AVP, Health Benefits & Solutions
Top Benefits
About the role
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: Role Summary Reporting to the Vice President, Market Development, the AVP, Health Benefits & Solutions is accountable for the development and execution of market leading group benefit offerings such as Disability, Life, Virtual Care, Mental Health, Extended Health Care (EHC) and Dental to differentiate Sun Life Financial as the leading Group Benefits provider in Canada, aligned with the Sun Life Health strategy. This includes understanding the current competitive landscape, product trends, and evolving client and advisor needs to effectively innovate, develop, and maintain these critical Group Benefits products. A significant focus of the mandate for this role includes building a cohesive and coherent strategy across key product areas. The role will also help bring these strategies to life, driving commercial value for Sun Life and improving health outcomes for our plan members.
What will you do? Strategy & Product Development
- Build a robust strategy with multiple time horizons that articulates how Sun Life will further its competitive differentiation as a leader in Group Benefits and Health.
- Develop and maintain an agile product roadmap focusing on improving existing offerings through integration and evolution, introducing new capabilities, and better aligning the product shelf to customer needs.
- Drive strategy and work closely with business partners across Sun Life to ensure that the business priorities and opportunities are aligned.
- Develop key performance indicators and analytics to measure the success of the mandate.
- Responsible for ensuring success of product launches and execution - including developing and maintaining a roadmap, developing recommendations and creating business cases, overseeing testing and development, product launch, communication, adoption, and ongoing monitoring.
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of product professionals.
Partner & Stakeholder Management
- Collaborate with key partners and teams including Sun Life Health leaders to ensure Sun Life Financial has a relevant and compelling suite of products and services to support growth and service excellence.
- Work effectively with third party vendors and partners to develop, test, launch, and iterate on new solutions.
- Includes effective market analysis, negotiation, relationship building, and process management.
- Work closely with key partners including (but not limited to): Disability Operations, H&D Claims Operations, Business Development, Client Experience Office, Shared Services, and Sun Life Health teams to ensure alignment and mutual success across these shared portfolios and initiatives.
- Develop strong relationships with these teams, leading to stronger collaboration and movement toward a One-Sun approach where applicable.
Commercial Management
- Focus on continuing to expand our relationship and shelf with Dialogue – building on the acquisition and advancing commercial opportunities for benefits products.
- Ensure that products and services offered and developed contribute to Sun Life’s financial goals either through direct monetization or reduction in claims expense.
- Work and partner closely with Business Development, Advisors, and Plan Sponsors to drive adoption and engagement of products and services.
- Develop strong, cadenced reporting to share business outcomes and financial results with relevant leadership groups.
- Identify new and innovative business opportunities that will continue to further develop our offerings and expedite / ignite our pace from concept to production.
Thought Leadership & Market Knowledge
- Stay current on market evolution as it relates to these products and portfolios, both within the traditional competitor set as well as emerging players.
- Be a key Sun Life leader as it relates to these topics working with Marketing & Communications and Business Development where appropriate to continue to elevate Sun Life’s position and capabilities in these spaces.
What do you need to succeed?
- Motivated by a strong desire to make a difference in the lives of our clients and improve health outcomes for plan members and Canadians
- Strong strategic orientation – ability to identify and pursue opportunities that will either build or extend our business model
- Strong understanding of the current competitive landscape and ability to synthesize market changes into implications for action for Sun Life
- Proven ability to translate strategy into execution and manage large-scale and complex projects with a focus on financial and client outcomes
- Excellent leadership skills and a track record for motivating and empowering teams
- Strong client orientation – ability to interpret client needs and wants and use those to inform our strategy and roadmaps
- Excellent articulation and presentation acumen with comfort presenting to internal and external executive audiences
- Strong and seasoned negotiation skills
- Commitment to building strong relationships with critical partners inside and outside the organization
- Solid knowledge of the Group Benefits industry with an emphasis on Disability, EHC and virtual care
- As this position is posted in several locations, we specify that bilingualism (French, English, both oral and written) is required for Quebec only for the frequent interactions with English and French-speaking colleagues or internal partners across Canada or worldwide.
Education & Experience
- University-level education
- Relevant industry work experience of 8-10 years
- 5-10 years of progressive experience in Group Benefits
- Background in strategy, product development, and/or project management
What’s in it for you?
- A competitive salary and bonus program, based on market scale
- A flexible group insurance program starting on your first day of work to meet your needs and those of your family.
- Time off that allows you to focus on the moments that matter most. 20 vacation days per year.
- Our Share Ownership Program gives you the opportunity to invest in Sun Life while benefiting from employer matching contributions.
- We are proud to be included in Great Place to Work's 2025 list of Canada's Best Workplaces.
- A warm, supportive, and inclusive culture.
