Lead, Plan Operations Risk Management

Why you’ll love working here:

high-performance, people-focused culture

our commitment that equity, diversity, and inclusion are fundamental to our work environment and business success, which helps employees feel valued and empowered to be their authentic selves

membership in HOOPP’s world class defined benefit pension plan, which can serve as an important part of your retirement security

competitive, 100% company-paid extended health and dental benefits for permanent employees, including coverage supporting our team's diversity and mental health gender affirmation, fertility and drug treatment, psychological support benefits of $2,500 per year, and newly extended maternity/parental leave top of 26 weeks)

optional post-retirement health and dental benefits subsidized at 50%

yoga classes, meditation workshops, nutritional consultations, and wellness seminars

access to an annual wellness reimbursement program for health and wellness-related expenses for permanent and temporary employees

the opportunity to make a difference and help take care of those who care for us, by providing a financially secure retirement for Ontario healthcare workers

Job Summary

Reporting to the Manager, Plan Operations Risk Management, the Lead will play a key role in overseeing and monitoring the day-to-day execution of risk management activities. These activities include divisional risk reviews, transactional quality reviews, access administration for pension systems, and support to auditors and divisional management for all divisional audit engagements.

The Lead role will build strong partnerships with the goal of promoting the effectiveness of risk management practices and maintaining a strong control environment. The Lead will function as a risk culture champion and support business partners and stakeholders in the effective management of risks.

What you will do:

Risk Reviews & Transaction Quality Reviews:

Perform research, business risk analysis and process design mapping to understand product, process design and technology functionality to recommend how to review/test in scope areas, including identification of data points, and design of conceptual test plans.

Identify and coordinate training/communication of relevant updates to ensure the team is knowledgeable on testing criteria and subject matter, and that they follow the established framework, objectives, testing plans and timelines.

Delegate work to various team members (design of test plans to the Analyst, testing samples to the Specialists, detailed investigation of transactions to Analyst/Specialists, etc.). Provide guidance/assistance where required.

Collaborate closely with the analyst and team to ensure that the required research, analysis and gathering of supportive information is complete.

Manage any escalations, issues and/or questions from Specialists or Analysts, ensure proper communication with the Manager and recommend resolutions.

Provide continuous input into the development of testing routines ensuring that they are relevant, effective, and valuable. 

Ensure effective communication with stakeholders when conducting research, performing analysis, and discussing observations from testing.

Review/finalize interim observations to ensure appropriate detail and language are reflected for the target audience.

Collaborate with the Manager to develop quarterly reports – prepare observation writeups as input for final reporting, perform trend analysis and provide conclusions, and ensure completeness and accuracy of data.

Lead communication efforts and discussions with critical stakeholders around detailed recommendations and conclusions, ensure stakeholder understanding and work towards alignment and agreement of final reporting.

Insight Access Administration:

Ensure day-to-day administration and control execution is completed appropriately, including adherence to the divisional access standards and practices for all in-scope applications and requestors.

Maintain a reasonable and up-to-date understanding of divisional team mandates, organizational structure, pension administration system requirements, etc.

 Maintain a thorough understanding of the in-scope applications and related security, processes, workflows, and data environment.

 Apply judgment in executing the access requests and/or overseeing the access administration execution, while ensuring related access risk is managed.

Provide guidance and training to access administrators teams and business managers about their role in effective access management.

Support the implementation of continuous improvements related to access administration system enhancements, corresponding administration readiness activities, and control environment enhancements by providing input from an administration/access risk perspective, overseeing interim processes, and testing, and assisting with any pre/post-implementation and transition activities.

Review and maintain complete and accurate documentation of administration practices as required in collaboration with key stakeholders for the systems under scope.

Support Manager in the establishment of effective access risk identification, remediation, and mitigation practices.

Continually strive to improve the visibility of access administration practices by identifying and leveraging opportunities to communicate and report key pieces of information and/or data as appropriate to various stakeholders.

Divisional Risk Management & Audit Management:

Serve as the key point of contact for all internal or external auditors, as well as for business stakeholders as it relates to any inquiry, request, or activity related to all divisional audits/audit-type reviews.

Ensure audits are properly scheduled and no timing conflicts exist. Partner and collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure understanding and alignment.

Oversee the execution of audit requests and related documentation, delegate audit tasks and updates to team members, provide guidance, assist with questions from stakeholders and/or auditors, and ensure timely completion.

Manage reporting/communication of audits within the team (Manager/Director) and externally via maintenance of the divisional audit dashboard, ensuring that audit conclusions are properly communicated and addressed, and providing input for continuous improvement.

Support ad-hoc requests by conducting business analysis on the control environment for various areas and processes that impact Plan Operations, Finance, and IT PSG teams, and identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.

Support the maintenance of the risks and controls documentation.

Support planning & internal capabilities:

Work closely with the Manager to plan, coordinate, monitor and maintain schedules and work distribution/resource allocations for the team.

Communicate progress updates, provide execution insights, and escalate issues/challenges during execution.

Chair meetings with the team and various stakeholders to ensure the appropriate execution of daily activities for the responsibility areas mentioned above.

What you bring:

University degree or post-graduate and/or combination of equivalent training, education, and experience, preferably in areas of Business Administration, Accounting, Engineering, or Information Technology.

7+ years of progressive experience in any of these areas: risk management, business analysis, product development, quality assurance, and/or process improvement.

5+ years of progressive work experience in pension administration for defined benefit plans.

Experience in identifying, documenting, and evaluating business risks and controls is an asset.

Professional certifications in any of these areas are assets: Business Analysis, Accounting, Risk Analysis, Audit, Data Analytics, Quality Assurance, Lean Six Sigma, Project Management.

Knowledge of governance and controls frameworks (COBIT/COSO) is an asset. Project Management skills are also an asset.

Highly analytical, expert attention to detail, resourceful, curious and a self-starter with an ability to gather information through solicitation, observation, research, and able to deliver results with minimal background information or direction.

Ability to build strong relationships with various stakeholders based on trust and commitment to mutual benefit and value creation. Collaborating and assisting business partners in achieving their objectives and at the same time, promoting awareness and management of risks.

Proven superior critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Ability to map out complex business processes, interpret related data/reports quickly and thoroughly, identify risks, and potential impacts, and draw meaningful insights and conclusions.

Effective communication skills with superior writing ability. Experience in writing reports for Senior Leadership audiences is a requirement.

Strong proficiency with MS Office Suite tools - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio

Excellent organization and time management skills. Comfort with ambiguity, ability to exercise sound judgement, prudence, and integrity. Ability to develop plans and monitor execution until completion while being flexible/adaptable. Familiarity with fast-paced, dynamic, agile environment.