Senior Manager, Data Product Owner – Operational Data, Information & AI(ODIA)

What is the Opportunity?

The Operational Data, Information & AI (ODIA) team within Personal & Commercial Operations (PCO) is seeking a Data Product Owner to drive ownership of analytical and business intelligence (BI) solutions that power decision-making across PCO. You will act as the bridge, translating business needs into scalable data and AI solutions by partnering closely with business leaders, data engineering, BI, and data science teams to define metric logic, gather requirements, set priorities, and champion adoption so that our partners derive maximum impact. You will ensure data and AI products are designed, developed, and maintained effectively throughout their lifecycle.

What will you do?

• Discover and evaluate high-value use cases: Engage with senior leadership and business teams to understand strategic priorities, operational inefficiencies, and market opportunities. Conduct discovery sessions, synthesize business needs, and build data-driven business cases that justify investment in ML/AI and data infrastructure initiatives
• Build and own the strategic roadmap: Develop a compelling, business-aligned product roadmap for ML/AI initiatives and the Snowflake migration that articulates business outcomes, technical dependencies, sequencing, and resource requirements. Communicate roadmap vision and progress to senior leadership with clarity on ROI and business impact
• Translate business strategy into technical execution: Partner with senior stakeholders to understand strategic objectives, then work with data engineering and data science squads to translate these into well-defined epics, user stories, and technical specifications. Define success metrics rooted in business outcomes, not just technical delivery
• Lead Snowflake and AI adoption as strategic use cases: Own the vision and execution of both consolidating fragmented data sources into a unified, governed data layer through Snowflake migration AND identifying, prioritizing, and delivering high-impact AI use cases. Define the data architecture strategy, establish quality and governance frameworks, and guide both adoption programs through iterative delivery while maintaining alignment with business priorities. Ensure AI use cases are architected to leverage the consolidated data layer and deliver measurable business outcomes
• Manage and refine the product backlog with business impact in mind: Prioritize backlog items based on business value, technical feasibility, and strategic alignment. Facilitate sprint planning and backlog refinement sessions where both business and technical perspectives inform decisions
• Engage and influence senior leadership: Present use cases, roadmap progress, and business impact to executives. Build executive sponsorship, secure buy-in for major initiatives, and navigate organizational priorities to ensure timely resource allocation and strategic alignment
• Drive adoption and measure impact: Partner with business leaders to embed ML/AI and data solutions into operational routines. Define adoption metrics, track business outcomes, and communicate ROI to stakeholders. Use feedback loops to iterate and improve solutions
• Facilitate agile execution: Participate in sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. Lead backlog refinement sessions with both technical and business teams. Ensure squads maintain velocity while staying focused on delivering business value
• Serve as a connector and advocate: Bridge communication gaps between senior leadership (who speak in business outcomes) and technical teams (who speak in architecture and implementation). Resolve conflicts, navigate trade-offs, and foster collaboration across organizational boundaries

What do you need to succeed?

Must have:

• Deep business acumen with operations expertise:  Track record of thinking strategically like a business leader—translating operational challenges into data-driven solutions, understanding financial and operational impact, and building business cases that resonate with senior stakeholders. Experience in banking, financial services, or operations-heavy industries strongly preferred
• Strategic product thinking: Proven experience as a Product Owner or Product Manager building product strategies and roadmaps that balance business value, technical feasibility, and market/organizational realities. Experience defining outcomes-driven roadmaps, not just feature lists
• Executive presence and influence: Demonstrated ability to engage with senior leaders, present complex ideas clearly, build credibility, secure buy-in, and navigate organizational politics. Comfort speaking the language of business outcomes (revenue, cost, risk, customer impact) rather than technical details
• Agile product ownership expertise: Proven hands-on experience working as a Product Owner in agile environments (Scrum, Kanban, or hybrid). Experience managing complex, multi-squad initiatives
• Technical fluency and architectural thinking: Strong understanding of modern data platforms, cloud infrastructure (Snowflake, data warehousing), data engineering, MLOps, and AI/ML fundamentals. Ability to have substantive conversations with data engineers and data scientists about architecture, trade-offs, and feasibility without being an engineer yourself
• Use case discovery and business case development: Experience identifying, scoping, and quantifying high-impact data and AI opportunities. Ability to build compelling business cases with clear ROI, resource requirements, and risk assessment.
• Cross-functional leadership: Ability to lead without authority, building strong relationships across business, technology, and executive teams. Excellent communication skills for translating between business stakeholders and technical teams
• Program and change management: Experience managing large-scale initiatives (migrations, platform consolidations, organizational transformations) in agile settings. Understanding of change management principles and stakeholder engagement strategies

Nice-to-have:

• Experience in financial services, banking, or operations-heavy industries
• Track record of successfully migrating or consolidating data platforms in an enterprise environment
• Track record of identifying, scoping, and delivering high-value AI use cases to production in an enterprise environment
• Background in data science, analytics, or data engineering (provides deeper technical credibility)
• Agile certification

What’s in it for you?

We thrive on the challenge to be our best, progressive thinking to keep growing, and working together to deliver trusted advice to help our clients thrive and communities prosper. We care about each other, reaching our potential, making a difference to our communities, and achieving success that is mutual.

• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including performance-based bonuses, flexible benefits and competitive compensation.
• Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities.
• Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team. 
• A unique opportunity for personal and professional growth.

Job Skills

Big Data Management, Database Development, Data Mining, Data Warehousing (DW), ETL Processing, Quality Management, Requirements Analysis, Waterfall Model

Additional Job Details

RBC WATERPARK PLACE, 88 QUEENS QUAY W:TORONTOTorontoCanada37.5Full timePERSONAL & COMMERCIAL BANKINGRegularSalaried2026-02-262026-03-21

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the application deadline date above

Our Employment Opportunities

At RBC, we are guided by living shared values of Client First, Integrity, Collaboration, Respect and Excellence and winning together as One RBC. We believe an inclusive workplace that has diverse perspectives is core to our continued growth as one of the largest and most successful banks in the world. Maintaining a workplace where our employees feel supported to perform at their best, effectively collaborate, drive innovation, and grow professionally helps to bring our Purpose to life and create value for our clients and communities. RBC strives to deliver this through policies and programs intended to foster a workplace based on respect, belonging and opportunity for all.

RBC is presently inviting candidates to apply for this existing vacancy. Applying to this posting allows you to express your interest in this current career opportunity at RBC. Qualified applicants may be contacted to review their resume in more detail.