Senior Manager, Credit Risk Strategy Oversight

BMO•Toronto, ON

About The Position

Join a purpose‑driven team at the core of BMO’s risk management ecosystem. As the Senior Manager, Credit Risk Strategy Oversight, you will provide independent, forward‑looking challenge on credit strategies, policies, and portfolio decisions across BMO’s Canadian Retail lending business. In this high‑impact second line role, you will strengthen the bank’s risk discipline through clear, data‑driven oversight, ensuring alignment with risk appetite, regulatory expectations, and enterprise governance. You will influence strategic credit outcomes, elevate decision quality, and help embed sound credit practices across the lifecycle. This role provides meaningful opportunities to strengthen portfolio resilience and support BMO’s commitment to Boldly Grow the Good.

Requirements

Typically 7+ years of progressive experience in credit risk management, policy, strategy, or governance preferably within retail lending or OSFI‑regulated environments.
Graduate degree in a quantitative discipline (Statistics, Mathematics, Actuarial Science, Engineering, Finance, Economics, or related field).
Strong understanding of credit risk frameworks, risk appetite, second‑line responsibilities, regulatory expectations, and stress testing/regulatory capital concepts.
Demonstrated ability to provide objective, well‑reasoned, analytically grounded challenge.
Strong understanding of credit lifecycle economics, ROE drivers, and risk‑return optimization principles.
Advanced skills in Python, SQL, SAS, R, or comparable analytical tools; ability to translate complex analysis for senior audiences.
Strong communication, influencing, and stakeholder management skills; able to operate autonomously in a fast‑paced environment.

Responsibilities

Provide objective, evidence‑based challenge on credit proposals, strategy changes, segmentation approaches, ML‑enabled decisioning, and underwriting standards to ensure alignment with risk appetite and regulatory expectations.
Assess conceptual soundness, core assumptions, data quality, and directional risk impacts across origination, account management, and collections strategies.
Monitor portfolio performance, early‑warning indicators, and emerging risks; escalate material issues with clear, actionable recommendations.
Identify deviations from expected outcomes and support timely adjustments to strategies, controls, and processes.
Partner with business teams to review and validate business cases, ensuring assumptions are robust, risk and financial impacts are well quantified, and proposals comply with enterprise standards and governance requirements.
Conduct deep‑dive portfolio analytics including trend, segmentation, and concentration analyses to identify emerging vulnerabilities and forward‑looking loss drivers.
Lead analytical assessments that support regulatory capital and stress‑testing activities, with a focus on PCL, capital (KRM), and scenario impacts on expected losses.
Deliver data‑driven insights to strengthen portfolio quality, enhance risk‑adjusted returns, and improve decision effectiveness across the credit lifecycle.
Represent the second line in select cross‑functional governance forums and regulatory interactions, clearly articulating risk, loss, and stress‑related insights.
Support enhancements to credit risk governance frameworks, including authorities, controls, and alignment with enterprise and model risk standards.
Oversee adherence to credit‑related policies, standards, and regulatory requirements; partner closely with Compliance on the Regulatory Compliance Management (RCM) program.
Manage governance documentation across its lifecycle, including credit proposals, policy updates, decision memos, model‑related oversight materials, and second line reporting.
Build strong partnerships with credit, finance, product, legal, operations, data/analytics, and modeling teams to embed risk considerations early in design.
Influence senior stakeholders through concise, insight‑rich analysis that enhances transparency and elevates decision quality.
Ensure alignment of business initiatives with enterprise expectations, including business casing, risk management, model governance, and data governance requirements.
Mentor and develop analysts and associates to strengthen analytical rigor, credit judgment, and effective challenge capabilities.
Foster a culture grounded in integrity, transparency, and continuous improvement.
Operate as a specialist resource and trusted advisor to senior leaders and key stakeholders across the organization.
Apply strong analytical skills and creative problem‑solving to navigate complex or ambiguous situations.
Stay current on emerging trends, evolving risks, and regulatory developments; recommend adjustments to ensure oversight practices remain effective.
Take on broader work or enterprise‑wide deliverables as required.