AVP, Technology Lead, GRS Digital - Acting

Role Summary

The AVP Technology Lead – GRS Member Platform is a strategic technology leader responsible for running, modernizing, and scaling Sun Life’s Group Retirement Services digital and technology platforms to support member, sponsor, advisor, and retirement readiness experiences at scale. 

This role is accountable for embedding a world-class design and engineering culture across delivery teams, with a focus on digital experiences, stable core systems, data-enabled insights, platform modernization, and critical capabilities that build and sustain an industry-leading wealth and retirement business. 

The role combines strategic leadership, technical oversight, people leadership, delivery execution, operational accountability, and vendor/financial management. The AVP partners closely with Product, Client Experience, Business Operations, Architecture, Enterprise Technology, and Operations leaders to ensure GRS technology platforms, data capabilities, journeys, integrations, and digital front-end experiences enable sustained, profitable business outcomes. 

This role operates in a highly visible, complex environment and requires a leader who can drive momentum, make clear decisions, strengthen delivery discipline, and bring strong technical credibility across both modern digital capabilities and complex legacy environments. 

This is a 14-month fixed term role that offers partial benefits and vacation.

What will you do?

Technology Strategy, GRS Digital Enablement & Engineering 

• Shape, communicate, and align GRS technology strategy across the business unit and enterprise, ensuring it supports near-term delivery commitments, retirement business priorities, and longer-term modernization objectives. 

• Partner with Business Leads, Product, Operations, Client Experience, Core IT, Infrastructure, and Enterprise Architecture to define platform roadmaps and OKRs for GRS technology capabilities. 

• Provide thought leadership on how GRS platforms should be developed, adopted, governed, simplified, and scaled across wealth and retirement businesses. 

• Promote adoption of technology standards, modern engineering practices, automation, and architectural excellence while balancing build vs. buy vs. partner decisions. 

• Ensure design and engineering decisions account for reusability, scalability, security, maintainability, accessibility, and technical debt reduction in non-greenfield environments. 

• Plan for exceptional digital experiences for members, sponsors, and advisors by enabling business teams with reliable, scalable, personalized, and insight-driven platforms. 

Platform Delivery & Execution 

• Accountable for end-to-end delivery of GRS digital and technology platforms, including oversight of internal teams, vendors, system integrators, and total cost of ownership. 

• Ensure platforms are intuitive, reliable, easy to transact on, and capable of supporting automated operational processes that reduce friction and improve satisfaction. 

• Drive delivery excellence by improving velocity, quality, reliability, predictability, and productivity across multiple agile squads at varying levels of maturity. 

• Track delivery metrics, implement productivity targets, remove barriers, and gain commitment from partners to accelerate execution and outcomes. 

• Serve as the primary escalation point for GRS platform, delivery, vendor, operational, and dependency-related issues. 

• Use experimentation, test-and-learn approaches, AI-enabled development practices, and continuous improvement to increase delivery speed and impact. 

People Leadership & Capability Development 

• Lead, mentor, and develop GRS technology leaders and teams, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, resilient, and execution-focused culture. 

• Design and optimize team structures to deliver business outcomes, strengthen platform ownership, and create clearer accountabilities. 

• Inspire and empower teams through coaching, learning, hands-on leadership, and constructive feedback. 

• Develop team resilience and agility during times of change, modernization, and operating model evolution. 

• Support succession planning, capability development, and career movement for critical technology and delivery roles. 

• Partner across Product, Business, Chapter, and Engineering teams to ensure workforce plans align with delivery needs and long-term capability requirements.

Financial & Vendor Management 

• Manage GRS platform financials, including budgeting, cost tracking, capitalization, forecasting, and investment prioritization. 

• Govern strategic vendor and system integrator relationships, holding partners accountable for delivery quality, outcomes, knowledge transfer, and value realization. 

• Drive technology platform efficiencies so savings can be reinvested in modernization, automation, platform resiliency, and business growth capabilities. 

• Take ownership of technology expenses across applications, infrastructure, security, vendors, and related platform investments. 

Operational Excellence, Risk & Security 

• Ensure platform stability, resiliency, security, technology currency, and effective lifecycle management across GRS applications and platforms. 

• Establish governance processes that balance delivery speed with risk management, regulatory requirements, audit expectations, and enterprise controls. 

• Partner with Operations to ensure effective incident management, change management, production readiness, disaster recovery, and business continuity. 

• Proactively manage technical debt, aging platforms, operational risk, and service reliability within a complex retirement and wealth technology ecosystem. 

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement 

• Act as a strategic technology partner to GRS Product, Client Experience, Business Operations, Architecture, Operations, and Enterprise Technology leaders. 

• Align technology plans with business priorities, Client outcomes, sponsor/advisor needs, and retirement readiness objectives. 

• Represent the GRS technology function in executive forums, bringing external perspective, enterprise thinking, and clear recommendations. 

• Build trusted relationships across business and technology partners to enable faster decision-making, clearer trade-offs, and shared accountability for outcomes. 

Accountabilities 

• Align GRS technology strategy with business objectives, Client outcomes, enterprise standards, and shared retirement/wealth priorities. 

• Define and monitor platform roadmaps, OKRs, modernization priorities, and delivery sequencing. 

• Establish and execute automation and modernization roadmaps that enable scalable operations and improved digital experiences. 

• Deliver leading digital capabilities for members, sponsors, and advisors that differentiate Sun Life’s GRS experience. 

• Oversee platform execution across delivery teams, vendors, system integrators, and enterprise partners. 

• Establish governance, track delivery metrics, and drive productivity, quality, and reliability improvements. 

• Manage technology budgets, vendor relationships, and cost optimization opportunities. 

• Create and sustain a high-performing, engaged, inclusive, and accountable GRS technology culture. 

What do you need to succeed?

Qualifications & Experience 

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field; advanced degree or MBA is an asset. 

• 10+ years of experience in senior technology leadership roles with demonstrated success delivering complex, mission-critical systems. 

• Experience leading modernization and enablement of wealth, retirement, investment, sponsor/advisor, or member-facing digital platforms. 

• Strong understanding of wealth, retirement, investment products, and regulated financial services environments is valuable. 

• Proven ability to lead technology teams through modernization, transformation, and operating model change. 

• Strong financial acumen with experience managing sizable budgets, vendor portfolios, and technology cost optimization. 

• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, executive presence, and leadership skills. 

• Strong technical credibility across modern digital platforms, integrations, data, mainframe/core systems, and operational reliability. 

• As this position is posted in several locations, we specify that bilingualism (French, English, both oral and written) is required for Quebec only for the frequent interactions with English and French-speaking colleagues or internal partners across Canada or worldwide.

Mindset & Behaviours 

• Decisive leader comfortable operating in uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. 

• Strong technical credibility with the ability to challenge architecture, delivery practices, platform decisions, and CI/CD approaches. 

• Builder mindset with equal focus on fixing, scaling, simplifying, and enabling. 

• Pragmatic, outcomes-driven decision-maker who balances innovation, stability, risk, and business value. 

• Collaborative leader and coach who builds trust, creates clarity, and drives momentum. 

• Critical thinker who challenges the status quo constructively and drives continuous improvement. 

• Experimental mindset with a willingness to test, learn, adapt, and improve. 

• Strong commitment to developing people, building resilient teams, and creating an inclusive leadership culture. 

What’s in it for you?

• A competitive salary based on market scale

• Time off that allows you to focus on the moments that matter most. 20 vacation days per year.

• We are proud to be included in Great Place to Work's 2026 list of Canada's Best Workplaces.

• A warm, supportive, and inclusive culture.