Top Benefits
About the role
We’re Sagen
Sagen is Canada’s leading private mortgage insurance company making home ownership more accessible to first time homebuyers. For the past 30 years we have been focused on being the most trusted partner for lenders and brokers.
Our expertise in superior customer service, thought leadership, and industry knowledge has allowed us to be a driving force for our most important stakeholder, our valued customers. Our best-in-class team across the country work tirelessly to make every deal the most important deal. We are 100% Canadian-owned and believe in helping all Canadians achieve their dream of homeownership.
Sagen’s collaborative culture inspires our people to be authentic and curious while pursuing excellence in what they do.
Ready to make an impact?
Sagen is looking for a Director, Risk Operations, who will be responsible for leading a team dedicated to developing and executing strategies related to our underwriting framework (underwriting policies, integration of decisioning technology, alignment with enterprise risk appetite) and oversight of portfolio quality. In collaboration with other key stakeholders, this role will also be a critical contributor in enhancing our underwriting framework through the development and integration of advanced models and data to drive decisions and efficiencies.
Here is where you will be focusing to ensure your success.
People Leadership and Influence
- Through effective leadership, foster a collaborative, proactive, engaged, and adaptable team culture while influencing key stakeholders across the business.
- Provide coaching, feedback and professional development opportunities to the Risk Manager, Credit Policy and Risk Technology roles who will manage underwriting policies, implement changes into our underwriting framework and monitor effectiveness.
- Lead the Regional Risk Managers to ensure robust monitoring of national economic and housing related trends and assess potential impact to the insurance portfolio.
- Work closely with cross-functional teams including Operations, Sales, Loss Mitigation, Investigations, Quality Assurance, to identify emerging trends and ensure ongoing alignment of customer initiatives.
Data Analytics and Solutions
- Provide deep mortgage insurance domain expertise to guide the development of risk models.
- Collaborate with data science team and cross-functional business teams to ensure models reflect business realities, regulatory expectations, and strategic priorities.
- Translate business requirements into model use cases and ensure outputs are interpretable and actionable.
- Provide feedback on model design and performance from a business perspective, identifying gaps, limitations, and opportunities for enhancement.
- Facilitate cross-functional collaboration between Risk, Data Science and Operations teams to ensure models are fit-for-purpose and integrated into underwriting processes.
- Support the development of model documentation and governance materials by contributing business context and rationale.
- Monitor the effectiveness of model integration into operational workflows and recommend improvements based on business outcomes and user feedback.
- Oversee the optimization of risk technology, auto-decisioning, business rules and other models and tools utilized to adjudicate risk to ensure timely and seamless implementation.
Credit Policy Oversight
- Monitor new insurance exposure against internal risk appetite tolerances and limits. Proactively assess through data analytics and provide recommendations for mitigation of emerging trends to the Company’s senior management (Insurance Risk Committee).
- Serve as subject matter expert for all credit policy issues including regulatory requirements (OSFI Guideline B-21, PRMHIA).
- Maintain the Company’s Residential Mortgage Insurance Underwriting Plan to ensure ongoing adherence to internal risk appetite and OFSI guidelines.
- Lead key strategic projects, providing risk management expertise and credit policy/ underwriting knowledge, as required.
- Partner with Operations and Sales leadership to establish road maps to ensure the deployment of new or existing product changes are communicated and implemented effectively.
Third-Party Relationships
- Manage all third-party relationships (AVMs, credit reporting agencies, data providers, etc., ensuring alignment with objectives and standards.
- Evaluate third-party capabilities, support on-boarding and on-going performance monitoring.
- Ensure third-party deliverables meet business needs, regulatory requirements, and quality expectations.
- Act as a key point of contact for third-party performance reviews, issue resolution, and continuous improvement initiatives.
What we are looking for.
- Minimum 10 years of risk management experience in a mortgage lending environment, risk management, or financial services
- Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Business Administration, Economics, Computer Science, or a related field
- Prior experience overseeing the work and managing performance of a dynamic team, in a fast-paced business environment
- Strategic thinker with a strong business orientation and analytical mindset
- Demonstrated experience with mortgage underwriting and/or credit policy
- Experience working with modeling/data science teams or in environments where models are used for decision support
- Ability to translate complex technical concepts into business-relevant insights.
