Associate Delivery Director, Pension Data Conversion

ABOUT UPP

UPP is the first pension plan of its kind in Ontario’s university sector, proudly serving over 40,000 members across four universities and fourteen sector organizations. Our purpose is to bring greater retirement peace of mind to the university sector by investing with integrity and serving members with care. As a sector-wide plan designed for growth, our doors are open to all Ontario universities.

Together, we’re a team of progressive thinkers and agile doers operating within a fast-paced culture of collaboration and respect. We believe in bringing smart and capable people together to create, solve and grow with a clear shared vision and values of integrity, inclusivity, ingenuity, and impact.

Our culture is intentionally welcoming and purposefully rooted in equity, diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation (EDIR). We believe diverse teams, perspectives, and lived experiences contribute to better decisions and a better workplace.

As a long-term investor, we recognize that environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors support risk management and value creation. As stated in our Responsible Investing Policy, we are committed to incorporating ESG considerations into our investment management activities and we collaborate with other industry participants in the promotion of a sustainable economy and society.

Join us in building a bright future for our members, our organization, and each other.

ABOUT THE ROLE
As the Associate Delivery Director, Pension Data Conversion, you will manage complex pension data conversion projects, processes, tools, and activities in support of the Pension Services Delivery team for the conversion of member pension data to meet the needs of UPP’s administration system. In collaboration with your technical partners and supporting business function, you will be responsible for building and maintaining UPP’s Pension Data Conversion vision, strategy and frameworks for pension data migration.
This role will work with cross-functional teams and stakeholders across the pension data conversion lifecycle. You will collaborate with business and IT leaders to ensure the successful execution and delivery of data initiatives at every phase, including data remediation and issue management post-conversion. You will work closely with business partners to understand their needs, develop solutions that enable positive business outcomes. You will oversee the day-to-day work of the Pension Data Conversion team and its vendor partners, driving focus and high-quality outcomes. To do this, you understand how to effectively communicate, and can use insightful metrics to tell the story, prioritize the work, and drive results. You believe quality is part of every step of the project life cycle.
This role is based in downtown Toronto under a hybrid work policy, allowing employees the flexibility to work remotely and in-office (approximately two days per week in-office).
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
You will be responsible for overseeing and manage the end-to-end execution of medium to high complexity projects with high impact within UPP. Will lead the execution and delivery of projects across the lifecycle, establishing cooperation and alignment between cross-functional teams. Your focus will be on effective planning, obtaining client satisfaction, and achieving business goals. In this capacity, they will:

• Accountable for the overall strategy of a large program or projects. You successfully manage a portfolio of projects to deliver on all stages of projects from concept to delivery
• Lead the development of business cases, project proposal, charters, plans, schedules, resource plans, business plans, and performance metrics
• Manage cross-functional stakeholders to understand their business objectives, challenges, and opportunities and ensure their commitment on your project and its timely delivery
• Project manage complex and cross-functional initiatives within a matrix environment to solve problems stretching over multiple part of the business
• Analyze and present data and insights to provide solid recommendations for the project to the senior leadership team
• Deliver high-quality projects that satisfy customer requirements on-time and on-budget
• Identify, manage, and resolve risks and issues proactively to enable team delivery
• Balance the needs of the project, the client, and the organization, managing trade-offs between scope, time, cost, and quality
• Collaborate with delivery partners in the development of procurement documents (RFx), their evaluation and negotiation and award of contracts
• Manage vendor relationships from the development of proposals to execution of required deliverables
• Monitor and report on project progress and business value gained
• Clearly and promptly communicate project details and updates to the appropriate teams, stakeholders, and oversight bodies.
• Support regular reporting to UPP’s Strategic Initiative’s Management Committee and other leadership forums as required.
• Assist with recruitment and onboarding of new team members
• Help improve project management framework and life cycle processes and procedures
• Support change management efforts to ensure optimal project impact
• Contribute to a high performing atmosphere and positive work environment through teaming, respect, and open communication

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• 8-10 years of combined experience in leading initiatives in Data Integration, Data Migration and conversion, Data Warehousing and Data Quality
• 3-5 years of Pension data domain experience (considered an asset)
• Proficient with Agile Methodology and usage of Kanban (Confluence, Jira)
• Proven track record of developing highly-impactful, large-scale projects
• Experience owning technical vision, program strategy, end to end delivery, and communicating results to senior leadership
• Development of business cases, project proposals, charters, plans, schedules, resource plans, business plans, and performance metrics
• Development of procurement documents (RFx), their evaluation, negotiation, and award of contracts

ATTRIBUTES

• Ability to manage complex initiatives, delivering critical solutions, work with multiple teams in and/or across organizations.
• A confident, versatile communicator who can connect with, and adapt to, an array of audiences.
• A natural relationship-builder who will ask thoughtful questions, listen intently, and engage stakeholders in a way that builds trust and credibility.
• A balance of EQ and IQ.
• A high degree of self-motivation, professionalism, and integrity.
• Committed to continuous growth and innovation.
• Organized, resourceful and able to manage multiple projects and processes across departments in a collegial and professional manner.
• You believe in delivering quality solutions. Meeting the client need is your highest priority.
• You are able to set the tone and direction of the team, but you are also able to actively listen to the team.
• You foster an environment for constructive dialogue
• A leader who addresses risk before they become issues

PERSONALITY TRAITS

• Self-driven
• Humble
• Strong work ethic
• Passion for learning
• Empathetic
• Collaborative
• Authentic
• Personable
• Confident

LIFE AT UPP

Do work that matters.We are duty-bound to serve our members’ interests, and it’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly. That’s why we’ve ingrained sustainability in our work from day one—to ensure our members have a resilient future to retire into, both today and for generations to come.

Stronger together. Collaboration is how UPP was born, and it’s how we work with each other and our partners day in, day out. No one at UPP is just a number (even if they are excellent at math) and every win is a shared win.

Grow every day. You’ll have the opportunity to work on unique, once-in-a-career projects that maximize your skill set and probably teach you some new ones—at any stage in your career.

Prioritize wellness. At UPP, wellness takes many forms. Ultimately, it’s about ensuring our people are cared for in the ways that matter to them. Check out some highlights of our inclusive employee-focused benefits program including:

• Defined benefit pension plan
• Flexible hybrid work model
• Work from abroad up to eight weeks/year
• Comprehensive group benefits including medical, dental, vision etc.
• Extended paramedical and mental health service coverage
• Health care and lifestyle spending accounts
• Fertility treatments, paid parental leave, and gender affirmation coverage
• Education Assistance program

UPP enthusiastically welcomes applications from all qualified applicants and especially invites people with lived experience as an Indigenous person, a person with a disability or as a member of another Human Rights Code protected group that faces barriers to employment to apply. Our goal is to create a barrier-free experience for every candidate throughout the recruitment process, so if you require accommodation at any point during the process, please let us know so that we can make the appropriate arrangements. It would be our honor to work with you to adapt our processes to ensure that you can meaningfully participate.