Title:  Finance Transformation Project Manager

12 Month Fixed Term Contract

Canada Life UK looks after the retirement, investment and protection needs of individuals, families and companies. We help to build better futures for our customers, our intermediaries and our employees by operating as a modern, agile and welcoming organisation.

Part of our parent company Great-West Lifeco, Canada Life UK has operated in the United Kingdom since 1903. We have hundreds of respected and supported employees committed to doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues.

Canada Life UK is transforming to create a more customer-focused business by providing our customers with expertise on financial and tax planning, offering home finance and annuities propositions, and providing collective fund solutions to third party customers.

Job Purpose
 
The Project Manager is accountable for the effective delivery of discrete packages of work to achieve defined objectives, they are supported by a multi-disciplined team across the IT & Change function and key business users/sponsors to maximise the achievement of the delivery outcomes. 

 
The Project Manager has autonomy to manage all aspects of the project; scope, schedules, finance, risk, quality and resources to achieve the project outcomes, and be responsible for transparent and timely communications of delivery metrics. 

 
Project and package delivery may be Agile, Waterfall or a combination of each; the project manager uses their skills and experience to select the optimum methodology and, with support from the Senior Project Manager and/or relevant Senior SME, builds a right sized team around that agreed approach. The project manager works with business leads, product owners and other stakeholders to maximise the likelihood of the delivery outcomes meeting their respective requirements.

 
The Project Manager will maintain a clear line of sight through package/project delivery to the over-arching strategic objectives of the portfolio team. 

This specific Project Management role is to support the Canada Life UK Finance Modernisation Project. This will involve working closely with actuarial, accounting and IT colleagues. 

 
Duties/Responsibilities 
 

• Work with Portfolio Lead to develop and maintain the Portfolio Roadmap for those packages within the project manager’s scope of delivery.
• Propose and gain agreement for the governance organisation to be applied to the Agile, Waterfall or combined delivery to be followed.
• With the Product Owner, demonstrate to the Business Lead and other required stakeholders the planned delivery lifecycle, expected outcomes and confirm resources are committed to fulfil that delivery.
• Measures performance of packages and projects within ownership of the project manager, communicating progress, budget position and delivery of outcomes at the required cadence to stakeholders
• Removes blockers for the Scrum Master and Delivery Team, escalating to the Portfolio Team for support where needed
• Works with portfolio team to support resource, dependency, and risk management across the portfolio
• Continually monitor risks and their impact on delivering outcomes, allocating ownership and tracking actions to ensure mitigating actions are effective
• Provides a positive work environment to build a cohesive and productive team
• Confirms with stakeholders that outcomes have been met and a benefits plan is in place to validate expected value has been delivered
• Lessons Learned or deliver retrospective are complete and learnings made available for continuous improvement of portfolio delivery capability
• IT and/or business teams have accepted any changes delivered through the package/project 

 

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 
 

• Experience of Project Delivery methodologies, including but not limited to Scaled Agile Framework, Scrum, Waterfall and Lean Engineering
• Proven track record in defining the correct methodology, or combining both Agile and Waterfall methodologies for projects and work packages
• Excellent Communication skills, with experience of technical and non-technical communication with ability to confer a technically detailed scenario in a manner that is easily understood by those stakeholder groups
• Able to maintain delivery momentum and solve issues/unblock problems
• Drives teams and sets the pace, ensuring teams are working towards delivery commitments
• Proven ability to be outcome and delivery focussed
• Excellent Planning and forecasting experience
• Able to manage team dynamics and lead collaboration
• Strong relationship management building good relationships within the team with external parties and internal ‘customers’ 
• Displays commercial acumen when working with external parties and delivering project outcomes against budget
• Experience in finance change or modernisation projects. 
• Understanding of financial reporting processes such as Solvency II and IFRS 
• Experience overseeing projects which have involved actuarial software such as Prophet  (FIS) and/or the Microsoft Power Suite is advantageous.  

 

Qualifications
 

• Prince2 qualified, PMI, MSP or equivalent
• Agile qualification, or studying towards certification
   

Benefits of working at Canada Life

We believe in recognising and rewarding our people, so we offer a competitive salary and benefits package that’s regularly reviewed. As a Canada Life UK colleague, you’ll receive a competitive salary and comprehensive reward package including a generous pension and bonus scheme, along with, income protection, private medical insurance and life assurance.  We have a fantastic number of other benefits and support services as well as regular personal and professional development.

How we work at Canada Life

Our culture is unique and incredibly important to us.  We care about doing the right thing for our people, customers and community and helping others to build better futures.  Our blueprint behaviours shape and influence how we work, and are central to the relationships we have with others.  Every day we are encouraged to be more curious, own the outcome, face into things together and find a way forward. 

We want colleagues to have rewarding careers with us so we invest in the development of our people, technology and workplaces. That’s why we offer a range of training, flexible working and opportunities to grow and develop.

Diversity and inclusion

Building an inclusive workplace with a diverse workforce where everyone can feel they belong and achieve their potential regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other characteristic is a key commitment for us.  We are proud of the progress we’re making in DEI, and we continue for it to be a significant focus. 

“At Canada Life we believe in the power of great people from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives coming together to build better futures. Emerging talent is crucial to our growth and creating an environment that continues to inspire us all.”  Nick Harding, Chief People Officer, Canada Life UK

We appreciate that everyone has different work and life responsibilities. We’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements, including part time, for any of our roles should this be a requirement for you.