VP, Application Operation Services

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:

About the role

The VP, Application Operation Services (AOS) is accountable for the efficient and effective service management, stability, and resilience of Sun Life Canada’s application portfolio and the leadership of Canada’s Quality Engineering (QE) Chapter. This individual will be a member of the Canadian Digital Client Technology Solutions Leadership Team and works closely with executives on the Digital Business and Technology Leadership team, and with the Canada Executive Team.

This role is responsible for driving continuous improvement and operational excellence in all aspects of operational service delivery, including application security, stability, resiliency, systems and processes to ensure Sun Life Canada’s applications meet the approved application recovery and business continuity plans.  

The VP, Application Operations Services oversees the planning and execution of all infrastructure and vendor software related changes to the supported applications and Change Management and Problem Management processes which impact applications and ensure we meet all application compliance requirements.  In partnership with the enterprise Quality Engineering organization, you will lead deployment and execution of Quality Engineering services for Canada.  

As a transformation leader who will continue to progress automation and exploring agentic opportunities across all AOS and QE functions, the role will have a deep focus and commitment to DevSecOps and advancing our Digital Leadership capabilities in Canada.

What you'll be doing

Strengthen Business Partnerships:

• Trusted Advisor to all technology partners and to Canada’s Business Group that informs, educates, and coaches on technology solutions

• Clearly articulates the value, benefit, and trade-offs of digital investments, how they support technology and business strategies and how they integrate into the broader technology architecture

• Proven track record of building and sustaining high performance teams across organizational boundaries and successfully achieving a broad set of IT deliverables within tight deadlines and budgets. 

• Develops strong and productive relationships with partners at all levels of the organization as well working closely with senior IT and business leaders

• Champions continuous improvement and operational excellence in all aspects of application support and maintenance, and technology renewal

• Establishes a follow the sun mindset, developing strategies and approaches for ensuring applications are highly available and stable within agreed upon business SLAs 

Operational Excellence, Stability, Risk Management

• Owns application service health, including availability, performance, incident trends, and root-cause remediation

• Leads major incident response and drives a culture of blameless post-incident review and continuous learning

• Ensures applications meet approved recovery, resiliency and business continuity objectives

• Manages aggregate operational and technology risk across supported platforms, including technology debt, vulnerabilities, remediation activities and concentration risk

• Establishes and monitors service reliability and operational metrics aligned to business criticality

Identifies Opportunities and Prioritization:

• Leads with a commitment to industry leading Client, Advisor and Employee digital experiences

• Understands operational, quality, Client, competitor and technology trends impacting Sun Life Canada

• Contributes to technology and Business Strategy Roadmaps and influences strategic business investments

• Manages aggregate risk across all technology platforms supported.  Examples include technology debt, currency, vulnerability and penetration test remediation, as well as concentration risk

• Identifies and advances AI opportunities both in the AIOps and AI for Quality-Engineering verticals

• Participates in external forums to gain an industry and external perspective

• Participates in FinTech/InsurTech ecosystems to identify emerging opportunities and threats

• Engages with Clients, vendors and partners to understand their needs, challenges, and opportunities

Creates High Performing and Inclusive teams:

• Coaches and supports Journey technology leaders and Chapter leaders to use technology driving towards target Business and Client outcomes

• Ensures clear accountabilities across the organization and removes barriers and impediments to team success

• Influences future Enterprise Platform / COE capabilities, structures, and operating models to enable successful adoption across Business Groups

• Leads and develops senior technology leaders, with a focus on succession planning and leadership bench strength

• Actively contributes to the evolution of Digital Leadership across Sun Life

Managing Talent:

• Establishes a strategic talent management framework and workforce planning framework

• Creates an inclusive culture that fosters diversity and employee engagement

• Attracts and retains diverse talent from a broad range of backgrounds and geographies

• Works with peers to identify future skill needs and develops talent pipelines

• Ensures continuous development of employees to meet the future needs of the organization

Managing Technology Vendors and Partners:

• Owns and manages partnerships with technology vendors and delivery partners

• Provides financial stewardship across AOS, including vendor spend and cost optimization

• Identifies and cultivates new partnerships with Fintech/InsurTec/Technology companies that will enable Sun Life to achieve its purpose

What you'll need to succeed

• 10+ years' experience in Senior technology leadership roles 

• Proven experience leading large, complex technology teams

• Bachelor's degree in computer sciences or equivalent. Master's degree is preferred

• Knowledge of a wide array of operations tools, incident management best practices, for a wide range of distributed and mainframe-based applications and technology platforms.

• Strong Knowledge of Product Management, DevSecOps, ITSM and QE practices

• Excellent strategic, technology and communications skills to interact with all levels, including senior management and executives, within and external to the organization

• Ability to design and explain complex scenarios with simplicity to aid in understanding for the specific audience

• A leader that communicates with an authentic style that breaks down silos and encourages open communication across IT and the Business

• Strong passion for Client care with the focus on root cause analysis and continuous improvement

• Highly credible leader and demonstrates consistently superior management skills, who attracts and retains superior technology professionals by developing strong, cohesive teams

• Operates with a strong sense of urgency and enhances team development and engagement

• Experience with organizing and overseeing multiple initiatives simultaneously in a complex, fast-paced environment

• Proven flexiblity and resilience in application support, service restoration, and problem resolution context, both independently and in a team environment

• Expected to respond outside business hours in event of crises impacting business operations or major implementations

• 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.

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 may use artificial intelligence to support candidate sourcing, screening, interview scheduling.

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

Salary Range:

195,000/195 000 - 270,000/270 000

Job Category:

General Management

Posting End Date:

26/03/2026