AVP, Insurance Product & Solutions

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

Job Description:

Role Overview

The AVP, Insurance Product & Strategy is an experienced product management leader who is accountable for the full shelf of actively-sold retail insurance products in Canada. Collaborating with business partners, this leader will deliver on a prioritized short, medium and long-term product portfolio roadmap to drive significant insurance sales growth for Canada. The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring products are competitive, well designed, and positioned to meet Client needs. They will also be a key partner in driving the profitability of our individual insurance product portfolio and enabling our distributions channels to drive sustained sales growth.

The successful candidate will have a solid breadth of knowledge with respect to individual insurance products, a track record of product innovation and an understanding of design, pricing, distribution and administration in order to facilitate the delivery of these solutions to the market.

This role will report to the VP, Insurance Solutions in Retail Advice & Solutions (RA&S).

What will you do?

Product Management:

• Oversees competitive and market reviews and commentary

• Develops and maintains product strategies and roadmaps at both the individual product and the portfolio levels

• Maintains core product specifications in support of positioning to advisors and Clients

• Maintains a comprehensive, analytics-based view of product health, including sales growth, profitability, risk and Client experience

Product Development and Innovation:

• Expert on the solution development process from ideation to design to business case and finally to launch, with a solid understanding of the governance, pricing and design aspects.

• Balance trade-offs between scope, timelines and budgets to deliver on time and maximize value to the business

• Expert on identifying and assessing key innovative opportunities to support the strategic direction of Insurance Solutions and Sun Life Canada

• Responsible for overseeing a backlog of innovative product solutions and enhancements

• Expert on the Canadian competitive environment, including product offerings, value propositions for key markets, pricing, methods of distribution with a focus utilizing this knowledge to drive the evolution of our product shelf

• Solid understanding of the global insurance marketplace with ability to draw ideas and translate them into potential solutions within the Canadian market

Leadership and Talent Management:

• Proven people leader who promotes a collaborative environment for high-potential, diverse talent to achieve their goals and generate positive Client-focused results

• Advances the skills and capabilities of the team, including the use of data and analytics, design thinking and strategic planning

• Builds relationships with internal and external partners to lead and guide product development and innovation initiatives

• Act as a problem solver and facilitator to quickly remove obstacles

• Demonstrates strong business acumen and strategic thinking with ability to set vision for the team

What do you need to succeed?

• 10 years industry experience with 5 years in individual insurance

• Expert understanding of individual insurance products and competitive landscape

• Expert knowledge of insurance product features and product development considerations

• Strong facilitation and collaboration skills; can align a wide array of internal stakeholders to a common product portfolio strategy and roadmap

• Strong analytics skills and record of leveraging data to generate insights and influence decision-making

• Strong presentation and influencing skills, with experience applying these skills with executive leadership

• An understanding of the Client coupled with a Client first focus

• A solid understanding of workings of insurance administrations systems, illustration systems and all tools necessary to support the insurance products

• Strong negotiating, influencing, analytical and facilitation skills

• As this position is posted in several locations, we specify that bilingualism (French, English, both oral and written) is required for Quebec only for the frequent interactions with English and French-speaking colleagues or internal partners across Canada or worldwide.

What will be nice to have?

• Solid understanding of actuarial pricing and risk management principles

• Strong understanding of insurance distribution

• Experience with digitization of solutions

What’s in it for you?

• A competitive salary and bonus program, based on market scale

• A flexible group insurance program starting on your first day of work to meet your needs and those of your family.

• Time off that allows you to focus on the moments that matter most. 20 vacation days per year.

• Our Share Ownership Program gives you the opportunity to invest in Sun Life while benefiting from employer matching contributions.

• We are proud to be included in Great Place to Work's 2025 list of Canada's Best Workplaces.

• A warm, supportive, and inclusive culture.

The Base Pay range is for the primary location for which the job is posted. It may vary depending on the work location of the successful candidate or other factors. In addition to Base Pay, eligible Sun Life employees participate in various incentive plans, payment under which is discretionary and subject to individual and company performance. Certain sales focused roles have sales incentive plans based on individual or group sales results.

Diversity and inclusion have always been at the core of our values at Sun Life. A diverse workforce with wide perspectives and creative ideas benefits our Clients, the communities where we operate and all of us as colleagues. We welcome applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds.

Persons with disabilities who need accommodation in the application process, or those needing job postings in an alternative format, may e-mail a request to thebrightside@sunlife.com.

We are proud to be a hybrid organization that offers our employees the choice and flexibility to work from both the office and virtually based on the needs of the business, our Clients and you! Several work options are available and can be discussed throughout the selection process depending on the role requirements and individual needs.

We thank all applicants for showing an interest in this position. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

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