You are as unique as your background, experience and point of view. Here, you’ll be encouraged, empowered and challenged to be your best self. You'll work with dynamic colleagues - experts in their fields - who are eager to share their knowledge with you. Your leaders will inspire and help you reach your potential and soar to new heights. Every day, you'll have new and exciting opportunities to make life brighter for our Clients - who are at the heart of everything we do. Discover how you can make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities around the world.

Job Description:

We are seeking a visionary and results-driven AVP of Internal Talent Development and Leader Effectiveness to lead the enterprise-wide strategy for developing talent at all levels—individual contributors, people leaders, and executives.  This role is responsible for designing and executing a holistic development strategy that aligns with business priorities and leverages talent insights to drive measurable impact.

The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in leadership development, talent strategy, and organizational effectiveness, with a proven ability to influence across a global, matrixed organization.  The incumbent will also leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools to enhance learning and development initiatives and will bring expertise in integrating cutting-edge technology to grow capabilities and drive organizational effectiveness.

Please note this role requires presence at our Toronto One York office 2-3 days weekly.

What will you do:

Enterprise Talent Development Strategy

Design and implement a comprehensive development strategy for all levels of the organization, aligned with business goals and talent needs.Leverage talent insights—including assessment data, engagement results, and business strategy—to inform development priorities and programming.Partner with HR, business leaders, and CoEs to ensure alignment and integration across the talent lifecycle.Leverage leading-edge technology and tools to deploy scalable learning solutions

Manager Development and Readiness

Build and lead a Management Learning Framework to enhance leadership effectiveness and readiness across all levels of management.Ensure managers are equipped with the skills, tools, and mindsets to lead high-performing, inclusive teams.Drive scalable, high-impact learning experiences that support first-time managers through to seasoned leaders.Partner with HR and CoEs to determine best way to embed leadership effectiveness in the HR Ecosystem

Onboarding and Early Career Acceleration

Lead the evolution of onboarding programs to ensure a consistent, engaging, and impactful experience for all new hires.Design and implement early-career development programs that accelerate integration, learning, and performance.Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure onboarding reflects organizational culture, values, and strategic priorities.

Leadership Effectiveness and Building a Future-Ready Workforce

Define and measure leadership effectiveness using key performance indicators, feedback mechanisms, and ROI metrics.Lead and embed behavioral and process change initiatives in complex, global environments.Design, deploy, measure and guide the evolution of specialized programs, such as the Leadership AcademyServe as a strategic advisor to senior leaders, HRBPs and Talent Partners on leadership development, talent readiness, and organizational capability.Deploy and lead the enterprise Development planning process to build career confidence in the workforce

Develop and Lead a Team

Set the vision and strategic direction for the team, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and cascading priorities effectively through the full teamMentor and develop direct reports (who are themselves leaders), fostering a high-performance culture and building leadership capabilities across the team.Act as a key liaison between teams and senior executives, driving collaboration, breaking down silos, and ensuring cohesive execution of enterprise-wide initiatives.Monitor performance metrics, resource allocation, budget and risk management to ensure the team delivers on key objectives while maintaining operational excellence.

What do you need to succeed:

10+ years of progressive experience in Talent Development, Leadership Development, or Organizational Effectiveness.Proven success building and executing a people leader strategy in a large, multi-national organization.Success working with global teams and navigating cultural nuances in leadership development.Strong interpersonal and influencing skills to work across roles and levels, including senior stakeholders.Demonstrated ability to lead and embed behavioral or process change in complex, matrixed environments.Proficiency in using data and analytics to prioritize operational issues and measure the ROI of learning initiatives.Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to identify issues, develop solutions, and implement changes effectively.Passion for developing people and building inclusive leadership cultures.Strategic thinker with a hands-on, execution-oriented mindset.

The Base Pay range is for the primary location for which the job is posted. It may vary depending on the work location of the successful candidate or other factors. In addition to Base Pay, eligible Sun Life employees participate in various incentive plans, payment under which is discretionary and subject to individual and company performance. Certain sales focused roles have sales incentive plans based on individual or group sales results.  

Diversity and inclusion have always been at the core of our values at Sun Life. A diverse workforce with wide perspectives and creative ideas benefits our Clients, the communities where we operate and all of us as colleagues. We welcome applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds.

Persons with disabilities who need accommodation in the application process, or those needing job postings in an alternative format, may e-mail a request to thebrightside@sunlife.com.

We are proud to be a hybrid organization that offers our employees the choice and flexibility to work from both the office and virtually based on the needs of the business, our Clients and you! Several work options are available and can be discussed throughout the selection process depending on the role requirements and individual needs.

We thank all applicants for showing an interest in this position. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Salary Range:

135,000/135 000 - 220,000/220 000

Job Category:

Human Resources

Posting End Date:

28/08/2025