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Senior Manager, Emerging Talent Programs – Commercial Bank

Location: Chicago, IL
Business Unit: U.S. Commercial Bank
Reporting To: Head, Employee Onboarding & Emerging Talent, U.S. Banking
People Leadership: Yes

Job Summary

The Senior Manager, Emerging Talent Programs – Commercial Bank is responsible for leading the strategy, execution, and continuous evolution of early career talent programs supporting the U.S. Commercial Bank. This role owns the end-to-end experience for Commercial emerging talent, including internship programs, analyst development programs, talent pipeline initiatives, and workforce integration efforts.

The successful candidate will serve as a strategic partner to Commercial Banking leaders, HR partners, and talent acquisition teams to ensure emerging talent programs align with business priorities, workforce planning objectives, and future talent needs.

This role combines program strategy, talent development, stakeholder management, workforce planning, and people leadership to create best-in-class experiences that strengthen BMO’s future Commercial Banking leadership pipeline. The position currently supports programs such as the Commercial Analyst Development Program (CADP), Commercial Internship Program, Catalyst Internship Program, and future initiatives within the U.S. Banking Emerging Talent Institute.

Key Accountabilities

Emerging Talent Strategy & Program Leadership

• Lead the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of Commercial Bank emerging talent programs.
• Develop and execute multi-year strategies to strengthen Commercial Banking talent pipelines.
• Partner with business leaders to align program outcomes to workforce planning and succession objectives.
• Drive innovation and modernization of development experiences to meet evolving business needs.
• Establish success metrics and leverage insights to enhance participant, manager, and stakeholder outcomes.

Commercial Analyst Development Program (CADP) Leadership

• Maintain strategic ownership of the Commercial Analyst Development Program.
• Lead annual program planning, governance, curriculum evolution, and delivery.
• Oversee analyst onboarding, development experiences, rotations, placements, and workforce integration.
• Partner with Commercial leaders to optimize analyst allocations and placement decisions.
• Develop and sustain manager engagement, mentorship, and coaching frameworks.
• Ensure participants receive development opportunities that accelerate readiness and long-term career growth.

Internship & Early Talent Pipeline Management

• Lead Commercial Banking internship programs from recruitment through conversion.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition to support campus recruiting, candidate assessment, and internship planning.
• Create meaningful internship experiences that strengthen conversion rates and long-term retention.
• Identify opportunities to expand Commercial Banking’s presence at target universities and talent markets.
• Drive engagement strategies that enhance BMO’s employer brand among early career talent.

Stakeholder Management & Influence

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior Commercial Banking leaders.
• Influence decisions related to talent development, workforce planning, program design, and participant placement.
• Build strong partnerships across Commercial Banking, HR, Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, Finance, and Risk.
• Provide executive-level updates, recommendations, and insights to leadership teams.
• Navigate complex stakeholder environments while maintaining alignment and momentum.

Workforce Planning & Talent Analytics

• Partner with Commercial Bank leaders to forecast future analyst and intern hiring needs.
• Utilize workforce data to inform program capacity, allocation planning, and hiring strategies.
• Monitor participant outcomes, retention trends, performance indicators, and pipeline health.
• Develop recommendations that strengthen talent supply and improve business outcomes.
• Support strategic planning activities tied to the broader U.S. Banking Emerging Talent Institute vision.

Team Leadership

• Lead and develop a team responsible for Commercial emerging talent program execution.
• Provide coaching, mentorship, and performance management.
• Foster a high-performing, collaborative, and inclusive team culture.
• Encourage continuous improvement, innovation, and operational excellence.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Human Resources, Education, Organizational Development, or relevant years of experience.
• 7+ years of experience in operations management, stakeholder engagement, talent development, leadership development, consulting, campus recruiting, employee experience, program management, or related disciplines.
• Experience managing large-scale programs with multiple stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive strategic initiatives.
• Strong project and change management capabilities.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and presentation skills.
• Experience leading and developing teams.

Preferred

• Experience within Consulting, Financial Services or Commercial Banking.
• Experience building or leading enterprise programs, not limited to early talent programs (i.e., analyst, internship, rotational, or leadership development programs).
• Knowledge of workforce planning and talent analytics.
• Experience managing cross-functional initiatives across large organizations.

Success Measures

Success in this role will be demonstrated through:

• Strong execution of Commercial emerging talent programs.
• Positive intern, analyst, manager, and stakeholder experiences.
• Successful hiring, conversion, retention, and placement outcomes.
• Scalable and sustainable program growth.
• Increased readiness of talent entering Commercial Banking roles.
• Effective workforce planning alignment with business needs.
• Strategic influence on the future direction of Commercial Bank talent pipelines.

Leadership Expectations

You are expected to:

• Think strategically while maintaining a strong execution mindset.
• Influence without authority across complex stakeholder groups.
• Act as a trusted advisor to Commercial Banking leadership.
• Champion participant experience and talent development.
• Leverage data to inform recommendations and decisions.
• Demonstrate accountability, transparency, and a One Client mindset.
• Help shape the future of emerging talent across U.S. Banking.

