Senior Advisor, Program Governance

National Bank of Canada; Montreal (administrative region); On-site; CAD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and wellness program

Flexible group insurance

Generous pension plan

Employee Share Ownership Plan

Employee and family assistance program

Preferential banking services

Involvement in community initiatives

Telemedicine service

Virtual sleep clinic

Job summary

National Bank of Canada seeks a Senior Advisor to lead governance and portfolio management for Pillar 5 of Momentum 2030. You will partner with senior leaders and delivery teams to shape integrated planning, governance oversight and roadmap alignment.

You will drive risk assessment, performance insights and decision-ready materials, supporting faster and more informed governance discussions across the transformation program.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in program management, project portfolio management, transformation governance or complex project management.
• Experience preparing and presenting analyses or decision materials to senior executives.
• Excellent ability to synthesize complex information, prioritize matters, and formulate recommendations.
• Experience managing integrated roadmaps, milestones, risks, issues and dependencies.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and mobilize stakeholders without direct reporting authority.
• Ability to work in a complex environment, exercise independent judgment and manage multiple priorities.
• Excellent oral and written communication, adaptable to executive audiences.
• Bachelor's degree with 3–10 years or Master's with 3–7 years, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Inform and accelerate decision-making by highlighting priority issues and presenting implications, options and decisions.
• Prepare concise analyses and recommendations for senior leadership, tailoring detail to governance bodies.
• Coordinate Pillar 5 governance cycle, prioritize topics, track commitments and facilitate forums.
• Produce an integrated portfolio view covering progress, budget, KPIs, benefits and risks.
• Maintain and evolve the Pillar 5 roadmap with milestones and interdependencies.
• Analyze information to identify inconsistencies and cross-functional impacts.
• Facilitate risk, issue and dependency resolutions with the right stakeholders.
• Continuously improve governance, reporting and portfolio management practices.

Skills

Portfolio governance

Stakeholder engagement

Executive communication

Risk management

Strategic planning

Education

Bachelor's degree + 3-10 years

Master's degree + 3-7 years

Equivalent experience

Tools

Jira

Confluence

SharePoint

Power BI

Job description

A career as a Senior Advisor, Program Governance and Project Portfolio Management, within Pillar 5 of the Momentum 2030 strategic plan means contributing to the integrated management of a complex transformation portfolio aimed at improving the end-to-end commercial financing process.

Working closely with the Commercial Financing Transformation Program Manager (Pillar 5), pillar leaders, initiative owners and delivery teams, you contribute to the operation and evolution of portfolio governance, performance monitoring and integrated planning mechanisms.

With your judgment, ability to synthesize information and confidence communicating with senior leadership, you bring forward critical information, emerging risks and decisions needed. As you deepen your understanding of the portfolio and its ecosystem, you gradually gain autonomy in coordinating governance, producing an integrated portfolio view and maintaining the roadmap.

Your role

• Inform and accelerate decision-making at every level of program governance by highlighting priority issues and clearly presenting implications, options and decisions needed.
• Prepare and present concise analyses and recommendations to senior leadership, tailoring the level of detail and message to the responsibilities of each governance body.
• Coordinate the Pillar 5 governance cycle, including prioritizing topics, clarifying decisions needed, tracking commitments and, progressively, facilitating certain governance forums.
• Produce an integrated, forward-looking portfolio view covering progress, key deliverables, budget evolution, performance indicators, benefits, risks, dependencies and capacity constraints.
• Maintain and evolve the integrated Pillar 5 roadmap, ensuring consistency in sequencing, milestones, interdependencies and approved changes.
• Analyze and challenge information from teams to identify inconsistencies, blind spots, cross-functional impacts and matters requiring intervention or a decision.
• Facilitate the resolution of risks, issues and dependencies across initiatives by engaging the right stakeholders and structuring escalations when intervention by leaders or sponsors is required.
• Continuously improve program governance, reporting and project portfolio management practices to enhance information quality, simplify processes and support effective execution.

Your team

Within Commercial and Private Banking 1859, you will join the team responsible for Pillar 5 of the Commercial and Private Banking 1859 Momentum 2030 strategic plan. Its ambition is to improve the efficiency of the end-to-end commercial financing process and help create a simpler, faster and more predictable experience for clients and colleagues. Pillar 5 brings together several initiatives and projects involving business, financing, credit, operations, technology, data and transformation teams. You work closely with the Pillar 5 Program Manager and regularly interact with pillar leaders, initiative owners, project managers, specialized partners and senior leaders.

Prerequisites

• Significant experience in program management, project portfolio management, transformation governance or complex project management.
• Experience preparing and presenting analyses, recommendations or decision materials to senior executives.
• Excellent ability to synthesize complex information, prioritize what matters most and formulate clear recommendations.
• Experience managing integrated roadmaps, milestones, risks, issues and dependencies.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and mobilize multidisciplinary stakeholders without direct reporting authority.
• Ability to work in a complex and ambiguous environment, exercise independent judgment and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to adapt messages for operational and executive audiences.
• A bachelor’s degree in a related field and three to ten years of relevant experience, or a master’s degree and three to seven years of relevant experience, or any other combination of education and experience deemed equivalent.

Assets

• Experience in commercial banking, commercial financing or financial services.
• Experience in a transformation portfolio involving business, technology, operations, risk and data teams.
• Knowledge of Jira, Confluence, SharePoint, Power BI or comparable portfolio management and tracking tools.
• PMP, Agile, Lean, program management or change management certification.

Momentum 2030 plan is a fast-moving environment. There are many opportunities to take the initiative on specific projects or other areas of work alongside your main responsibilities. It is a great opportunity to demonstrate your ambition and your ability to take calculated risks. We champion innovation not only in the transformation plan we are implementing, but also in how we work. Each week, we look for ways to simplify and automate project portfolio management tasks, including through the use of AI tools.

Languages: French, English

Reason to require this language: you will need to work closely with our colleagues outside Quebec.

Required skills: Client-focused, Critical Thinking, Decision Making, Diversity & Inclusion, Emotional Intelligence, Learning Agility, Managerial Courage, Mobilization, Partner Development, Problem Solving, Resiliency, Risk Management, Strategy Execution, Stress Management

Your benefits

• Health and wellness program, including many options
• Flexible group insurance
• Generous pension plan
• Employee Share Ownership Plan
• Employee and family assistance program
• Preferential banking services
• Involvement in community initiatives
• Telemedicine service
• Virtual sleep clinic

We have an offer that keeps up with trends as well as your needs and those of your family.

Our dynamic work environments and cutting-edge collaboration tools foster a positive employee experience. We value employees’ ideas. Whether through our surveys or programs, regular feedback and ongoing communication are encouraged.

We’re a bank on a human scale that stands out for its courage, entrepreneurial culture, and passion for people. Our mission is to have a positive impact on people’s lives. Our core values of partnership, agility, and empowerment inspire us, and inclusion is central to our commitments. We aim, wherever possible, to provide a barrier-free and accessible environment to all employees.

We strive to provide accessibility measures throughout the recruitment process within the limits of our available resources. If you require accommodations, feel free to let us know during our initial conversations. We welcome all candidates! What can you bring to our team?

Join us!