Senior Project Manager

Optiom

11d • Hybrid

About The Position

Optiom is scaling a specialty Managing General Agency (MGA) that places vehicle replacement & warranty insurance at the point of financing through a national network of broker and dealer partners. The work involves new systems, new processes, new teams, and a transformation agenda. The Execution Office is seeking a Senior Project Manager who is a builder, willing to personally handle tasks like writing plans, drafting decks, running working sessions, and updating RAID logs. The role emphasizes shipping outcomes over bureaucratic processes and requires accountability for business-moving results. The Senior Project Manager will present to steering committees with confidence and prioritize unblocking the team.

This is not a coordination role, but an accountability role for driving business outcomes. The ideal candidate will escalate risks early, communicate effectively with senior leadership and governance interfaces, and design future-state processes with subject matter experts. They will also contribute to building Optiom's PMO infrastructure, ensuring governance is right-sized and protects the team from unnecessary reporting cycles. Collaboration with functional leads across Sales, Underwriting, Compliance, Finance, and IT is crucial to ensure project commitments are met and change is effectively implemented.

Requirements

• A Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Project Management, Operations Management, or a related field — or equivalent demonstrated experience that more than makes up for it.
• Minimum 5 years of progressive project management experience, with at least 2 years personally driving multi-stakeholder, cross-functional projects in a corporate environment.
• A builder's instinct — you draft the plan, build the deck, write the status update, and run the working session yourself rather than delegating those out. You are comfortable in the work, not just above it.
• Demonstrated experience holding multiple concurrent projects without losing delivery rigour on any of them — and the judgment to know which ones need formal governance and which ones need a phone call.
• Outcome focus: a track record of delivered results, not delivered documents. You can point to specific business outcomes you moved across the line.
• Clear, direct stakeholder communication — short status notes, punchy steering committee summaries, and the candour to flag risk without dressing it up.
• Confidence presenting to senior leadership — and the judgment to know when to escalate, when to absorb, and when to redesign.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in a regulated industry — insurance, financial services, fintech, or professional services — and comfort with compliance, audit, and governance environments.
• Working knowledge of premium financing operations or vehicle protection products (GAP, creditor insurance, warranty).
• Experience reporting up to a corporate PMO or navigating dual approval chains in a parent-company environment, with the judgment to operate inside structure without becoming bureaucratic.
• Project management certifications such as PMP, PRINCE2, PMI-ACP, or Lean Six Sigma — useful as evidence of foundational training, but not required and not a substitute for delivery experience.
• Practical fluency in project management tools — Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Asana, Jira, or equivalent. We care that you can pick up a tool quickly, not that you have any particular badge.
• Bilingual English/French.

Responsibilities

• Own the full lifecycle of strategic initiatives across Optiom, O2 Insurance Services, and Bamboo Premium Financing — scoping, planning, executing, reporting, closing — and personally building the artifacts that move the work forward.
• Write the project plan, draft the steering committee deck, maintain the RAID log, and run the working session yourself. Lean on tools and templates only where they earn their keep; skip the ceremony where they don't.
• Manage interdependencies across concurrent initiatives, escalating sequencing decisions to the Director, Execution Office and VP Operations early — not late.
• Translate project status into business-relevant language for SLT and Aviva Canada governance interfaces. Communicate good news and bad news with equal professionalism — and short, useful updates over long, formal ones.
• Identify current-state processes and design future-state with subject matter experts across underwriting, claims, compliance, finance, and operations. Move from whiteboard to working pilot quickly.
• Help build out Optiom's PMO infrastructure — but only the parts that demonstrably help us deliver. Right-size governance to the project; protect the team from forms, gates, and reporting cycles that don't change outcomes.
• Partner with functional leads across Sales, Underwriting, Compliance, Finance, and IT to ensure project commitments are honoured and change lands with the people doing the work.

Benefits

• Base salary of $85,000 – $105,000, plus an annual performance bonus of 10–15% of base. On-target total cash compensation of $93,500 – $120,750.
• Comprehensive group benefits — medical, dental, vision, EAP — eligible from date of hire.
• Three weeks of vacation to start, increasing with tenure.
• Employer-supported professional development — designation renewal fees, professional memberships, and approved continuing education reimbursed where they directly support your work.

What This Job Offers

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