AVP Market Strategy, Activation and Communications

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.

At Sun Life, we're driven by our Purpose: helping our Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Our values shape how we work: caring, authentic, bold, inspiring, and impactful.

When you join Sun Life, you'll work with passionate colleagues and empowering leaders who support your growth and celebrate your contributions, so you can make a meaningful difference in our Clients' lives.

Discover how you can make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities around the world.

Job Description:

Lead the strategy that differentiates Group Retirement Services (GRS) in the market and connects sponsors and members with its value. As AVP, Market Strategy, Activation, & Communications you will be a key member of the Market Development leadership team, leading the GRS narrative, value proposition and go-to-market strategy. You will unite sponsor and member perspectives into a differentiated market position, strengthening awareness of GRS solutions, including its 2C (individual wealth management) capabilities. In partnership with Corporate Marketing and Communications and member marketing leadership, you will align communications and cross-functional execution while preserving partners’ accountability for member-specific strategy and execution. You will also represent GRS on key marketing strategies and initiatives across Sunlife, advancing growth, retention and member engagement through data-informed decisions and clear measures of business impact and return on investment (ROI).

What will you do?

• •Set the commercial go-to-market agenda: Translate GRS objectives into a roadmap for priority segments, audiences, competitive positioning, routes to market and growth opportunities. Define strategic trade-offs, recommend resource priorities and secure leadership commitment to coordinated execution.
• •Lead GRS narrative and proposition communications: Turn strategy and sponsor and member insights into differentiated value propositions and audience-specific messaging. Connect solutions, innovation and credible proof points in a consistent GRS story, validating relevance through market insight and aligning messaging standards with Corporate Marketing and Communications and enterprise requirements.
• •Establish marketing investment and performance discipline: Link investment priorities to business objectives, expected returns and measurable targets. Assess marketing’s contribution to pipeline and conversion, using ROI analysis and transparent measurement assumptions to recommend where to scale, adjust or discontinue initiatives.
• •Lead demand generation and commercial alignment: Attract and nurture prospective sponsors and activate consultant and advisor channels. Partner with Business Development on lead qualification, hand-offs, follow-up and feedback, using acquisition and conversion insights to strengthen pipeline contribution without assuming ownership of sales outcomes.
• •Align enterprise and member-level mandates: Establish shared plans, decision responsibilities and measures with Corporate Marketing and Communications, CXO and member marketing leadership. Integrate the broader member proposition into GRS positioning and sponsor-facing strategy, resolving dependencies while preserving partners’ distinct mandates and ownership of member-specific strategy and execution.
• •Shape strategic communications and market influence: Set a communications and thought-leadership agenda that reinforces GRS positioning and brings member perspectives into sponsor, consultant and advisor conversations. Guide executive messaging and external communications, aligning events, sponsorships, advertising and digital channels to market opportunities and measuring audience engagement and qualified demand.
• •Lead cross-functional launch governance: Set readiness criteria for new products, investment solutions and innovations, covering audiences, propositions, channels, commercial enablement and success measures. Align leaders on milestones and dependencies, address gaps and advance launch recommendations through appropriate decision forums. Use post-launch reviews to improve adoption and investment decisions.
• •Turn market intelligence into action: Assess sponsor needs, member insights, competitor positioning and channel feedback to identify opportunities and proposition gaps. Test strategic assumptions and bring evidence-based recommendations to GRS leadership to inform go-to-market priorities and innovation.
• •Build an entrepreneurial, accountable team: Lead and develop over 10 marketing and communications professionals, strengthening proposition development, demand generation, analytics and integrated planning. Foster ownership, proactive opportunity identification and disciplined experimentation. Shape priorities with business and enterprise partners while retaining accountability for GRS marketing outcomes and balancing strategic initiatives with ongoing business needs.

What do you need to succeed?

• •Commercial strategy and prioritization: Translates business objectives and market insight into segment-specific go-to-market plans and demand-generation approaches; makes clear trade-offs and focuses resources on the strongest opportunities
• •Executive presence and influence: Communicates direction with clarity and conviction, integrates diverse perspectives and exercises sound judgement to build commitment and advance decisions across organizational boundaries
• •Marketing economics and measurement: Applies investment, lead quality, funnel and ROI analysis to decisions; distinguishes activity from business impact and communicates measurement limitations transparently
• •Entrepreneurial leadership and ownership: Identifies opportunities, sets priorities and owns results; shapes direction collaboratively, makes timely, evidence-based decisions and adapts through disciplined experimentation.
• •Enterprise collaboration: Builds trusted partnerships with Corporate Marketing and Communications, CXO, member marketing leadership, Business Development, Legal and other Canadian Business Units, aligning objectives while respecting distinct accountabilities.
• •Strategic communications and narrative leadership: Translates strategy and audience insights into clear value propositions, persuasive executive communications and a cohesive GRS story, adapting messaging across channels while maintaining enterprise alignment
• •Market and member insight: Applies knowledge of GRS, the Capital Accumulation Plans (CAP) environment and the end-to-end member experience to strengthen competitive positioning. Uses member insights and evolving marketing practices to shape consumer-facing wealth management strategies that increase awareness, engagement and conversion.
• •Talent leadership: Attracts, develops and retains marketing talent, builds strategic and analytical capabilities and fosters collaboration, initiative and accountability.
• •Integrated execution and governance: Establishes effective decision forums, launch-readiness standards and performance reviews; mobilizes leaders to resolve dependencies and deliver coordinated results.
• •University degree or post-secondary education
• •10+ years of relevant industry experience , including experience within Group Retirement, Individual Wealth Management, Banking, or related financial services sectors
• •Experience leading go-to-market strategy, demand generation and marketing investment analysis
• •Experience developing consumer-facing wealth manage