Director, Content and Strategy

Job content

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:

Reporting to the AVP, Learning and Development, the Director, Content and Strategy, will play a critical role in building and leading an evolving set of strategic training programs and initiatives. This will include utilizing digital technology to continue to evolve training programs and change management strategies for the Retail Advice and Solutions channels.

The successful candidate will be a solution focused, proven leader with a track record of understanding the needs and priorities for an advisor seeking to build a holistic practice. It requires a broad skillset that includes strong consulting, relationship building and communication capabilities with a demonstrated competence for mobilizing teams to create and deliver training strategies aligned with business goals. It is best suited for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and someone willing to roll up your sleeves to help your team and your partners get things done.

This individual will build effective relationships with sponsors and stakeholders, and all key members of the Retail Advice and Solutions teams to ensure the success of prioritized training initiatives aligned to the SLFD strategy and vision.

This role has a team of six direct reports, including the Lead, training delivery specialist. The candidate will collaborate extensively with Learning and Development’s consulting and design team to ensure the success of all training initiatives.

What will you do?

• Help build a ‘sales focused’ approach for the learning and development team centered on supporting a holistic advice advisor platform by:
• Initiating, creating, and leading strategic learning and development projects. This includes but is not limited to:
• Designing product strategy training approaches for the Retail Advice and Solutions platforms
• Building programmatic approaches for coaching and leadership to drive learning outcomes around key business priorities
• Building tailored learning journeys for cohorts of advisors and leaders.
• Develop execution plans (scope, time, cost, communication, execution, measurement and follow up) for all key initiatives
• Sourcing, building, and managing vendor relationships for learning and development needs
• To help build a high-performance delivery culture with clear direction and proactive leadership – To support, coach, and set expectations for the learning delivery team.
• To help engage and manage stakeholders from all of Retail Advice and Solutions to ensure that training needs and execution expectations are identified, understood, aligned, and well communicated to achieve successful outcomes
• Utilize data and analytics to gain insights to continually assess training programs, as well as recommend and execute improvement projects to help accelerate learning performance.
• To promote, initiate, and curate a best practices culture centered on the evolution of a ‘holistic advisor’ business practice. To create tangible ideas for advisors to utilize effectively, for leaders to motivate and make a difference, and for sales management to get behind and help drive change
  
  

What do you need to succeed?

• Proven track record of delivering business results through strong team building, collaborative leadership skills and strategic thinking
• Expert level capabilities developing and implementing training, knowledge and change management sharing strategies and solutions
• Developed ability to think strategically and execute tactically, including using data-driven decision-making and the willingness to roll up your sleeves to get the job done
• Strong communication skills with an ability to effectively consult, educate and influence senior level management
• Expert ability to create and maintain strong working relationships across the organization at all levels
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills as well as persuasive presentation skills
• Comfortable working in ambiguous situations, flexible to handle a fast-paced environment and easily adaptable to a variety of management styles
• Ability to influence key decision makers and senior leaders
• Minimum of 5 years working either as a financial advisor or as a manager or having worked with financial advisors in a sales capacity. (Several years of sales experience ideally)
• University degree with a finance/economics background
• Strong sales positioning knowledge with a wide array of financial services products (Life Insurance solutions, mutual funds, segregated funds, ETF’s, annuities.)
• Experience with experiential training and emerging trends in Training and Development
• Strong knowledge of Training and Development best practices, tools, methodologies, and technology
  
  

What’s in it for you?

• Being a member of the Sun Life family, a group of people united by our Purpose: to help Clients and Employees achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives
• A friendly, collaborative, and inclusive culture
• We’re honoured to be recognized as a 2022 Best Workplaces in Canada by Great Place to Work® Canada
• Flexible Benefits from the day you join to meet the needs of you and your family
• Pension, stock and savings programs to help build and enhance your future financial security
• Wellness programs that support the three pillars of your health – mental, physical and financial
  
  

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.

At Sun Life we strive to create a flexible work environment where our employees are empowered to do their best work. Several flexible 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.

Salary Range:

105,000/105 000 - 165,900/165 900

Job Category:

Training & Development

Posting End Date:

08/03/2023