Senior Incident, Problem & Change Specialist

Socket.dev; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

RRSP match

Benefits

ESPP

Parental top-up

Generous vacation & personal days

Career development

Job summary

EQ Bank in Toronto is seeking an Incident, Problem & Change Specialist to lead major incidents, drive root cause analysis, and govern change processes across critical systems. You will coordinate incident response, communications, and cross-team collaboration with a focus on minimizing disruption and improving service reliability.

You will implement ITIL-based practices, track KPIs, and produce executive reports, while working in a hybrid environment at EQ Bank’s offices.

Qualifications

• University degree in IT/business or equivalent experience.
• Incident, Problem & Change management with Major Incident experience preferred.
• 3 years of technical incident or defect resolution experience.
• Strong written and verbal communication for technical and executive audiences.
• Ability to work efficiently, collaboratively and under pressure.
• Knowledge of ITIL 4 practices.
• Analytical mindset with data reporting capabilities for senior management.
• Organized, structured, logical thinker with attention to detail.
• Multitasking across concurrent initiatives with pace.
• Experience tracking incidents, problems and changes with dashboard views.
• Strong knowledge of ServiceNow, Confluence and Jira is required.
• Attention to detail, root cause analysis, and solution recommendations.
• Logical problem solving, good judgment, adaptability in fast-paced environments.
• Professional demeanor and ability to work with multiple teams.
• Coordinative authority and calm under pressure.
• Ability to work with other teams to get things done quickly.

Responsibilities

• Determine severity of potential major incidents using priority matrix.
• Drive restoration of major incidents within response and resolution SLAs.
• Communicate status with stakeholders with clear updates.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and progress updates.
• Host technical and managerial conference calls during incidents.
• Spin up command centres as needed and escalate to Level 2/3 experts.
• Create and distribute concise command centre progress communications.
• Coordinate escalations with internal and supplier teams.
• Maintain thorough incident records.
• Gather information for effective root cause analysis.
• Produce executive incident reporting on impact and timing.
• Minimize incidents via problem identification and service improvement plans.
• Identify root causes and triggers of problems and implement solutions.
• Ensure Problem Records contain history and Known Errors.
• Review problem resolutions to prevent recurrence; capture lessons.
• Monitor aging/inactive problems and verify resolutions.
• Provide extended/off-hour support for command centres.
• Manage on-call schedules and change management processes.
• Develop, monitor and maintain change standards; ensure proper documentation.
• Manage change schedule and communications; CAB meetings facilitation.
• Identify risks with stakeholders and mitigation strategies.
• Ensure changes are tested/validated before implementation.
• Review/update SOPs and processes for performance improvements.

Skills

Incident management

Technical incident resolution

Communication skills

ITIL 4

Analytical skills

Organized thinking

Multitasking

Dashboard reporting

Change management

Professionalism

Team collaboration

Education

University degree in IT/Business

Tools

ServiceNow

Confluence

Jira

Job description

Join a Challenger

At EQ, we're remaking banking so every Canadian gets ahead, every day. Serving nearly 4 million Canadians from coast to coast, we offer a wide variety of financial services from banking and lending, to trust and credit union solutions. We've been at this since 1970, challenging the conventions of traditional banking with smarter, faster, and more connected financial experiences. What's kept us moving? The people behind it all: challengers who ask better questions, push back on old assumptions, and look for a better way forward. If you're driven to help reshape how banking works for Canadians and the businesses that power our economy, this could be your next big opportunity. We can’t wait to get to know you!

The Work

One of our goals is to fail small and learn fast. The Incident and Problem Manager will focus on minimizing the impacts of production incidents while ensuring the organization learns quickly to become more resilient.

The Incident, Problem & Change Specialist is accountable for tracking, and managing technology incidents experienced within the bank, while driving the restoration of services at pace. A key part of this role is effective communication across all stakeholders and teams within the bank, in both verbal and written form while working under pressure at a fast pace.

The role is responsible for managing the processes, guidelines, standards and tools related to Major and other high priority Incidents. This encompasses performing Root Cause Analysis.

The role is responsible for managing the lifecycle of Problems, with the aim of preventing incidents from happening or reoccurring. The Incident, Problem & Change Specialist will record and manage problems through to resolution by performing root cause analysis, coordinating third party analysis, and communicating with stakeholders. They will ensure workaround and solution suitability will establish service level objectives, indicators and agreements (SLOs, SLIs and SLAs) for critical systems and channels, including championing automated monitoring and data aggregating to streamline reporting of metrics.

This role is also responsible for managing the lifecycle of Changes with the goal of ensuring appropriate due diligence and documentation exists to reduce risk and proactively have a rollback strategy to minimize impact if issues arise. As a gatekeeper for the Change process, this role ensures adherence to the Change Enablement standard, processes and Change Advisory Board (CAB) expectations.

Success in this role will be demonstrated by ensuring that all major incidents are dealt with effectively and with minimum disruption to live service and SLAs.

The Core Responsibilities!

