs, market trends, competitive landscape, risks, and opportunities into actionable recommendations.
- Identify and assess product enhancements, repositioning, consolidation, transition, and retirement options, including clear analysis of benefits, risks, impacts, dependencies, and trade-offs.
- Lead product discovery and innovation ideas, including collection, aggregation, prioritization, hypothesis development, market scanning, and validation of customer, partner, and market needs.
- Define product vision, strategic intent, and product roadmap considerations with business teams, ensuring alignment with EDC priorities, product strategy, and line-of-business portfolios.
- Develop forward-looking analyses, business cases, options, recommendations, and decision materials that support prioritization, investment choices, and strategic direction across products and initiatives.
- Share market trends, insights, and product adoption signals to inform roadmap priorities and help stakeholders understand product strategy impacts.
- Lead engagement with SMEs and cross-functional partners to capture requirements, design considerations, product parameters, implementation including both operational/business readiness needs, and scalability implications.
- Design and deliver new or enhanced financial products by evaluating customer needs, user experience, pricing, risk profile, financial impacts, operational fit, and readiness requirements.
- Coordinate and monitor pilot launches, launch readiness, and go-to-market activities, including objectives, activities, success measures, dependencies, and adoption considerations.
- Manage design processes and ensure appropriate consideration of product approvals, risk assessments, and governance expectations.
- Embed EDC risk frameworks, policies, guidelines, and governance expectations into product design, development, monitoring, and lifecycle decisions.
- Identify and manage risks, issues, dependencies, and constraints, ensuring appropriate escalation, mitigation strategies, and recovery plans where risks or issues may affect delivery or decision-making.
- Govern product-focused tools, frameworks, methodologies, and artifacts in alignment with corporate standards, while maintaining quality, consistency, traceability, and audit defensibility.
- Support LOBs through product deficiencies, escalations, and decision materials by bringing objective market, customer, product, and risk insights.
- Frame and lead discussions with stakeholders at all levels of the organization, tailoring analyses, recommendations, and decision narratives to the audience.
- Develop and maintain relationships across EDC and with external stakeholders, including business community partners, financial institutions, private-sector organizations, not-for-profits, and government departments, to stay informed on market developments to support product ideas and recommendations.
- Consistently represent the voice of the customer in product discussions and ensure decisions are informed by customer needs, market feedback, product data, and objective analysis.
- Facilitate cross-functional collaboration, remove impediments where possible, and promote shared ownership of product outcomes across business, technology, risk, legal, and partner teams.
- Help drive the growth of FPI capabilities through coaching, training, mentorship, and knowledge sharing, supporting continuous learning and professional excellence across the team.
- Foster and help create an environment in which team members feel ownership and accountability for delivering strong product outcomes and high-quality decision support.
Benefits
- Competitive compensation & benefits package
- Work-life balance
- Opportunity to help make Canada and the world better through trade
- 3 to 4 weeks paid vacation
- Corporate closure period
- Summer early Friday’s
- No meeting Fridays
- Continuous learning opportunities, including training programs, workshops and language training
- Diverse and inclusive workplace
- Wellness initiatives, mental health support, and fitness programs
- Volunteer opportunities
- Relocation assistance
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
