Purpose

The VP role provides strategic direction, leadership and oversight for Operational Resilience, Crisis Management and the Escalated Customer Concerns Office. Responsible for the design, development and execution of the Bank’s Operational Resilience program for the first line. Oversight of Enterprise Crisis Management and Business Continuity Management, ensuring business strategies, plans and initiatives are supported in compliance with governing regulations, internal policies and procedures.

This role is instrumental in ensuring the Bank can effectively anticipate, withstand, respond to, and recover from operational disruptions while meeting regulatory expectations. The VP will work across business lines, technology, operations, and control functions to embed resilience capabilities into the organization.

Accountabilities

OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE

Operational Resilience Planning & Strategy Execution

• Develop and operationalize methodologies for identifying and managing Critical Business Services and maintain inventory.
• Establish governance, policies, and procedures that drive operational resilience across the business.
  

Program Implementation & Execution

• Lead all workstreams within the Operational Resilience Program: 1) including bank-wide rollout of tool Fusion; 2) development of tracking mechanisms for resilience assessment, gaps, and remediation plans; 3) development of new taxonomy related to Operational Resilience and enterprise-wide templates for all business lines to leverage; 4) Developing training on Operational resilience for key stakeholders in the enterprise.
• Partner with stakeholders and operational resilience leads in each business line to ensure the execution of the identification of Critical Operations (COs) and the mapping of people, premises, processes, vendors and technology against COs. Consolidate identified vulnerabilities and outlining coordinated remediation efforts.
• Oversees the development of contingency plans for critical operations, including third party arrangements.
• Work closely with business, operations, and technology teams to integrate resilience capabilities into day-to-day business processes.
• Coordinate and oversee resilience testing, scenario analysis, and lessons-learned exercises to validate the institution’s ability to respond and recover from disruptions.
• Ensure resilience measures are embedded in critical business processes, third-party relationships, and change initiatives.

Stakeholder Engagement & Leadership

• Act as a key liaison between the first line of defense and second/third lines (Risk, Compliance, Audit) to ensure a coordinated and effective approach to resilience.
• Partner with technology, cybersecurity, business continuity, and operational risk teams to drive alignment on resilience priorities.
• Working with Enterprise Crisis Management (ECM) to identify special projects aligning to strategic objectives of the group and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of financial crisis management.
• Engage and educate senior leadership, front-line business leaders, and operational teams on resilience requirements and best practices.
• Represent Scotiabank in Industry leading calls with other Financial Partners including the CBA and IIAC.
  

Regulatory Compliance & Reporting

• Ensure compliance with evolving global regulatory expectations (e.g., UK PRA SS1/21, EU DORA, US OCC/Federal Reserve guidance, CAD E-21) by developing appropriate resilience policies and controls.
• Prepare reports and presentations for senior management, regulatory bodies, and board-level risk committees on operational resilience performance and initiatives.
• Lead remediation efforts for resilience-related audit findings and regulatory feedback.

Continuous Improvement & Risk Mitigation

• Monitor emerging risks, evolving threats, and industry trends to continuously enhance the resilience program.
• Implement key risk indicators (KRIs) and metrics to measure and track resilience effectiveness.
• Champion a culture of resilience, promoting awareness and training initiatives across the organization.

ENTERPRISE CRISIS MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS CONTINUITY

• Act as the Bank’s Crisis Coordinator, leading the organization's response to significant disruptive events and providing guidance and recommendations to management and executives across the enterprise during exercises as well as incident response facilitation and decision-making during crisis activations. In such events, responsible for the creation of postmortem activities, documenting required actions, and facilitating executive communications.
• Guide and facilitate decision-making among senior executives during crises and own the accountability for managing and synchronizing crisis response across the enterprise. The incumbent will be responsible for coordinating and leveraging other crises response teams across the Bank (BCMU, Corporate Security, Operations, IS&C, IT&S, Communications) to ensure effective plans, controls and governance are in place and are regularly updated.
• Maintain and oversee the Bank’s Crisis Management Senior Response Team (CMSRT), the main body that supports crisis response. This includes twice annual governance meetings and up-to-date membership. Also acts as the primary contact for the Operating Committee during crises.
• Oversee the BCMU program for the Bank including relationship managers and specialists and collaborates with internal and external stakeholders on processes focused on Business Continuity Management, with the objective to ensure BCM documentation is current and relevant, that BCP plans are compliant to Bank standards, and continues to evolve processes to reflect external trends.
• Lead on the development and planning of the “Run the Bank” project to ensure the Bank has physical space to house the most critical employees. This involves in depth work with each business line and function as well as real estate and more
• Remain current regarding potential threats and emerging trends across the industry; ensuring appropriate and relevant mitigation strategies are in place to enable organizational resilience and readiness in the event of a crisis and drive necessary improvement across the bank.