• Determine the severity of a potential major incident that has been raised by the business (per priority matrix)
• Drives successful and timely restoration services of major incidents within response and resolution time SLAs
• Establish and maintain timely communications with all stakeholders to ensure they are informed of service status with clear and comprehensive updates
• Manage stakeholder expectations and update people on progress or slippages
• Host both technical and managerial conference calls, and facilitate effective incident management throughout the incident lifecycle
• Spin-up command centres (virtual/physical) as needed based on priority of incidents, including call-tree escalations to Level 2 / 3 experts as needed
• Own the creation and distribution of succinct communications on command centre progress and activities, for both front-line technical staff and executive leaders
• Co-ordinate / facilitate escalations through internal and supplier teams as needed to heighten visibility and engagement
• Maintain accurate and thoroughly detailed records of incidents
• Accountable for gathering required information from business and technology to enable effective Root Cause Analysis
• Produce and maintain Executive level reporting of incidents, including number of customers impacted and restoration timing at the time of incident and also ongoing reporting on a cadence
• Minimize and mitigate business-impacting incidents through controlled problem identification and responsive / proactive service improvement plans
• Identify the underlying root cause and the triggers of a Problem and initiate the most appropriate and economical Problem solution or temporary workaround
• Ensure that after a successful Problem solution - the Problem Record contains a full historical description, and that related Known Error Records are updated
• Undertake a review of the resolution of a Problem to prevent reoccurrence and learn any lessons for the future
• Draw appropriate attention towards aging and inactive problems
• Verify if the Problems marked as closed have been fully resolved
• Provide extended and off-hour support as needed to manage command centres and communications
• Manage processes to ensure on-call team schedules, systematic call-trees, and distribution lists are accurate and up to date
• Develop, monitor and maintain change management standards and procedures based on effectiveness
• Ensure that all changes are properly documented, reviewed, and approved
• Manage the change schedule and ensure that changes are implemented in a timely and efficient manner
• Work with stakeholders to identify potential risks and develop mitigation strategies
• Ensure that all changes are properly tested and validated before implementation
• Facilitate change advisory board (CAB) meetings
• Ensure that all changes are properly communicated to stakeholders and end-users
• Review and update SOPs, policies and business processes to improve performance

Let's Talk About You!

• University degree in business administration or a technology-related field required, or equivalent work experience
• Incident, Problem & Change management with Major Incident Response experience preferable
• 3years of experience with technical incident resolution or product defect resolution
• Strong written and verbal communication, with an ability to articulate issues simply, concisely, accurately and clearly for both technical working level teams and executives
• An ability to work efficiently, effectively and collaboratively
• Knowledge of ITIL 4 practices
• Analytical mind capable of managing numerous information sources and providing meaningful data analysis reports to senior management
• Organized, structured, logical thinking and detail oriented analytic skills
• Multi-tasking – can manage several concurrent initiatives with pace and prioritise demands whilst maintaining composure
• Experience with tracking incidents, problems and changes including providing dashboard views of good performance & gaps overtime
• Strong knowledge of ServiceNow, Confluence and Jira is required
• Strong attention to detail, keen problem-solving skills, with experience performing impact and root cause analyses, recommending solutions, and supporting resolution efforts
• Ability to approach problems logically and with good judgment to ensure the appropriate outcome
• Capacity to adapt to and manage change in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Personal maturity, personable, credible, professional presence
• Coordinative authority, Calm under pressure
• Ability to work professionally with other teams and individuals to get things done quickly

What we offer [For full-time permanent roles]

• Competitive discretionary bonus
• Market leading RRSP match program
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits
• Employee Share Purchase Plan
• Maternity/Parental top-up while you care for your little one
• Generous vacation policy and personal days
• Virtual events to connect with your fellow colleagues
• Professional development and comprehensive Career Development program
• A fulfilling opportunity to join one of the top FinTechs and help create a new kind of banking experience

The incumbent will be working hybrid and in office time will be spent working from EQ Bank’s additional office space located at 2200-25 Ontario Street, Toronto, ON.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

EQ is committed to building an inclusive, accessible environment where every employee feels valued, respected, and supported. We believe our organization is stronger — and our people thrive — when we honour and celebrate diverse experiences, identities, and perspectives. We’re equally committed to supporting your growth, both professionally and personally.

We provide a barrier‑free recruitment process and work environment. If you require accommodations at any stage, we will work with you to ensure you can bring your best self to the process and beyond.

As part of our recruitment process, EQ uses AI to help screen, assess, and/or select applicants for this position. All AI-enabled outputs are reviewed and validated by our talent team. All candidates considered for hire must successfully complete a criminal background check and credit check. While we appreciate every application, an EQ recruiter will contact only those whose skills and experience most closely match the requirements of the role.

EQB Inc. (TSX: EQB) is the parent company of Equitable Bank, the country's seventh-largest Schedule I bank by assets, which operates EQ Bank, Canada's Challenger Bank™. EQB Inc. serves nearly 4 million Canadians and manages approximately $150 billion in combined assets under management and administration.

To learn more, visit eqb.investorroom.com and eqbank.ca.