Managing Director, BNSIA & Head of Digital Innovation Insurance Canada

Scotiabank; Toronto; On-site; CAD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading North American bank is seeking a Managing Director for its BNSIA & Digital division in Toronto. The role oversees insurance product distribution and drives innovation within the Canadian market, requiring extensive experience in insurance and executive leadership. Candidates with a strong understanding of regulatory landscapes and a vision for digital transformation are encouraged to apply.

Benefits

Flexible benefit programs

Holistic well-being focus

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience including executive leadership roles in P&L.
• Deep understanding of Canadian insurance regulations.
• Proven success in matrixed environments.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the distribution of insurance products and sales strategies.
• Lead innovation initiatives across insurance.
• Drive performance through strategic planning.

Skills

Executive influence

Customer-centric decision making

Risk management

Innovation and digital transformation

Education

10+ years in insurance and/or financial services

Job description

Requisition ID: 241010

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

Managing Director, BNSIA & Digital & Head of Digital Innovation

Purpose

The Managing Director, BNSIA (Bank of Nova Scotia Insurance Agency) & Head of Digital Innovation, Insurance Canada, leads the strategic and operational execution of non-creditor insurance initiatives within the Canadian market. This role is responsible for overseeing the distribution of insurance products, data integration, sales strategies, vendor coordination, and compliance across BNSIA’s direct-to-customer (D2C) insurance portfolio. In addition, this role also is responsible for delivering seamless omnichannel customer experiences, driving digital innovation across both BNSIA (non-creditor) and Insurance Canada (creditor), and ensuring alignment with strategic goals. The Managing Director will oversee the development, deployment, and optimization of digital insurance product journeys, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies.

What You’ll Do

• Acts as BNSIA’s key executive by serving as a Director on BNSIA’s board and representing the company at external forums including relevant industry associations.
• Leads and drives a customer focused culture throughout their team to deepen client relationships and leverage broader partnership relationships.
• Drives performance through effective distribution and operational excellence.
• Ensures all strategic priorities meet all federal and provincial regulations, including the Insurance Companies Act, OSFI Regulations, and other regulations.
• Leads business planning, performance management, and capital/resource allocation in collaboration with finance and risk leadership.
• Works closely with the Chief Actuary to align on product profitability, reserve adequacy, risk appetite, pricing models, and scenario planning.
• Partners with the VP, Insurance Products & Partnerships to develop product roadmaps, drive go-to-market execution, and scale strategic alliances.
• Leads innovation initiatives across Insurance (creditor and non-creditor) and champions client-centric transformation, including personalization, and omni-channel delivery.
• Incubates new ideas via test-and-learn pilots, innovation labs, and insurtech collaborations.
• Lead the digital transformation roadmap for BNSIA and Insurance Canada, aligning with enterprise digital strategy and insurance business objectives.
• Guides internal teams through agile delivery and change adoption, while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and future-readiness.
• Creates an environment in which his/her team pursues effective and efficient operations of his/her respective areas, while ensuring the adequacy, adherence to and effectiveness of day-to-day business controls to meet obligations with respect to operational risk, regulatory compliance risk, AML/ATF risk and conduct risk, including but not limited to responsibilities under the Operational Risk Management Framework, Regulatory Compliance Risk Management Framework, AML/ATF Global Handbook and the Guidelines for Business Conduct.
• Builds a high-performance environment and implements a people strategy that attracts, retains, develops and motivates their team by fostering an inclusive work environment; communicating vision/values/business strategy and managing succession and development planning for the team.

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years in insurance and/or financial services, including executive leadership experience in P&L and innovation-focused roles.
• Deep understanding of the Canadian insurance regulatory and market landscape.
• Proven success in matrixed environments, driving alignment across actuarial, product, distribution, and digital functions.
• Experience building innovation capabilities or leading Insurance transformations at scale.
• Strategic vision and commercial acumen.
• Executive influence and cross-functional leadership.
• Insurance product and pricing literacy.
• Innovation and digital transformation.
• Risk management and regulatory insight.
• Customer-centric and data-informed decision making.

Work Arrangement

Work in a standard office-based environment; non-standard hours are a common occurrence. Limited travel domestically.

Interested?

If your experience is closely related but doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification, we do encourage you to apply - you might be the right candidate for this or other roles at Scotiabank!

At Scotiabank, every employee is empowered to reach their fullest potential, respected for who they are and, embraced for their differences. That’s why we work to grow and diversify talent and engage employees in a performance-oriented culture.

What’s in it for you?

Scotiabank wants you to be able to bring your best self to work – and life, every day. With a focus on holistic well-being, our many flexible benefit programs are designed to help support your unique family, financial, physical, mental, and social health needs.

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. If you require technical assistance, click here. Candidates must apply directly online to be considered for this role. We thank all applicants for their interest in a career at Scotiabank; however, only those candidates who are selected for an interview will be contacted.