Job Description
Description:

The Project Sponsor is responsible for the strategy, project delivery, business value creation, and organizational adoption of Capital Markets modernization initiatives. They define the project scope, confirm the delivery model, and ensure the program remains aligned with Desjardins' strategic priorities, investment themes, risk appetite, and value creation objectives for clients and members.

This role provides visible executive leadership to business units, technology, operations, and external partners to ensure decisions are made at the right level and at the right pace. The Project Sponsor is responsible for project delivery and value creation for the end client. They enable the implementation team to execute its work with clarity, authority, and appropriate organizational support. They resolve issues brought to their attention, arbitrate priorities, and approve key decisions related to scope, financing, roadmap, governance milestones, and go/no-go decisions.

In the context of capital markets modernization, the project sponsor must strike a balance between speed of execution, regulatory rigor, operational resilience, platform sustainability, and business user adoption. Ultimately, they are responsible for ensuring that the modernization is delivered on time and within budget.

Responsibilities:

• Act as the ultimate business lead for theinitiative, accountable for strategic alignment, executive sponsorship,business outcomes, and profit realization.
• Promote the transformation vision andfoster organizational adoption to ensure the initiative generates lastingchanges to processes, behaviors, controls, and ways of working.
• Define and approve the business case,ambition, target outcomes, scope, roadmap, priorities, and key performanceindicators (KPIs) in line with the portfolio's investment themes.
• Ensure effective alignment betweenbusiness needs, impacts on the operating model, regulatory considerations,technology choices, and enterprise architecture direction
• Secure commitment from management and keystakeholders.
• Approve major decisions, including changesto scope, budget, schedule, priorities, governance milestones, procurementguidelines, and Go/No-Go recommendations.
• Remove organizational roadblocks,arbitrate cross-functional priorities, and support the delivery team whendependencies, capacity constraints, or competing mandates threaten projectprogress.
• Oversee benefits planning and tracking incollaboration with Finance and responsible business leaders, includingfinancial, operational, regulatory, risk-related, and customer/userexperience outcomes.

Requirements

Skills:

• Demonstrated executive leadership, withthe ability to build alignment, maintain momentum, and make timelydecisions in complex environments.
• Strategic thinking and the ability toconnect modernization initiatives to business priorities, business valuecreation, and the long-term evolution of the operating model.
• Strong governance discipline, includingthe ability to chair executive forums, manage escalations, and ensureclear accountability. Excellent influencing and stakeholder managementskills.
• Benefits and performance-oriented, with anemphasis on measurable results rather than simply completing activities.
• Clear executive communication, includingthe ability to simplify complexity, frame decisions, and communicate riskstransparently.

Required Knowledge and Skills:

• This is a senior-level role. A minimum of15 years of relevant experience is required.
• Leadership and influence: Demonstratedability to exercise strong leadership, communicate clearly andauthoritatively with a wide range of stakeholders at all levels of theorganization, and influence decisions in the best interests of DesjardinsCapital Markets.
• Excellent understanding of Capital Marketsactivities, operating models, end-to-end (front-to-back) processes,products, control mechanisms, and the stakeholder ecosystem.
• Knowledge of modernization programsinvolving the evolution of legacy platforms, process redesign, datavaluation and utilization, automation, and technological simplification.
• Understanding of project, program,portfolio, and investment governance mechanisms, including business casedevelopment, funding decisions, and phased-gate management.
• Familiarity with supplier selectionprocesses, procurement governance, and partner accountability withinlarge-scale transformation initiatives.
• Understanding of benefits management,including their definition, allocation, measurement, monitoring, andrealization, both financial and non-financial.
• Bilingualism (French and English) is asignificant asset.