Director, Strategy and Operations

Scotiabank; Toronto; On-site; CAD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Diversity & Inclusion programs

Accessibility and accommodations

Upskilling and tuition assistance

Competitive rewards including bonus

Job summary

Scotiabank is seeking a Director-level leader in Enterprise Data and AI Platform to drive workforce optimization, vendor engagement, and strategic communications. You will align human capital with the technology roadmap, manage cross-functional programs, and deliver measurable value and efficiency across a global technology function.

The role spans portfolio strategy, budget forecasting, executive insights, and governance of dashboards for leadership forums.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, HR, communications, or related field. MBA preferred.
• 10+ years in workforce management, operations, or strategic communications within tech/financial services.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional programs with measurable business impact.
• Strong financial and contractual acumen with vendor/resource portfolio optimization.
• Superior storytelling, communication, and presentation skills for senior tech leaders.
• Familiarity with analytics/visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau) for workforce insights.

Responsibilities

• Translate strategic priorities into an integrated portfolio roadmap, investment plan, and delivery priorities.
• Monitor delivery, dependencies, risks, and execution gaps across initiatives.
• Lead workforce strategy, vendor optimization, communications, and innovation programs.
• Develop executive reporting on portfolio health, investments, risks, and decisions.
• Own dashboarding framework for Enterprise Data and AI Platform and KPI/KRI tracking.
• Collaborate with data/analytics teams to enhance transparency and decision support.
• Contribute to strategic planning, leadership offsites, and enterprise transformation programs.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Stakeholder alignment

Financial acumen

Contract & vendor optimization

Storytelling & presentation

Analytics & visualization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business/HR/communications

Tools

Power BI

Tableau

Job description

Requisition ID: 276793

Join a purpose driven winning team, committed to results, in an inclusive and high-performing culture.

The Role

This Director Level role is a strategic operational leader within the Enterprise Data and AI Platform organization, responsible for driving workforce optimization, engagement, communication, and innovation outcomes. This role enables the SVP & CIO’s strategic agenda by ensuring that human capital, vendor engagement, and organizational communications are optimized to deliver measurable value, efficiency, and cultural impact across a global technology function.

The Director leads cross-functional initiatives spanning workforce strategy, contract and vendor optimization, communications and branding, and innovation and early talent development, ensuring alignment with Enterprise Data and AI Platform technology roadmap and operational priorities.

Is this role right for you? In this role you will:

Portfolio Strategy & Prioritization

• Translate strategic priorities into an integrated portfolio roadmap, investment plan, and delivery priorities.
• Maintain visibility of portfolio outcomes, milestones, investment decisions, and strategic trade-offs.
• Support annual and multi-year planning processes, including roadmap and funding decisions.
• Monitor delivery across initiatives, identifying cross-program dependencies, risks, constraints, and execution gaps.
• Coordinate with program, product, engineering, architecture, risk, finance, and business teams to ensure portfolio alignment.
• Drive disciplined management of scope, milestones, commitments, and portfolio-level outcomes.

Financial & Workforce Management

• Manage portfolio budgets, forecasts, actuals, and financial performance.
• Support business cases and investment decisions, including FTE, contractor, and vendor capacity requirements.
• Track workforce demand and capacity against portfolio priorities.
• Identify opportunities to optimize spend, reduce duplication, and improve return on investment.

Executive Reporting & Insights

• Develop concise executive and SteerCo reporting on portfolio health, delivery progress, investments, risks, and decisions required.
• Provide data-driven insights and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Establish portfolio KPIs and reporting that connect delivery progress with measurable business outcomes.
• Ensure risks and emerging issues are surfaced early with clear mitigation and decision paths

Metrics, Dashboards, And Reporting

• Own design and governance for Enterprise Data and AI Platform’s dashboarding framework, ensuring timely, accurate, and insightful reporting for executives.
• Track and communicate key performance indicators (KPIs) and key risk indicators (KRIs) across workforce capacity, engagement, financial optimization, and innovation delivery.
• Partner with data and analytics teams to enhance automation, transparency, and decision support for CIO and leadership forums.

Strategic & Operational Leadership

• Contribute to strategic planning cycles, leadership offsites, and transformation programs.
• Represent the Enterprise Data and AI Platform strategy and operations function across enterprise technology leadership forums.

Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Human Resources, Communications, or a related field; MBA preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in workforce management, operations, or strategic communications ideally within technology, financial services, or a professional services environment.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional programs with measurable business impact and stakeholder alignment.
• Strong financial and contractual acumen with demonstrated experience optimizing vendor and resource portfolios.
• Superior storytelling, communication, and presentation skills with experience representing senior technology leaders.
• Familiarity using analytics and visualization tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) to drive workforce and performance insights.
• Strategic thinker with a collaborative and execution-oriented leadership style.

What's in it for you?

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Allyship - We strive to create an inclusive culture where every employee is empowered to reach their fullest potential, respected for who they are, and are embraced through bias-free practices and inclusive values across Scotiabank. We embrace diversity and provide opportunities for all employee to learn, grow & participate through our various Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that span across diverse gender identities, ethnicity, race, age, ability & veterans.
• Accessibility and Workplace Accommodations - We value the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the Bank, and are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone. Scotiabank continues to locate, remove and prevent barriers so that we can build a diverse and inclusive environment while meeting accessibility requirements.
• Upskilling through online courses, cross-functional development opportunities, and tuition assistance.
• Competitive Rewards program including bonus, flexible vacation, personal, sick days and benefits will start on day one.
• Dynamic Ecosystem - Free tea & coffee, universal washrooms, and lots of space for team collaboration.
• Community Engagement - No matter where you choose to work from; we offer opportunities for community engagement & belonging with our various programs.

Location(s): Canada : Ontario : Toronto

Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets.

At Scotiabank, we value the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the Bank, and are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone. If you require accommodation (including, but not limited to, an accessible interview site, alternate format documents, ASL Interpreter, or Assistive Technology) during the recruitment and selection process, please let our Recruitment team know.