Supports an assigned senior leader in executing strategic priorities for the business/group. Gathers and integrates information to promote the effective and profitable operation of the business/group and enhances the Bank’s profile in the marketplace. Works with stakeholders to interpret financial and business results, understands the operating environment & emerging trends and provides planning, support and recommendations to improve operational effectiveness and tracks achievement of objectives. Supports the effective management of risk, including operational and compliance risk and management of the attestation/reporting process specific to the business. Provides strategic counsel on community/industry events and directs and coordinates the logistics of these events. Supports the development of effective, consistent communications for the business/group senior leader and for the leadership team.

• Fosters a culture aligned to BMO purpose, values and strategy and role models BMO values and behaviours in all that they do.
• Ensures alignment between values and behaviour that fosters diversity and inclusion.
• Regularly connects work to BMO’s purpose, sets inspirational goals, defines clear expected outcomes, and ensures clear accountability for follow through. 
• Builds interdependent teams that collaborate across functional and operating groups to create the highest value for all stakeholders. 
• Attracts, retains, and enables the career development of top talent.
• Improves team performance, recognizes and rewards performance, coaches employees, supports their development, and manages poor performance. 
• Acts as a trusted advisor to senior leaders for making business decisions and implementing strategic initiatives.
• Develops an expert understanding of business/group challenges.
• Recommends and implements solutions based on analysis of issues and implications for the business.
• Recommends measures to improve organizational effectiveness.
• Influences and negotiates to achieve business objectives.
• Identifies emerging issues and trends to inform decision-making.
• Networks with industry contacts to gather competitive insights and best practices.
• Acts as a subject matter expert on relevant regulations and policies.
• May consult to or serve on various committees and task forces.
• Leads the development of priorities, current, and planned initiatives, and support requirements related to strategic management for the business/group.
• Supports the execution of strategic initiatives in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
• Develops the business case by identifying needs, analysing potential options and assessing expected return on investment.
• Recommends business priorities, advises on resource requirements and develops roadmap for strategic execution.
• Manages resources and leads the execution of strategic initiatives to deliver on business and financial goals.
• Acts as the prime contact for internal/external stakeholder relationships, which may include regulators.
• Defines business requirements for analytics & reporting to ensure data insights inform business decision making.
• Monitors and tracks performance, and addresses any issues.
• Supports the direct output of a senior leader (e.g. Group Head or above) accountable for a large strategic business/function.
• Leads the execution of designated business programs; assesses and adapts as needed to ensure quality of execution.
• Develops and manages comprehensive information management systems; designs and/or leads initiatives to improve processes, analysis and reporting.
• Plans and controls unit operating expenses in accordance with forecasts.
• Makes recommendations to leaders on financial management processes based on changing requirements.
• Supports development and execution of strategic initiatives in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
• Breaks down strategic problems, and analyses data and information to provide insights and recommendations.
• Conducts independent review, analysis, and resolution of strategic issues.
• Monitors and tracks performance, and addresses any issues.
• Designs and produces regular and ad-hoc reports, and dashboards.
• Builds change management plans of varying scope and type; leads or participates in a variety of change management activities including readiness assessments, planning, stakeholder management, execution, evaluation and sustainment of initiatives.
• Leads or participates in defining the communication plan designed to positively influence or change behaviour; develops tailored messaging; and identifies appropriate distribution channels.
• Builds effective relationships with internal/external stakeholders.
• Ensures alignment between stakeholders.
• Acts as the primary point of contact for service / customer complaint escalations managing the process and communication and following up to ensure customer satisfaction and optimizing overall customer experience.
• Ensures the effective planning and control of unit operating expenses in accordance with business forecasts to ensure spending is maintained within budget.
• Coordinates budgets and reporting to track actual results vs. budget.
• Employs systems (e.g. customized exception reports, tracking reports etc.) to manage information.
• Integrates information from multiple sources to enable more efficient processes, enhanced analysis and/or streamlined reporting.
• Operates at a group/enterprise-wide level and serves as a specialist resource to senior leaders and stakeholders.
• Applies expertise and thinks creatively to address unique or ambiguous situations and to find solutions to problems that can be complex and non-routine.
• Implements changes in response to shifting trends.
• Broader work or accountabilities may be assigned as needed.
• Take measured risks while protecting the bank by applying our Risk Management Framework in the execution of your role, in line with our Risk Culture and within our approved Risk Appetite, making sound and risk informed decisions that align to business strategy, protect assets, and adhere to applicable policy documents (Frameworks, Policies, Standards, Procedures and Supporting documents), laws and regulations.

  Qualifications:

• Typically 7+ years of relevant experience and post-secondary degree in related field of study or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Seasoned professional with a combination of education, experience and industry knowledge.
• Verbal & written communication skills - In-depth / Expert.
• Analytical and problem solving skills - In-depth / Expert.
• Influence skills - In-depth / Expert.
• Collaboration & team skills; with a focus on cross-group collaboration - In-depth / Expert.
• Able to manage ambiguity.
• Data driven dec