Director, Strategic Initiatives – Fixed Term

Sun Life

Director of Strategic Initiatives leading Canadian marketing strategies and initiatives at Sun Life. Overseeing planning, execution, and performance analysis across key marketing operations.

Posted 7/11/2026full-timeToronto • 🇨🇦 CanadaLead💰 CA$110,000 - CA$180,000 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead the Canadian Marketing Strategic Initiatives team with two direct reports and be responsible for the overall planning effort and evolution of how we deliver on and measure business impact
Accountable for guiding and supporting integrated planning and reporting and performance analysis
Work with the VP and Canadian Marketing Leadership Team to ensure alignment on strategy, key priorities, guiding principles and business processes including budgeting, annual planning, crisis management, business continuity etc
Strengthen cross-functional partnerships by understanding business and marketing priorities - creating visibility into marketing activities/impact, making recommendations, and improving operational efficiency to improve decision making and external client outcomes
Own planning and production of Canada Marketing’s internal forums and flagship events and activities (including MarketingFest, Town Halls, team development and socials) to promote alignment, engagement, and a unified marketing culture
Work with Global Marketing and Corporate Communications to ensure message and priority alignment across campaigns, initiatives, and marketing investments
Develop executive reporting and other key presentations and communications as required
Interpret Marketing KPIs and explain their impact on business results
Generate insights to communicate findings and recommendations to senior management and business partners
Identify, develop and maintain relevant Marketing and financial metrics (dashboard and monitoring tools) to develop effective plans and execute/manage key elements of the business

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 7 years in a marketing role, ideally in Financial Services
5 years’ experience performing in a digital or channel management role is strongly preferred
Exceptional stakeholder management skills with the ability to understand multiple agendas and to align interests and competing priorities accordingly
Must possess strategic influencing and communication skills and be adept in building and sustaining partnerships and alliances
Strength in problem-solving and analytics-based decision making
Ability to story-tell in written and verbal presentations, including how to visually showcase marketing performance in an easy-to-digest way
Understanding of digital marketing KPIs, how to connect those to business outcomes
Proven experience leading internal forums and enterprise-level events

Benefits

Comp & perks

Partial Flexible Benefits from the day you join to meet the needs of you and your family
Care Days available for self-care or care of others (i.e., family or others you may support) and Sick Days to support your well-being
A friendly, collaborative and inclusive culture

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Hard Skills & Tools

Marketing StrategyPerformance AnalysisDigital MarketingKPI DevelopmentData Analytics

Soft Skills

Stakeholder ManagementStrategic InfluencingCommunication SkillsProblem-SolvingStorytelling