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: 140,000/140 000 - 225,000/225 000
Job Category: Product
Posting End Date: 07/12/2025
About Sun Life
AVP, Health Benefits & Solutions
Top Benefits
About the role
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: Role Summary Reporting to the Vice President, Market Development, the AVP, Health Benefits & Solutions is accountable for the development and execution of market leading group benefit offerings such as Disability, Life, Virtual Care, Mental Health, Extended Health Care (EHC) and Dental to differentiate Sun Life Financial as the leading Group Benefits provider in Canada, aligned with the Sun Life Health strategy. This includes understanding the current competitive landscape, product trends, and evolving client and advisor needs to effectively innovate, develop, and maintain these critical Group Benefits products. A significant focus of the mandate for this role includes building a cohesive and coherent strategy across key product areas. The role will also help bring these strategies to life, driving commercial value for Sun Life and improving health outcomes for our plan members.
What will you do? Strategy & Product Development
- Build a robust strategy with multiple time horizons that articulates how Sun Life will further its competitive differentiation as a leader in Group Benefits and Health.
- Develop and maintain an agile product roadmap focusing on improving existing offerings through integration and evolution, introducing new capabilities, and better aligning the product shelf to customer needs.
- Drive strategy and work closely with business partners across Sun Life to ensure that the business priorities and opportunities are aligned.
- Develop key performance indicators and analytics to measure the success of the mandate.
- Responsible for ensuring success of product launches and execution - including developing and maintaining a roadmap, developing recommendations and creating business cases, overseeing testing and development, product launch, communication, adoption, and ongoing monitoring.
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of product professionals.
Partner & Stakeholder Management
- Collaborate with key partners and teams including Sun Life Health leaders to ensure Sun Life Financial has a relevant and compelling suite of products and services to support growth and service excellence.
- Work effectively with third party vendors and partners to develop, test, launch, and iterate on new solutions.
- Includes effective market analysis, negotiation, relationship building, and process management.
- Work closely with key partners including (but not limited to): Disability Operations, H&D Claims Operations, Business Development, Client Experience Office, Shared Services, and Sun Life Health teams to ensure alignment and mutual success across these shared portfolios and initiatives.
- Develop strong relationships with these teams, leading to stronger collaboration and movement toward a One-Sun approach where applicable.
Commercial Management
- Focus on continuing to expand our relationship and shelf with Dialogue – building on the acquisition and advancing commercial opportunities for benefits products.
- Ensure that products and services offered and developed contribute to Sun Life’s financial goals either through direct monetization or reduction in claims expense.
- Work and partner closely with Business Development, Advisors, and Plan Sponsors to drive adoption and engagement of products and services.
- Develop strong, cadenced reporting to share business outcomes and financial results with relevant leadership groups.
- Identify new and innovative business opportunities that will continue to further develop our offerings and expedite / ignite our pace from concept to production.
Thought Leadership & Market Knowledge
- Stay current on market evolution as it relates to these products and portfolios, both within the traditional competitor set as well as emerging players.
- Be a key Sun Life leader as it relates to these topics working with Marketing & Communications and Business Development where appropriate to continue to elevate Sun Life’s position and capabilities in these spaces.
What do you need to succeed?
- Motivated by a strong desire to make a difference in the lives of our clients and improve health outcomes for plan members and Canadians
- Strong strategic orientation – ability to identify and pursue opportunities that will either build or extend our business model
- Strong understanding of the current competitive landscape and ability to synthesize market changes into implications for action for Sun Life
- Proven ability to translate strategy into execution and manage large-scale and complex projects with a focus on financial and client outcomes
- Excellent leadership skills and a track record for motivating and empowering teams
- Strong client orientation – ability to interpret client needs and wants and use those to inform our strategy and roadmaps
- Excellent articulation and presentation acumen with comfort presenting to internal and external executive audiences
- Strong and seasoned negotiation skills
- Commitment to building strong relationships with critical partners inside and outside the organization
- Solid knowledge of the Group Benefits industry with an emphasis on Disability, EHC and virtual care
- As this position is posted in several locations, we specify that bilingualism (French, English, both oral and written) is required for Quebec only for the frequent interactions with English and French-speaking colleagues or internal partners across Canada or worldwide.
Education & Experience
- University-level education
- Relevant industry work experience of 8-10 years
- 5-10 years of progressive experience in Group Benefits
- Background in strategy, product development, and/or project management
What’s in it for you?
- A competitive salary and bonus program, based on market scale
- A flexible group insurance program starting on your first day of work to meet your needs and those of your family.
- Time off that allows you to focus on the moments that matter most. 20 vacation days per year.
- Our Share Ownership Program gives you the opportunity to invest in Sun Life while benefiting from employer matching contributions.
- We are proud to be included in Great Place to Work's 2025 list of Canada's Best Workplaces.
- A warm, supportive, and inclusive culture.
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: 140,000/140 000 - 225,000/225 000
Job Category: Product
Posting End Date: 07/12/2025