IT Program Manager

LanceSoft; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the finance sector seeks an IT Program Manager to oversee high-priority projects following a risk audit. This role focuses on collaboration with senior stakeholders, requiring strong project management skills and the ability to navigate complex regulatory frameworks. The successful candidate will enjoy a hybrid working model and contribute to a transformative initiative within a top Canadian bank.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of project management experience in large corporations.
• Experience with regulatory projects in financial institutions or insurance.
• Proven ability to communicate with executive leadership.

Responsibilities

• Manage delivery of complex IT projects and programs.
• Run executive meetings with Group Heads and senior stakeholders.
• Define and maintain project budgets and roadmaps.

Skills

Project Management

Communication

Leadership

Stakeholder Management

Risk Management

Technical Curiosity

Agility

Education

Bachelor's degree in a related field

PMP Certification

Job description

Location Address: Hybrid – 3 days a week (Flexible)
Contract Duration: ASAP to Oct 31st, 2025
Possibility of extension
Schedule Hours: 9am-5pm Monday-Friday; standard 37.5 hrs/week

Story Behind the Need
Business group: Project Delivery & Support is a centralized project management office that supports various technology teams across the bank, oversees the delivery of large-scale IT projects for a variety of teams. Responsible for ensuring the projects have the proper team to complete effectively.

Project/Program: The IT Program Manager will lead a high-priority remediation initiative in response to findings from a recent Risk Audit. Working closely with Vice Presidents and other senior stakeholders, the Program Manager will be responsible for addressing and resolving multiple areas of concern identified in the audit. This role requires strong coordination and communication skills to ensure alignment across departments and timely resolution of all issues.

Candidate Value Proposition:
The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work on a very high visibility project for one of the top 5 Canadian Banks.

Typical Day in Role:
• Manage and ensure the successful delivery of complex projects/programs involving multiple teams from different groups across the bank, as well as external vendors when required
• Demonstrate strong leadership skills to develop and maintain high functioning project teams
• Influences business project decisions with direct impact on financials or operating results
• Ability to independently run executive Steerco meetings with Group Heads, EVPs, and SVPs
• Takes a strategic focus aligned to business priorities
• Champions a customer focused culture to deepen client relationships and leverage broader Bank relationships, systems and knowledge Recommends technical strategy within a technical domain, may investigate and evaluate new technologies
• Impacts the technical direction and resource allocation for products, services or platforms supported
• Leads the solution of risks and issues that have a broad impact on the project team – accountability typically spans across multiple products, a line of businesses or with significant enterprise system impact
• Defines and maintains the roadmap and project budget

Candidate Requirements/Must Have Skills:
1) 10+ years of project management experience in large corporations, with at least 5 of those in program management
2) Experience working with a Regulatory project in either an FI or Insurance
3) Experienced with writing Closure Packages
4) 5+ years’ experience communication with Executive leadership

Nice-To-Have Skills:
1) Financial institution experience (Insurance or Top 5 banking)
2) Prior Scotia Experience an asset

Soft Skills Required:
• Technical curiosity. Curious to understand the technical aspects and drivers/challenges of the project.
•Excellent stakeholder management skills and messaging skills (SVP, EVP+ audiences) –must have
• Agile and adaptable personality
• Proactive approach to identifying issues and risks within the project. – must have
• Ability to accept feedback and adapt to project needs and changes
• Excellent communication skills and messaging skillset – must have
• Ability to think “outside the box” for solutions and issue/problem mitigation and solutioning
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams and technical development teams
• Financial acumen
• Strong project governance skillset
• Excellent project planning, scheduling, co-ordinating, risk and issue management skillset. Ability to identify critical path items and dependencies.

Education:
• Bachelor's degree in a related field required (Technical fields preferred, although experience is more important)
PMP required but experience valued over education

Best VS. Average Candidate:
The ideal candidate would have prior experience working on a regulatory project within a Top 5 bank or with an Insurance firm. Ideally this PM would have hands on experience working to resolve project items and prepare Closure Packages. Experience working with executives and the ability to work in ambiguity are highly valuable for this role.