Migration Program Director

Role Description

The Migration Programme Director - Canada operates within FNZ’s global Migration Centre of Excellence (CoE) model. The role works closely with the Migration CoE to ensure Canadian migration programmes adopt and adhere to FNZ’s global migration framework, including SDLC, governance, tooling and delivery standards, while feeding back regional requirements and learnings to continuously evolve those standards.

Within this context, the Migration Programme Director - Canada is accountable for leading large‑scale, complex migration programmes for Tier 1 Canadian financial institutions. The role has end‑to‑end ownership of migration readiness, planning and delivery oversight, ensuring programmes are executed in line with agreed global standards and deliver agreed quality, risk, regulatory and client outcomes.

This is a senior, client‑facing role, requiring deep experience in the Canadian financial services market, credibility with executive stakeholders, and the ability to lead FNZ and client teams through critical migration decisions with clarity and confidence.

Experience & Capability Required

• Proven experience leading large‑scale migration or transformation programmes for Tier 1 financial institutions, ideally within the Canadian market.

• Strong understanding of Canadian financial services, including banks, asset managers, insurers and wealth platforms.

• Demonstrated success delivering complex migrations involving assets, cash, client data and operational change.

• Deep experience in migration readiness, rehearsal planning, governance and control frameworks.

• Exceptional senior stakeholder management skills, with credibility at executive and board‑level.

• Strong risk‑based decision making capability, with comfort operating in high‑pressure, high‑visibility environments.

• Degree qualified or equivalent experience.

• PMP / PRINCE2 / equivalent programme or delivery qualifications preferred.

Organisational Design

• Part of the Global Migration Delivery Domain

• Reports directly to the Global Head of Migrations

• Works closely with the Migration Centre of Excellence (CoE) to ensure Canadian programmes adopt, apply and continuously align to FNZ’s global migration framework, SDLC and tooling standards

• Works closely with regional Delivery, Technology, Operations and Client leadership

Specific Role Responsibilities

Migration Programme & Delivery Leadership

• Provide overall leadership and accountability for the Canadian migration portfolio, spanning readiness, execution and post‑migration consolidation.

• Act as the senior migration authority for assigned Tier 1 clients, representing FNZ at executive, SteerCo and regulatory‑adjacent forums.

• Own the end‑to‑end migration portfolio plan, ensuring scope, sequencing, dependencies and milestones are robust, realistic and aligned across FNZ and client teams.

• Ensure delivery against agreed time, quality, risk and regulatory expectations, escalating proactively where required.

Migration Readiness & Controls

• Set clear expectations and standards for migration readiness assessments, ensuring Project Managers confirm that all technical and non‑technical components are sufficiently defined, aligned and signed off prior to execution.

• Oversee the development and maintenance of runbooks, command‑and‑control models, decision criteria and sign‑off frameworks, providing review, challenge and quality assurance rather than direct authorship.

• Provide assurance that asset and cash transfer approaches, in‑flight processing, cutover sequencing and contingency planning are clearly agreed, operationally viable and appropriately evidenced.

• Oversee external readiness, ensuring Project Managers work with clients to confirm timely and effective communication to external vendors, counterparties, and platform users regarding migration timelines, expected impacts, and required actions, with clear ownership and evidence of readiness.

Stakeholder & Client Management

• Act as the senior escalation point and trusted partner for Canadian Tier 1 financial institutions, engaging at executive level on readiness, risk and delivery‑critical decisions.

• Support and coach Project Managers in managing senior client stakeholders through complex trade‑offs, ensuring discussions remain fact‑based and outcomes‑focused.

• Reinforce alignment across FNZ and client teams, ensuring ownership, accountability and decision rights are clearly understood and consistently applied.

Risk, Governance & Assurance

• Set and oversee programme‑level standards for risk, issue and dependency management, ensuring Project Managers operate within agreed governance and escalation frameworks.

• Provide challenge, direction and decision support where risks materialise, acting as the point of escalation for complex or high‑impact issues.

• Assure alignment to Canadian regulatory expectations, internal controls and FNZ delivery standards through review, oversight and targeted intervention.

• Consolidate and provide high‑quality reporting inputs to FNZ leadership and client governance forums, based on PM‑owned data and artefacts.

Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, coach and mentor Programme Managers and Project Managers across the Canadian migration portfolio, focusing on delivery discipline, readiness rigour and decision quality.

• Quality‑assure project plans, governance artefacts and delivery outcomes, stepping in where additional direction or reset is required.

• Foster a culture of high standards, continuous improvement and learning across migration delivery.

• Contribute Canadian market insights and lessons learnt into the evolution of FNZ’s global migration framework and best practice.