Strategic Initiatives Program Manager

Manion Wilkins & Associates Ltd.; Surrey; Hybrid; CAD 110,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Health benefits

RRSP matching

Flexible work options

Job summary

GroupHEALTH in Surrey, BC, is seeking a Strategic Initiatives Program Manager to lead Transformation Office initiatives from initiation to close-out, including M&A due diligence, joint venture standups, product and service launches, and executive reporting.

You will translate priorities into practical project plans, manage day-to-day execution, and collaborate with IT, vendors, and business teams to maintain momentum.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of direct project management experience, preferably leading cross-functional initiatives.
• Experience reporting to or partnering with C-suite or senior leaders.
• Strong governance, risk, and stakeholder-management capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead Transformation Office initiatives from initiation through close-out, including M&A due diligence and executive reporting.
• Translate executive priorities into practical project plans, workstreams, and timelines.
• Manage day-to-day project execution with status updates, RAID tracking, and escalation as needed.
• Coordinate across business functions, IT, vendors, and SMEs to remove blockers and maintain momentum.
• Support governance reporting and sponsor communications to ensure alignment and accountability.

Skills

Project management

Executive reporting

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional collaboration

Change management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration

Project Management certification

Tools

MS Office

Teams

SharePoint

Job description

At GroupHEALTH, we're proud of the work we do, but it's how we do it that truly sets us apart. We're a fast-moving, ever-evolving, stable organization with deep roots and a bold vision: to transform the way Canadians experience benefits. We combine agility with long-term stability to create meaningful impact.

Here, you'll find more than just a job. You'll find a purpose-driven, people-first culture where kindness, collaboration, and curiosity thrive. Whether you've been here fifteen years or fifteen days, you'll notice right away, our people are genuinely invested in one another's success and delivering exceptional experiences to our clients and plan members.

About the Role

Do you like turning big ideas into real results, and are you comfortable keeping executives on track? The Strategic Initiatives Program Manager sits in the Transformation Office and works directly with our Executive Leadership Team. You will take initiatives from early idea through intake, prioritization, delivery, and close-out. You will own the plan, the follow-through, and the reporting. At GroupHEALTH, transformation means moving the business forward and everything that goes with it. This role covers a wide range of enterprise work, including M&A activity, product and innovation launches, governance, risk, and privacy initiatives, and a large-scale operational transformation already in progress. You will manage several initiatives at the same time from day one. This role suits a confident, organized operator who can run a room and hold executives accountable to their commitments. Your job is to deliver on strategy, not set it, and to bring the structure and momentum that turn priorities into outcomes. This is a hybrid role based in our Surrey, BC office, with three days per week in the office.

What to Expect in Your First 3 Months

First 30 Days:

• Complete a full portfolio inventory of all assigned Transformation Office initiatives, including sponsor, scope, status, timeline, key milestones, risks, dependencies, decisions required, and expected business outcomes.
• Build effective working relationships with Executive Leadership Team members and initiative sponsors, ensuring expectations, decision points, risks, and required follow-up are clearly understood and actively managed.

First 60 Days:

• Implement consistent project governance routines for assigned initiatives, including status updates, RAID tracking, decision logs, action follow-up, and escalation pathways.
• Validate priority project plans by confirming near-term milestones, resource needs, dependencies, and key decisions with sponsors and core project teams.
• Assess current Transformation Office project practices against the emerging enterprise project management framework and identify areas for alignment, simplification, or flexibility.

First 90 Days:

• Produce an initial view of cross-project dependencies, sequencing risks, stakeholder impacts, and potential change saturation across assigned Transformation-led work.
• Establish sponsor confidence by demonstrating early value with Executive Leadership Team members, sponsors, and stakeholders through clarity, structure, timely follow-up, and visible momentum.

What You'll Do

Transformation Office Project Delivery

• Lead assigned Transformation Office initiatives from initiation through close-out, including M&A due diligence coordination, joint venture standups, product and service launches, executive reporting, and other enterprise-sponsored transformation priorities
• Translate executive and enterprise priorities into practical project plans, workstreams, timelines, deliverables, and near-term actions
• Manage day-to-day project execution, including project plans, status updates, RAID tracking, decision logs, action follow-up, and escalation
• Coordinate across business functions, IT, vendors, subject matter experts, and project teams to resolve blockers and maintain delivery momentum

Executive Stakeholder Support and Governance

• Work directly alongside Executive Leadership Team members, executive sponsors, and business leaders to clarify priorities, decision points, risks, dependencies, and required follow-up
• Prepare concise, decision-oriented project updates, briefing materials, and governance reporting for the Chief Transformation Officer, executive sponsors, steering groups, and applicable governance forums
• Facilitate sponsor check-ins, working sessions, project meetings, and decision discussions that are focused, productive, and action-oriented
• Influence without direct authority by creating clarity, accountability, timely follow-through, and alignment across executive-sponsored priorities