ESCALATED CUSTOMER CONCERNS OFFICE

• Provide strategic direction, leadership and oversight of the Escalated Customer Concerns Office (ECCO) in Canada ensuring business strategies, plans and initiatives are executed / delivered in compliance with governing regulations, internal policies and procedures.
• Lead and provide strategic and operational direction to a diverse group of subject matter experts in customer case management and customer retention through the investigation of complaints escalated beyond front-line units.

LEADERSHIP AND CULTURE

• Lead and drive a customer focused culture throughout their team to deepen client relationships and leverage broader Bank relationships, systems and knowledge.
• Direct day-to-day activities in a manner consistent with the Bank’s risk culture and the relevant risk appetite statement and limits. Communicate the Bank’s risk culture and risk appetite statement throughout their teams.
• Create an environment in the team that pursues effective and efficient operations of respective areas, while ensuring the adequacy, adherence to and effectiveness of day-to-day business controls to meet obligations with respect to operational risk, regulatory requirements, defined procedures and AML/ATF risk and conduct risk, including but not limited to responsibilities under the Operational Risk Management Framework, Regulatory Compliance Risk Management Framework, AML/ATF Global Handbook and the Guidelines for Business Conduct.
• Builds a high-performance environment and implements a people strategy that attracts, retains, develops and motivates their team by fostering an inclusive work environment, communicating vison/values/business strategy and managing succession and development planning for the team.

Education / Experience / Other Information

• 10+ years of experience in operational resilience, business continuity, operational risk, or related functions within a large global financial institution.
• Undergraduate degree in Business Administration, Risk Management, Economics, Finance and/or relevant background. Graduate degree or professional designations in related discipline would be an asset.
• Strong knowledge of global regulatory frameworks related to operational resilience (e.g., PRA, FCA, DORA, OCC, Basel)
• Proven track record in implementing resilience strategies and frameworks within complex, matrixed organizations
• Experience working across business units, technology, and risk teams to drive resilience initiatives.
• Strong leadership, stakeholder management, and communication skills, with the ability to influence senior executives.
• Expertise in resilience testing, impact tolerance setting, scenario analysis, and risk mitigation planning.
• Familiarity with third-party risk management, cyber resilience, and technology resilience best practices.
• Expertise in project management and change leadership practices
• Innovative, creative, resilient leader to successfully manage stakeholder relationships, generate out-of-the-box solutions and manage uncertainty; proactively identify and solve complex problems impacting management and business direction
• Demonstrated advance technical understanding of financial institution banking products and services.
• Strong understanding of the regulatory landscape and industry practices with respect to Operational Risk, Business Continuity Management, and Operational Resilience
• Ability to prioritize against many competing interests in an environment of constant change
• Solid experience and participated in internal and external audits, specifically with regulators
• Excellent problem solving, critical thinking, negotiating skills and organizational skills
• Strong written and verbal skills (must be able to prepare documentation and interact effectively with other Bank departments)
• Good leadership and time-management skills
• Thorough knowledge of Bank's regulations, policies, procedures, operations, and functions
• Must maintain a current awareness of regulatory requirements and industry best practices in operational resilience
• Build positive stakeholder relationships across the enterprise to garner support, advice and partnership that enables execution of the role.
• Proactive in work and responsibility. Ongoing self-study regarding emerging regulatory and industry issues, BNs business priorities, and best practices.
• Ability to adapt and quickly develop in-depth understanding of new/different initiatives, requirements, or roles.