Role Summary: The Head of Product Operations and Innovation is a senior, cross-functional role at the intersection of product strategy, operating infrastructure, investment innovation, finance, governance, and execution. This person reports directly to the CEO and sits on the Canadian leadership team, and is central to translating VanEck's global investment capabilities into a scalable, operationally excellent Canadian product platform.
The seat suits a leader who pairs strong financial discipline with an entrepreneurial mindset, moving fluidly between product development, process design, operational execution, risk management, and commercial strategy. It spans ETFs, model portfolios, digital assets, income strategies, alternatives, tokenization, tax-efficient structuring, and other evolving areas of investor need. This is a build-from-the-ground-up role in a start-up entity, not the stewardship of an existing platform.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:Includes the following, other duties may be assigned as needed:
Product Operations and Platform Buildout- Own the operating model required to launch and support VanEck Canada's ETF platform, coordinating cross-functional execution across fund accounting, custody, administration, index providers, market makers, exchanges, legal counsel, auditors, tax, compliance, and internal VanEck teams.
- Develop and manage launch checklists, operating procedures, timelines, risk controls, and internal governance for new products, ensuring launches run with strong project discipline, clear ownership, and alignment across internal and external stakeholders.
- Partner with compliance and legal on prospectus development, regulatory filings, fund governance, IRC requirements, policies and procedures, and ongoing oversight, and build scalable processes for lifecycle events (product changes, terminations, mergers, fee changes, distributions, tax reporting, portfolio disclosure).
Product Strategy and Innovation- Serve as the operational and analytical lead in product development, working with the CEO and distribution team to evaluate, prioritize, and advance the Canadian product roadmap, and partner with VanEck's global investment and product teams to assess the feasibility of bringing global capabilities to Canada (thematic equity, digital assets, commodities, income solutions, active strategies, alternatives).
- Evaluate new product ideas through a disciplined operational, regulatory, financial, and tax-efficiency lens (incorporating advisor demand signals from distribution), applying a differentiated-exposure test that prioritizes made-in-Canada products and differentiated exposures addressing gaps in the current shelf, particularly in multi-asset and income, over duplicating what is already widely available.
- Advance the roadmap in support of the firm's ambition to lead in multi-asset solutions and income strategies, develop business cases for new ETFs and solutions (economics, operational requirements, regulatory considerations, risks, seed capital, launch priorities), and create a repeatable product development framework that balances innovation, speed to market, governance, and scalability.
Digital Assets, Tokenization, and Emerging Structures- Monitor developments in digital assets, tokenization, real-world asset infrastructure, and other emerging structures, and assess how tokenization may influence asset management, distribution, portfolio construction, operational infrastructure, settlement, liquidity, and investor access.
- Evaluate whether tokenized products, digital asset exposures, or blockchain-enabled structures fit VanEck Canada's long-term roadmap, partnering with legal, compliance, tax, investment, and global digital asset teams to review them through the right regulatory, operational, tax, and risk frameworks.
Tax Efficiency and Product Structuring- Build tax efficiency into product development (structure, distributions, turnover, withholding tax, investor and account type, after-tax outcomes), working with internal teams and external tax advisors on the tax implications of launches, reorganizations, fee structures, distributions, and cross-border exposures.
- Ensure the Canadian product shelf is designed with a strong grasp of Canadian investor tax considerations and the importance of after-tax returns.
Financial Discipline and Product Economics- Assess the commercial viability and economics of new and existing products, and build and maintain product profitability models (revenue projections, seed capital, operating costs, fee structures, break-even, long-term margin).
- Partner with finance and senior leadership to track product performance against business expectations, and recommend on product prioritization, resource allocation, pricing, and strategic investment, bringing a disciplined financial and operational perspective to innovation.
- Provide strategic and commercial oversight of the Canadian product shelf, with shared accountability for AUM growth, revenue, profitability, and fee and pricing decisions alongside the CEO and Canadian leadership team.
Governance, Risk, and Execution- Embed governance, control, and risk management into product development and management, and ensure new initiatives are reviewed through legal, compliance, operational, investment, tax, and reputational risk lenses.
- Maintain clear documentation of approvals, assumptions, dependencies, key risks, and decision points, and act as a key partner to the CEO, CCO, UDP, portfolio management team, and global stakeholders in keeping innovation consistent with regulatory obligations and VanEck's global standards.
- Support board, management, and committee materials on product strategy, launches, operational readiness, and performance.
Cross-Functional Leadership- Serve as a connective leader across the Canadian business and VanEck's global organization, with particular focus on operational, financial, legal, compliance, and investment workstreams, and create structure, accountability, and momentum across initiatives that require input from multiple internal and external stakeholders.
- Work closely with the Director, Digital Distribution & Social Media Strategy to ensure products are operationally ready for commercial launch and that distribution requirements, advisor feedback, and positioning feed the development process.
- Partner with investment strategists and portfolio managers to translate investment ideas into operationally sound, client-ready structures, and collaborate with U.S. and global product, research, capital markets, digital assets, operations, legal, and compliance teams to leverage VanEck's broader capabilities.
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.
Required Qualifications:- Ten or more years in asset management, ETFs, investment funds, finance, operations, product development, consulting, or financial services.
- Experience in Canadian investment funds, ETFs, fund operations, product strategy, or platform development strongly preferred.
- Strong financial and analytical discipline; demonstrated ability to build profitability models, business cases, and operating frameworks.
- Experience building scalable processes and operating models across cross-functional teams.
- Practical understanding of governance, risk management, and regulatory expectations in the Canadian investment fund context.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex cross-functional initiatives across investment, legal, compliance, operations, and finance.
- Strong grasp of product economics, operational risk, governance, financial controls, and business-case development.
- Experience working with senior executives, boards, regulators, service providers, and global stakeholders.
- Excellent written and verbal communication.
Preferred Qualifications:- CPA, CA, CFA, MBA, Master of Accounting, or equivalent professional background.
- Familiarity with tokenization, digital assets, blockchain-enabled infrastructure, or real-world asset innovation.
- Strong understanding of tax-efficient product design, including Canadian fund structures, ETF tax considerations, distributions, withholding tax, and after-tax outcomes.
- Ability to evaluate new product ideas through a combined commercial, operational, regulatory, investment, and tax lens.
- Experience working with tax, legal, compliance, portfolio management, and operations teams on structuring decisions.
- Familiarity with VanEck's core competency areas: gold, precious metals, commodities, emerging markets, digital assets, or thematic equity.
Core Competencies:- Builder's mindset: Energized by creating programs and processes from scratch; comfortable operating without established infrastructure.
- Commercial acumen: Deep understanding of product economics, market dynamics, and the commercial realities of the Canadian ETF landscape.
- Financial discipline: Brings rigorous financial thinking to product decisions; builds and stress-tests business cases before committing.
- Innovative thinking: Curious about tokenization, digital assets, and tax-efficient structures; translates innovation into executable ideas.
- Cross-functional collaboration: Works seamlessly across investments, compliance, sales, finance, and global teams; aligns stakeholders around shared goals.
- Governance orientation: Embeds controls, documentation, and accountability into every product initiative.
- Adaptability: Thrives in a dynamic start-up environment; adjusts priorities quickly as the business and regulatory landscape evolve.
