Vice President, Enterprise Data and AI Platforms

sunlife; Toronto; On-site; CAD 180,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Sun Life is seeking a seasoned leader to partner with IT and Data Leaders globally to drive the design, development, and delivery of global data and AI capabilities. You will oversee end-to-end programs, establish governance standards, and expand enterprise data products to enable insights across regions.

You will mentor a high-performing team, manage budgets, and collaborate with stakeholders to deliver measurable business outcomes while ensuring regulatory compliance and ethical data use.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, AI/ML, Engineering, or related field.
• MBA or advanced degree is a plus.
• 10+ years in designing and implementing enterprise-scale data, analytics, and AI platforms.
• Strong expertise in Data Governance, compliance, and regulatory frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Lead the engineering and delivery of global Data and AI capabilities.
• Design, develop, and implement enterprise-scale data and AI platforms.
• Define and scale enterprise data platform architecture and governance standards.

Skills

Data Governance

AI platforms

Analytics platforms

Regulatory compliance

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field

MBA or advanced degree is a plus

Tools

N/A

Job description

You are as unique as your background, experience and point of view. Here, you'll be encouraged, empowered and challenged to be your best self. You'll work with dynamic colleagues - experts in their fields - who are eager to share their knowledge with you. Your leaders will inspire and help you reach your potential and soar to new heights. Every day, you'll have new and exciting opportunities to make life brighter for our Clients - who are at the heart of everything we do.

At Sun Life, we're driven by our Purpose: helping our Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Our values shape how we work: caring, authentic, bold, inspiring, and impactful.

When you join Sun Life, you'll work with passionate colleagues and empowering leaders who support your growth and celebrate your contributions, so you can make a meaningful difference in our Clients' lives.

Discover how you can make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities around the world.

Job Description

• Partner with IT and Data Leaders globally and lead the engineering and delivery of global Data and AI capabilities.
• Lead the end-to-end design, development, and implementation of enterprise-scale data and AI platforms that support our business strategies and initiatives.
• Drive the strategy and execution of a unified global data platform architecture, enabling consistent data accessibility, interoperability, and governance standards across all regions and business units.
• Lead the expansion of enterprise data products and self-service capabilities to accelerate time-to-insight for global stakeholders, ensuring equitable data access regardless of geography.
• Define, build, and scale the enterprise agentic AI platform infrastructure - including the agentic control plane, orchestration layers, model registries, and inference pipelines - to enable scalable, responsible AI development and deployment across the enterprise.
• Architect and evolve the agentic control plane to manage agent lifecycle, governance, observability, and safe orchestration of autonomous AI agents across business domains.
• Establish enterprise-wide standards and guardrails for the responsible use of agentic AI, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements, ethical guidelines, and data privacy principles.
• Partner with business and technology leaders to identify high-value AI and agentic use cases and accelerate the path from experimentation to production-grade AI solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Define and socialize Data Governance policies, practices, and capabilities that enable compliance with regulatory requirements and industry best practices.
• Identify opportunities to streamline and optimize existing data processes and workflows, leveraging automation, agentic AI, and emerging technologies.
• Collaborate with data scientists, AI/ML engineers, analysts, and business stakeholders globally to deliver data and AI solutions that empower informed decision-making.
• Manage budgets, allocate resources effectively, and optimize costs for data engineering, analytics, and AI platform investments.
• Stay informed about the latest advancements in data technologies, agentic AI architectures, and industry trends, and assess their applicability to our ecosystem.
• Introduce innovative technologies and methodologies to improve data processing, analysis, AI capabilities, and reporting.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning within the data and AI platforms team.
• Mentor, develop, and lead a high-performing team, providing guidance and direction for professional growth.

Key Points of Interaction

• Business Group Chief Data and Analytics Officers
• IT VPs and SVPs
• Business Executives (AVP+)
• External Vendors and Technology Providers

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, AI/ML, Engineering, or related field. MBA or advanced degree is a plus.
• Proven experience (10+ years) in designing and implementing enterprise-scale data, analytics, and AI platforms, preferably within the financial industry.
• Strong expertise in Data Governance, compliance, and regulatory frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience building and