Director, AI Initiatives, Canadian Operations

Sun Life Financial; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 110,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services firm in Toronto seeks a Director of AI Initiatives to lead the development of AI strategies. This role involves collaborating with senior leadership to drive innovation and operational efficiency within Canadian operations. Ideal candidates have extensive experience in AI product development and a strong understanding of AI/ML technologies. The position offers a hybrid work model, competitive salary, and is integral to enhancing client service delivery.

Benefits

Work-from-home flexibility

Inclusive work environment

Employee well-being programs

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in AI and Data product development.
• Proven track record deploying AI solutions, preferably in financial services.
• Strong understanding of Gen AI and agentic algorithms.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute AI strategy aligned with business objectives.
• Identify AI use cases and oversee implementation.
• Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations.

Skills

AI/ML understanding

Data product development

Strategic thinking

Excellent communication

Agile working

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, AI

Tools

AWS SageMaker

Azure Co-pilot Studio

XGBoost

Deep Learning concepts

Job description

You are as unique as your background, experience and point of view. Here, you’ll be encouraged, empowered and challenged to be your best self. You'll work with dynamic colleagues - experts in their fields - who are eager to share their knowledge with you. Your leaders will inspire and help you reach your potential and soar to new heights. Every day, you'll have new and exciting opportunities to make life brighter for our Clients - who are at the heart of everything we do. Discover how you can make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities around the world.

Job Description:

About the role

Sun Life Canada is on an exciting journey of innovation and transformation to deepen our commitment to our One Sun purpose “To help clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives”. Sun Life Canada Operations includes a team of over 5,000 dedicated team members across Canada and SL Global Solutions in Asia. We support client onboarding, processing, and service delivery across Sun Life’s Canadian business. Our team handles over 130 million interactions with Clients, plan sponsors and advisors annually, putting clients at the centre of everything we do.

Reporting to the AVP, Transformation, Key Initiatives & Change, the Director, AI Initiatives, Canadian Operations will lead the development and implementation of AI strategies to drive innovation, efficiency, and transformation across the Canadian Operations. This role will partner closely with the Canadian Operations Leadership Team (COLT), the Data COE and other senior leaders to proactively identify and prioritize high impact opportunities where AI can be a strategic differentiation, unlocking competitive advantage and driving measurable business outcomes and operational efficiencies.

What you will be doing

AI Strategy & Vision

• Develop and execute a comprehensive Canadian Operations’ AI strategy aligned with Sun Life's business objectives
• Identify emerging AI trends and assess their potential impact on Canadian operations
• Develop and maintain a roadmap for AI initiatives, ensuring a balanced portfolio of short term wins and long-term strategic projects

Program Management and Capability Building

• Partner with Data Science COE, COLT, and cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration of AI solutions. Identify, prioritize and oversee high-impact Gen AI use cases.
• Engage with external partners, vendors, and academic institutions for cutting-edge AI research and development
• Support change management as AI initiatives move from proof of concept (POC) to implementation/business as usual (BAU)
• Collaborate with other areas of SL to share learnings, identify synergies and leverage best practices in AI implementation
• Act as a liaison between technical teams and business stakeholders, translating complex AI concepts into business value propositions

AI Governance

• Ensure all AI initiatives comply with data privacy regulations and ethical standards – including OSFI E-23 and ISO 42001
• Establish governance frameworks for AI systems and machine learning models

AI Technical Knowledge

• Proficient with ML concepts including bagging and boosting techniques, common algorithms like XGBoost, Decision Tree and Deep Learning concepts including RNN and CNN
• Experience with multi-cloud AI services AWS SageMaker, Lambda, Bedrock, and Azure Co-pilot Studio and Agent Foundry
• Comfortable with common AI data structures including star and snowflake schemas
• Demonstrated experience in data transformation, data manipulation, and working with structured vs. unstructured data
• Strong understanding of APIs, MCPs, microservices architecture, and cloud-native development
• Hands‑on expertise with GenAI frameworks and LLM APIs with experience developing AI bots/agents with reasoning and tool‑use capabilities
• Strong understanding of RAG techniques, prompt engineering, and fine‑tuning methodologies and familiarity with vector databases and embedding models
• Exposure to Agentic frameworks including LangChain, LangGraph and CrewAI

What you need to succeed

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, AI, or equivalent
• 5+ years of experience in AI and Data product development
• Proven track record deploying AI solutions, preferably in the financial services or similar sectors
• Strong understanding of AI/ML, Gen AI and agentic algorithms, frameworks, and tools
• Strategic thinking and problem‑solving capabilities
• Excellent communication skills for conveying complex technical concepts to non‑technical stakeholders
• Proven leadership and influencing skills
• Experience working in fast‑paced, agile environments

What’s in it for you?

• Being a member of the Sun Life family, a group of people united by our Purpose: to help Clients and Employees achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.
• As a hybrid organization, you and your leader use business and Client needs to choose where you work, at home or in the office.
• We’re committed to creating an inclusive and respectful environment. Our goal is to make sure all our employees have the chance to live up to their full potential.
• We are thrilled to be recognized by Excellence Canada with their top-level certification, the Canada Order of Excellence for Mental Health at Work®, for prioritizing employee well‑being, fostering a positive work culture, and achieving excellence in mental health.

The Base Pay range is for the primary location for which the job is posted. It may vary depending on the work location of the successful candidate or other factors. In addition to Base Pay, eligible Sun Life employees participate in various incentive plans, payment under which is discretionary and subject to individual and company performance. Certain sales focused roles have sales incentive plans based on individual or group sales results.

Diversity and inclusion have always been at the core of our values at Sun Life. A diverse workforce with wide perspectives and creative ideas benefits our Clients, the communities where we operate and all of us as colleagues. We welcome applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds.

Persons with disabilities who need accommodation in the application process, or those needing job postings in an alternative format, may e‑mail a request to [e-mail].

We are proud to be a hybrid organization that offers our employees the choice and flexibility to work from both the office and virtually based on the needs of the business, our Clients and you! Several work options are available and can be discussed throughout the selection process depending on the role requirements and individual needs.

We may use artificial intelligence to support candidate sourcing, screening, interview scheduling.

We thank all applicants for showing an interest in this position. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Salary Range: 110,000 - 180,000

Job Category: Project Management - Process

Posting End Date: 22/01/2026