- Comfortable working cross-functionally and influencing across levels
- Proficiency in data analysis (e.g., Excel, Power BI, SQL) and AI tools; familiarity with modeling concepts is an asset
- Previous experience in supporting a business in dealing with regulatory and compliance requirements
- Demonstrated success in overseeing the work and managing the relationship with third-party providers
- Superior project management skills and attention to detail with the ability to work with and influence all levels in the organization
- Exceptional written, verbal communication and presentation skills
- Organized and customer centric
#LI-Hybrid
This position requires work from our Oakville office but offers a flexible hybrid work model that allows employees to work remotely from their home office.
What's In It for you!
At Sagen we understand that your health and financial well-being are equally important and offer a total rewards package that includes competitive compensation, annual performance bonus, medical and dental benefits, company funded pension plan, matching RRSP, TFSA and/or Non-registered Savings Plans, work from anywhere days, and an environment that creates a sense of belonging to inspire you to be your very best.
Ready to join Sagen
At Sagen, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, as evidenced by our partnerships with the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) and Black Mentorship Inc. We strive to create a sense of belonging where all employees, from every background and ability, are welcomed, respected, and empowered to be their authentic selves.
Throughout the selection and hiring process, we encourage candidates to request accommodation to meet their individual needs.
About Sagen
Sagen, formerly known as Genworth Canada, is the largest private residential mortgage insurer in Canada. The Company provides mortgage default insurance to Canadian residential mortgage lenders, making homeownership more accessible to first-time homebuyers. Sagen differentiates itself through superior customer service, a robust risk management framework and innovative processing technology. For more than two decades, Sagen has supported the housing market by providing thought leadership and a focus on the safety and soundness of the mortgage finance system. Sagen is a trademark owned by Sagen MI Canada Inc.
Top Benefits
About the role
We’re Sagen
Sagen is Canada’s leading private mortgage insurance company making home ownership more accessible to first time homebuyers. For the past 30 years we have been focused on being the most trusted partner for lenders and brokers.
Our expertise in superior customer service, thought leadership, and industry knowledge has allowed us to be a driving force for our most important stakeholder, our valued customers. Our best-in-class team across the country work tirelessly to make every deal the most important deal. We are 100% Canadian-owned and believe in helping all Canadians achieve their dream of homeownership.
Sagen’s collaborative culture inspires our people to be authentic and curious while pursuing excellence in what they do.
Ready to make an impact?
Sagen is looking for a Director, Risk Operations, who will be responsible for leading a team dedicated to developing and executing strategies related to our underwriting framework (underwriting policies, integration of decisioning technology, alignment with enterprise risk appetite) and oversight of portfolio quality. In collaboration with other key stakeholders, this role will also be a critical contributor in enhancing our underwriting framework through the development and integration of advanced models and data to drive decisions and efficiencies.
Here is where you will be focusing to ensure your success.
People Leadership and Influence
- Through effective leadership, foster a collaborative, proactive, engaged, and adaptable team culture while influencing key stakeholders across the business.
- Provide coaching, feedback and professional development opportunities to the Risk Manager, Credit Policy and Risk Technology roles who will manage underwriting policies, implement changes into our underwriting framework and monitor effectiveness.
- Lead the Regional Risk Managers to ensure robust monitoring of national economic and housing related trends and assess potential impact to the insurance portfolio.
- Work closely with cross-functional teams including Operations, Sales, Loss Mitigation, Investigations, Quality Assurance, to identify emerging trends and ensure ongoing alignment of customer initiatives.
Data Analytics and Solutions
- Provide deep mortgage insurance domain expertise to guide the development of risk models.
- Collaborate with data science team and cross-functional business teams to ensure models reflect business realities, regulatory expectations, and strategic priorities.
- Translate business requirements into model use cases and ensure outputs are interpretable and actionable.
