VP Finance & Chief Accountant

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:

The VP, Finance & Chief Accountant is a senior leadership role with global accountability for core finance and controllership functions at Sun Life Financial Inc. As a key member of the enterprise finance leadership team, the role offers the opportunity to contribute at a pivotal stage in the organization’s evolution toward more innovative, technology‑enabled capabilities. The successful candidate will be a confident, established leader with a strong ability to build relationships across a complex, matrixed organization and to advance best‑in‑class accounting policy and financial reporting control capabilities, creating meaningful value for key stakeholders.

Key Relationships

Reports to:       

• SVP, Enterprise Finance

Current team:

• Will lead a team of approximately 60 individuals, which currently includes 7 AVP-level direct reports in the areas of Accounting Advisory, Financial Reporting & Analysis, Internal Controls, and Enterprise Finance Analysis and Initiatives

Other key relationships (examples):

• Global Finance Leadership Team (e.g. SVPs within the global finance function)
• Business Group Finance Team Leadership
• Corporate Development Leadership

Primary Accountabilities

• Lead global accounting policy for Sun Life Financial, including the evaluation of new accounting standards, enterprise-wide implementation, and ongoing technical support, ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements, governance standards, and leading practices.
• Provide executive leadership for Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICFR), including assessment, testing, and certification support for the CEO and CFO, while advancing program effectiveness through technology enablement, process optimization, and organizational design.
• Lead the preparation and oversight of quarterly and annual external financial statements, including Sun Life Financial, Sun Life Assurance, and Life 1 regulatory filings, with a continued focus on enhancing disclosure quality to meet evolving stakeholder and regulatory expectations.
• Partner with Business Group CFOs and Controllers on accounting, reporting, and control matters, and collaborate closely with tax, capital management, investor relations, legal, and actuarial functions to support enterprise objectives.
• Support corporate development and strategic initiatives, including mergers and acquisitions, by providing leadership in due diligence, transaction accounting, and financial reporting and modelling activities.
• Lead the development and execution of Internal Controls over Sustainability Reporting (ICSR), establishing foundational governance, assessment, and testing capabilities as the program matures.
• Oversee the global relationship with external auditors, including audit planning, execution, issue resolution, and proactive management of emerging accounting and reporting matters.
• Provide enterprise-wide leadership for the development of accounting talent, including oversight of Sun Life’s CPA Leadership Program (CLP) and broader initiatives to build deep technical capability and future finance leaders.

Competencies and Experience

• University degree with a CPA/CA designation and a minimum of 15 years of progressive experience across accounting, finance, or controllership roles within complex organizations.
• Deep technical expertise in accounting policy, financial reporting, and controls, ideally developed within large, global financial institutions (e.g., accounting policy experience with matters of most relevance to a global asset management and insurance company).
• Demonstrated experience supporting public company financial reporting, preferably across both OSC and SEC regulatory environments.
• Exposure to corporate development and transactional activities, including mergers and acquisitions, considered a strong asset.
• Proven ability to engage and influence senior leaders, with credibility as a trusted advisor on complex accounting and reporting matters.
• Established change leader with a track record of driving transformation across large, matrixed, global organizations through collaboration, influence, and execution discipline.
• Strong people, process, and project leadership capabilities, enabling the effective mobilization of internal and external resources to deliver enterprise priorities.

Sun Life Leadership Expectations

• Lead with purpose, integrity, and care. Connect strategy and day‑to‑day decisions to organizational purpose and values; act with accountability, authenticity, and inclusion; and build trust by welcoming diverse perspectives and constructive challenge.
• Develop people and empower high performance. Attract and grow strong talent through coaching, clear feedback, and meaningful stretch opportunities; inspire teams to reach their full potential, embrace change, and build resilience.
• Drive bold innovation and deliver impactful results. Set ambitious, client‑focused goals; look beyond the industry to test new ideas; collaborate across boundaries; and use digital tools to accelerate decisions and outcomes.

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:

20/03/2026