Director, Talent & Inclusion

Wawanesa; Winnipeg; Hybrid; CAD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company is seeking a Director, Talent & Inclusion to lead enterprise talent attraction, employer brand, and inclusion initiatives across Canada. Partner with senior leaders to build future-focused pipelines and foster a workplace where everyone feels valued and able to contribute.

Responsibilities include setting strategy, leading a high-performing team, building proactive sourcing, campus programs, and measuring impact to drive inclusive, data-driven

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, with deep expertise in talent acquisition, talent strategy, employer brand, and inclusion.
• Proven success developing enterprise talent strategies that support workforce growth, organizational capability, and business objectives.
• Experience building proactive sourcing strategies, talent pipelines, campus recruitment, or early-career programs.
• Experience embedding inclusive practices across talent programs and the employee lifecycle.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to translate data, workforce insights, and market trends into strategic action.
• Demonstrated success partnering with senior leaders and leading high-performing teams through change.
• Exceptional communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field; CPHR, SHRM, or equivalent designation is an asset.

Responsibilities

• Set the enterprise Talent & Inclusion strategy, aligning talent attraction, employer brand, inclusive practices, and belonging priorities to business and workforce needs.
• Lead and evolve the Talent & Inclusion operating model, building a high-performing team with clear accountabilities, scalable practices, and an inclusive leadership mindset.
• Build and mature internal strategic sourcing capability, including talent mapping, proactive outreach, market intelligence, pipeline development, and engagement with critical talent segments.
• Harmonize and lead a national campus and early-career recruitment model that creates consistent, future-focused talent pathways across the business.
• Establish inclusive talent practices that support equitable access to opportunity across hiring, development, mobility, performance, and succession.
• Shape employer brand and talent narrative to reflect employee experience, culture, values, and inclusion commitments.
• Use data to identify opportunities, remove friction, and improve inclusive recruitment experiences.
• Partner across the business to strengthen workplace inclusion, belonging, psychological safety, respect, and connection.

Skills

Talent acquisition

Employer brand

Inclusion

HR leadership

Stakeholder management

Data-driven decision making

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a related field

CPHR/SHRM designation an asset

Job description

Select how often (in days) to receive an alert:

Work Environment: We offer a hybrid work environment that offers flexibility to our employees in balancing in-office (2 days per week OR 15 hours per week in a Wawanesa office) and remote work. You may work from any of the following locations: Winnipeg, MB; Wawanesa, MB; Vancouver, BC; Calgary, AB; Edmonton, AB; Lethbridge, AB; Toronto (North York), ON; Kitchener, ON; Ottawa, ON; Montreal, QC; Quebec City, QC, Moncton, NB; Dartmouth; NS.

Working Business Language : English. This role is considered a head-office role and will be required to communicate with internal and external stakeholders across Canada where the primary business language for this role is English. As such, the successful candidate must be fully proficient in English.

Salary: At Wawanesa, salary is only one component of a holistic, comprehensive and competitive offering that we provide to our employees. In addition to salary, full-time and part-time permanent employees are eligible for an annual bonus plan, leave of absence top-up programs and provided with generous vacation time, personal days, premium free benefits and pension plan.

The salary offered for this role is determined with consideration to various factors, including but not limited to: your work location, local labour market conditions, external market salary data, internal pay equity and the knowledge, skills, experience and anticipated proficiency in the role. The salary offered is estimated to be within the following range: $150,000 - $170,000. C andida tes with salary expectations outside of the range are still encouraged to apply.

About The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company
Founded in 1896, The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company is one of Canada’s largest mutual insurers, 100% owned by its members, with more than $4.1 billion in annual revenue and $12.5 billion in assets. Headquartered in Winnipeg, Wawanesa is the parent company of Wawanesa Life, which provides life insurance solutions throughout Canada, and Western Financial Group, a leading national distributor of personal and business insurance. In March of 2026, Wawanesa entered into an agreement to acquire Everest Insurance Company of Canada to strengthen its commercial insurance capabilities and advance its long-term growth strategy.

Wawanesa proudly serves more than 1.8 million members and we are home to more than 3,000 employees across Canada. The company actively gives back to organizations that strengthen communities, donating more than $4 million annually to charitable organizations, including more than $2 million each year in support of people on the front lines of climate change. Learn more at wawanesa.com.

We are currently looking for dedicated, driven, and enthusiastic individuals who thrive in an environment that welcomes change and are looking for an opportunity for diverse experience and advancement on a growing team.

Job Overview

The Director, Talent & Inclusion provides enterprise leadership for Wawanesa’s talent attraction, inclusive talent practices, employer brand, and workplace inclusion strategy. This role helps shape the evolution of the Talent & Inclusion function, builds future-focused pipelines, strengthens inclusive practices, and partners across the business to create a workplace where all employees feel valued, supported, and able to contribute.

Job Responsibilities

• Set the enterprise Talent & Inclusion strategy, aligning talent attraction, employer brand, inclusive practices, and belonging priorities to business and workforce needs.
• Lead and evolve the Talent & Inclusion operating model, building a high-performing team with clear accountabilities, scalable practices, and an inclusive leadership mindset.
• Build and mature Wawanesa’s internal strategic sourcing capability, including talent mapping, proactive outreach, market intelligence, pipeline development, and engagement with critical talent segments.
• Harmonize and lead a national campus and early-career recruitment model that creates consistent, future-focused talent pathways across the business.
• Establish inclusive talent practices that support equitable access to opportunity across hiring, development, mobility, performance, and succession.
• Shape Wawanesa’s employer brand and talent narrative so it authentically reflects the employee experience, culture, values, and commitment to inclusion.
• Use candidate, hiring leader, and process data to identify opportunities, remove friction, and improve inclusive, accessible, and user-focused recruitment experiences.
• Partner across the business to strengthen workplace inclusion, belonging, psychological safety, respect, and connection for all employees.
• Build strategic external partnerships and establish meaningful talent and inclusion measures to assess impact, surface insights, and inform enterprise decision-making.
• Ensure effective governance, compliance, and stewardship of enterprise talent and inclusion programs.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, with deep expertise in talent acquisition, talent strategy, employer brand, and inclusion.
• Proven success developing enterprise talent strategies that support workforce growth, organizational capability, and business objectives.
• Experience building proactive sourcing strategies, talent pipelines, campus recruitment, or early-career programs.
• Experience embedding inclusive practices across talent programs and the employee lifecycle.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to translate data, workforce insights, and market trends into strategic action.
• Demonstrated success partnering with senior leaders and leading high-performing teams through change.
• Exceptional communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field; CPHR, SHRM, or equivalent designation is an asset.

Diversity Equity, Inclusion& Belonging
At Wawanesa, we are committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) and believe that our strength lies in the diversity of our people – this is supported by having a representative workforce.

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, including racialized persons, women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, gender-diverse and neurodiverse individuals, and anyone who can contribute to the further diversification of thought and ideas.

We aim to ensure our recruitment process is accessible to all candidates. If you require accommodations during any stage of the recruitment process, please reach out in confidence to [e-mail] .

Please note that the recruitment process for this position may involve the use of AI tools to screen, assess, or select applicants. All final decisions are taken or reviewed by human recruiters and human hiring leaders in compliance with all applicable legislation.