- Provide feedback on model design and performance from a business perspective, identifying gaps, limitations, and opportunities for enhancement.
- Facilitate cross-functional collaboration between Risk, Data Science and Operations teams to ensure models are fit-for-purpose and integrated into underwriting processes.
- Support the development of model documentation and governance materials by contributing business context and rationale.
- Monitor the effectiveness of model integration into operational workflows and recommend improvements based on business outcomes and user feedback.
- Oversee the optimization of risk technology, auto-decisioning, business rules and other models and tools utilized to adjudicate risk to ensure timely and seamless implementation.
Credit Policy Oversight
- Monitor new insurance exposure against internal risk appetite tolerances and limits. Proactively assess through data analytics and provide recommendations for mitigation of emerging trends to the Company’s senior management (Insurance Risk Committee).
- Serve as subject matter expert for all credit policy issues including regulatory requirements (OSFI Guideline B-21, PRMHIA).
- Maintain the Company’s Residential Mortgage Insurance Underwriting Plan to ensure ongoing adherence to internal risk appetite and OFSI guidelines.
- Lead key strategic projects, providing risk management expertise and credit policy/ underwriting knowledge, as required.
- Partner with Operations and Sales leadership to establish road maps to ensure the deployment of new or existing product changes are communicated and implemented effectively.
Third-Party Relationships
- Manage all third-party relationships (AVMs, credit reporting agencies, data providers, etc., ensuring alignment with objectives and standards.
- Evaluate third-party capabilities, support on-boarding and on-going performance monitoring.
- Ensure third-party deliverables meet business needs, regulatory requirements, and quality expectations.
- Act as a key point of contact for third-party performance reviews, issue resolution, and continuous improvement initiatives.
What we are looking for.
- Minimum 10 years of risk management experience in a mortgage lending environment, risk management, or financial services
- Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Business Administration, Economics, Computer Science, or a related field
- Prior experience overseeing the work and managing performance of a dynamic team, in a fast-paced business environment
- Strategic thinker with a strong business orientation and analytical mindset
- Demonstrated experience with mortgage underwriting and/or credit policy
- Experience working with modeling/data science teams or in environments where models are used for decision support
- Ability to translate complex technical concepts into business-relevant insights.
- Comfortable working cross-functionally and influencing across levels
- Proficiency in data analysis (e.g., Excel, Power BI, SQL) and AI tools; familiarity with modeling concepts is an asset
- Previous experience in supporting a business in dealing with regulatory and compliance requirements
- Demonstrated success in overseeing the work and managing the relationship with third-party providers
- Superior project management skills and attention to detail with the ability to work with and influence all levels in the organization
- Exceptional written, verbal communication and presentation skills
- Organized and customer centric
#LI-Hybrid
This position requires work from our Oakville office but offers a flexible hybrid work model that allows employees to work remotely from their home office.
What's In It for you!
At Sagen we understand that your health and financial well-being are equally important and offer a total rewards package that includes competitive compensation, annual performance bonus, medical and dental benefits, company funded pension plan, matching RRSP, TFSA and/or Non-registered Savings Plans, work from anywhere days, and an environment that creates a sense of belonging to inspire you to be your very best.
Ready to join Sagen
At Sagen, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, as evidenced by our partnerships with the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) and Black Mentorship Inc. We strive to create a sense of belonging where all employees, from every background and ability, are welcomed, respected, and empowered to be their authentic selves.
Throughout the selection and hiring process, we encourage candidates to request accommodation to meet their individual needs.
About Sagen
Sagen, formerly known as Genworth Canada, is the largest private residential mortgage insurer in Canada. The Company provides mortgage default insurance to Canadian residential mortgage lenders, making homeownership more accessible to first-time homebuyers. Sagen differentiates itself through superior customer service, a robust risk management framework and innovative processing technology. For more than two decades, Sagen has supported the housing market by providing thought leadership and a focus on the safety and soundness of the mortgage finance system. Sagen is a trademark owned by Sagen MI Canada Inc.