Business Readiness, Change, and Adoption

• Partner with the Change and Communications teams to build business readiness, stakeholder impacts, communications, training, and adoption considerations into project plans and delivery routines
• Work with sponsors, business owners, Change, and Communications to sequence initiatives in a way the organization can absorb
• Identify change risks, readiness gaps, adoption barriers, and stakeholder impacts early, escalating where executive action or sponsor support is required
• Maintain awareness of enterprise priorities and organizational capacity to help reduce change saturation, duplicated effort, and conflicting timelines

Project Management Framework Alignment

• Follow the consistent project management framework established by the senior IT Program Management role, including shared expectations for intake, governance, reporting, artifacts, and delivery discipline, while maintaining an indirect working relationship and clear reporting accountability to the Transformation Office
• Apply the framework pragmatically to business-led Transformation Office initiatives, using judgment to keep governance, tools, and routines practical for the scale and complexity of the work
• Provide feedback from Transformation Office delivery to help ensure enterprise project management practices support both business-led and IT-enabled initiatives

Documentation and Continuous Improvement

• Maintain organized, current, and accessible project documentation for governance, auditability, knowledge transfer, and future reuse
• Support reusable templates, dashboards, reporting formats, and project practices that improve visibility, consistency, and follow-through
• Capture lessons learned from completed or in-flight initiatives to strengthen future project planning and execution

What We're Looking For

• University degree or college diploma in Business Administration, Project Management, Operations, Change Management, or a comparable field
• 5 or more years of direct project management experience, preferably leading cross-functional business, operational, transformation, or enterprise initiatives
• Experience managing projects that involve multiple stakeholders, business functions, vendors, technology dependencies, and executive sponsors
• Direct experience reporting to, or working closely with, C-suite or senior executive leaders. Exposure one level removed also counts, such as preparing executive presentations and briefings for your leader.
• Demonstrated ability to manage scope, timelines, milestones, dependencies, risks, issues, decisions, and stakeholder expectations
• Experience working with both predictive and agile delivery environments is an asset
• Project management certification or equivalent experience is preferred
• Change management certification or practical change management experience is an asset
• Strong business acumen and ability to quickly understand operational processes, organizational structures, and cross-functional impacts
• Strong communication, facilitation, discretion, judgment, and executive-ready reporting skills
• Highly organized senior Executive Assistants with strong operations and project management experience are encouraged to apply
• Experience with Microsoft Office, Teams, SharePoint, project tracking tools, and collaboration platforms is an asset
• Technical background is not required; ability to partner effectively with IT and translate between business and technical stakeholders is important

You will succeed in this role if you are:

• An Enterprise & Strategic Thinker – you understand how projects connect to enterprise strategy, transformation priorities, organizational capacity, and business outcomes
• Focused on Delivery Excellence & Execution Discipline – you plan, govern, and deliver projects with structure, transparency, follow-through, and minimal surprises
• Strong in Business Acumen & Value Orientation – you understand business operations, stakeholder needs, and value drivers, and keep project activity connected to measurable outcomes and practical business impact
• Skilled in Executive Presence, Stakeholder Influence & Communication – you build trust with Executive Leadership Team members, influence without authority, exercise sound judgment and discretion, and communicate clearly with executives, sponsors, IT partners, vendors, and business teams
• A Change Leader with an Adoption Mindset – you recognize that successful delivery requires readiness, adoption, communications, training, and sustained behaviour change
• Committed to Framework Alignment & Practical Standardization – you work within common enterprise project management standards while applying judgment to keep tools, governance, and routines practical for business-led initiatives
• Collaborative Across Distributed Project Teams – you work effectively with project managers, coordinators, sponsors, IT partners, and business stakeholders who may sit in different functions and reporting lines
• Accountable in Ownership, Judgment & Escalation – you take accountability for moving work forward, identify risks early, elevate with recommendations, and support timely decision-making

Compensation

At the time of this posting, the estimated annual base salary for this position is $110,000 to $125,000. Individual compensation within this range is determined by factors such as job-related skills, relevant experience, and education/training. This range reflects the annual base salary only and does not encompass the comprehensive total rewards package that we proudly offer.

Why Join Us

• Beyond salary, we offer generous paid time off, extended health and dental benefits, RRSP matching, and flexible work options
• Wellness support, including comprehensive mental health resources, to prioritize your well-being both in and out of the workplace
• A supportive culture, with opportunities to grow, and where our team members feel valued and empowered to thrive.

Accommodation and Inclusion

GroupHEALTH is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion. If you need accommodation during any stage of the hiring process, please let us know! We're here to help.