Director Strategic Initiatives & Innovation (18 month contract) | Great West

Canada Life Group; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 114,000 - 164,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Career development

Health & Wellness benefits

Time off & volunteer day

Pension & investment options

Rewards & recognition

ERGs & mentorship programs

Job summary

Great-West Lifeco, based in Canada, seeks a Director of Strategic Initiatives & Innovation for an 18-month contract to lead the SAP S/4HANA Finance Transformation program. You will partner with the AVP and finance leaders to design and implement future-state finance processes across AP, AR, FA, cash management, and reporting.

This role requires deep accounting and IFRS knowledge, strong stakeholder management skills, and the ability to navigate a fast-paced transformation across multiple

Qualifications

• Strong accounting and finance background with IFRS knowledge.
• Experience in financial reporting, controllership or transformation.
• Ability to drive cross-functional initiatives and manage stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design and implementation of future-state processes.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify improvements and standardization opportunities.
• Manage governance and decision-making forums with senior leaders.
• Oversee testing, validation, and business readiness activities.

Skills

SAP S/4HANA

IFRS accounting

Financial reporting

Stakeholder mgmt

Process design

Tools

SAP S/4HANA

Job description

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Director Strategic Initiatives & Innovation (18 month contract) | Great West

Description: Temporary Full Time

We are seeking an experienced and high-performing finance professional to join the SAP S/4HANA Finance Transformation Program in a key role supporting the AVP, Corporate Finance Transformation (AVP). These workstreams include Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets, Cash Management, Code Block / Chart of Accounts, and Reporting.

The successful candidate will work closely with finance leaders, regional representatives, subject matter experts and implementation partners to help design, validate and implement future-state finance processes across the organization.

This role offers a unique opportunity to influence the future finance foundation of Great West, working on a transformation that will shape how Finance operates for years to come. This includes the opportunity to help define future finance organization processes, balancing leading practices, business requirements and long-term strategic objectives.

What you will do

Process Design & Transformation

• Lead the end-to-end design and implementation of future-state processes across Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets, Cash Management, Code Block / Chart of Accounts, and Reporting.
• Drive selected process design topics from issue identification through analysis, stakeholder alignment, recommendation and decision, working on behalf of the AVP where appropriate.
• Collaborate closely with business stakeholders to evaluate current-state challenges and identify opportunities for simplification, standardization and automation.
• Research and evaluate SAP S/4HANA leading practices and support recommendations aligned with Clean Core principles.
• Direct fit-to-standard workshops, design reviews, and the evaluation of process design decisions and options.
• Partner with the System Integrator and challenge recommendations where appropriate to ensure business requirements are met.

Stakeholder Management & Leadership

• Act as a trusted advisor and delegate to the AVP across multiple workstreams.
• Coordinate and collaborate with finance leaders, regional representatives and subject matter experts across multiple geographies.
• Build alignment among stakeholders with varying perspectives and priorities.
• Prepare materials and recommendations for governance and decision-making forums.
• Synthesize complex issues, design options and trade-offs into clear, decision-oriented recommendations for senior stakeholders and governance forums.

Solution Evaluation & Decision Support

• Assess accounting, reporting, control and operational implications of the proposed design decisions.
• Challenge assumptions and recommendations where appropriate to ensure solutions meet business requirements and long-term strategic objectives.
• Work across process, reporting, data, controls and technology teams to identify dependencies and support integrated decision-making.
• Identify and manage cross-process dependencies, ensuring design decisions are considered end-to-end across Finance processes and related reporting, data, controls and technology.

Program Delivery

• Oversee testing, validation and business readiness activities.
• Review design outputs and test results to identify issues, gaps and improvement opportunities.
• Drive issue resolution and drive actions through to closure.
• Champion change management, stakeholder engagement and adoption activities.

What you will bring

• Strong accounting and finance background with demonstrated experience in financial reporting, controllership, finance operations or finance transformation.
• Sound understanding of IFRS financial reporting, accounting policies and financial controls.
• Strong critical thinking, problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Ability to connect information across multiple process areas and understand broader business impacts.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with a demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively and influence outcomes without direct authority.
• Curious, self-motivated and willing to learn new technologies and ways of working
• Proven ability to navigate a fast-paced environment, lead in ambiguity, and effectively manage competing priorities within complex initiatives.
• Experience supporting finance transformation, SAP, ERP implementation or large-scale business change initiatives is beneficial but not required. As well as experience participating in process design, requirement definition, testing or change initiatives.

The base salary for this position is between$114,200 - $164,200 annually. This represents base salary only and does not represent other variable compensation components of our total compensation ( i.e. annual bonus, commission etc). If you are selected to move forward in our recruitment process, your recruiter will be able to discuss additional details of our total rewards program with you.

Career opportunities will be open a minimum of 5 business days from the date of posting, closing dates will vary depending on the search activity. All applications received will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Grow with Great-West Lifeco

Great-West Lifeco Inc is a Canadian headquarter, international financial services holding company with interests in life insurance, health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management, and reinsurance businesses. We operate in Canada, the United States, and Europe under the brands: Canada Life, Empower and Irish Life.At the end of 2024, our companies had over 32,250 employees, 106,000 advisor relationships, and thousands of distribution partners – serving approximately 40 million customer relationships.

Great-West Lifeco trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the ticker symbol GWO and is a member of the Power Corporation group of companies.

What we offer :

We’re committed to supporting our employees through every stage of their career. Here’s what you can expect as a full-time or part-time permanent team member:

Career Development : Opportunities for career advancement, access to industry-leading learning programs and up to$2,000 annuallytowardseducation reimbursement.

Health & Wellness: Flexible health and dental benefits,plus a $5,000 mental health benefit to support your well-being.

Time Off: In addition to regular vacation andpersonal days,we support communityinvolvement with avolunteer day.

Financial Security: Company-matching pension plan,share ownership program andadditionalinvestment options.

Rewards and Recognition: Employee recognition programs, service milestone celebrations, employee discounts and more!

Emphasis onCommunity :We provide aworkplace whereemployeesfeel connected and supported throughEmployee Resource Groups (ERGs),mentorshipprograms,socialclubsandevents.

Learn moreabout Great-West Lifeco .

We’recommitted to removing barriers and ensuring equal access to employment. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation during the application process may contact [e-mail] . All information provided will be handledin accordance withapplicable laws and Great-West Lifeco policies.

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Location: Toronto, ON, CA London, ON, CA Winnipeg, MB, CA

Date: Oct 9, 2026