Manager, Operations Excellence-Term

Employment Type: Existing Role

Work Environment: We offer a hybrid work environment that offers flexibility to our employees in balancing in-office (2 days per week OR 15 hours per week in a Wawanesa office) and remote work. You may work from any of the following locations: Winnipeg, MB; Toronto (North York), ON.

Working Business Language : English

Salary: At Wawanesa, salary is only one component of a holistic, comprehensive and competitive offering that we provide to our employees. In addition to salary, full-time and part-time permanent employees are eligible for an annual bonus plan, leave of absence top-up programs and provided with generous vacation time, personal days, premium free benefits and pension plan.

The salary offered for this role is determined with consideration to various factors, including but not limited to: your work location, local labour market conditions, external market salary data, internal pay equity and the knowledge, skills, experience and anticipated proficiency in the role. The salary offered is estimated to be within the following range: $120,000 - $150,000. Candidates with salary expectations outside of the range are still encouraged to apply.

About The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company

Founded in 1896, The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company is one of Canada’s largest mutual insurers, 100% owned by its members, with more than $4.1 billion in annual revenue and $12.5 billion in assets. Headquartered in Winnipeg, Wawanesa is the parent company of Wawanesa Life, which provides life insurance solutions throughout Canada, and Western Financial Group, a leading national distributor of personal and business insurance. In March of 2026, Wawanesa entered into an agreement to acquire Everest Insurance Company of Canada to strengthen its commercial insurance capabilities and advance its long-term growth strategy.

Wawanesa proudly serves more than 1.8 million members and we are home to more than 3,000 employees across Canada. The company actively gives back to organizations that strengthen communities, donating more than $4 million annually to charitable organizations, including more than $2 million each year in support of people on the front lines of climate change. Learn more at wawanesa.com.

We are currently looking for dedicated, driven, and enthusiastic individuals who thrive in an environment that welcomes change and are looking for an opportunity for diverse experience and advancement on a growing team.

Job Overview

Working with minimal guidance, the Manager, Operational Excellence is responsible for managing, supporting, and overseeing a team of Operational Excellence Analysts and Robotic Process Automation developers who enable the business through alignment, enablement and improvement of processes for the member, broker and employee. The role acts as a leader and mentor within the organization to achieve targeted business results with an emphasis on high quality and timely delivery.

Note: this is a term position, expected to be 12 months in length

Job Responsibilities

• Participate in leadership team activities focused on continuous improvement, strategic projects and initiatives, ensuring consistency and efficiency, with a focus on the strategic plan.
• Provide guidance while leading the evaluation and resolution of business requests using knowledge of operational excellence and lean methodologies to develop and confirm business acceptance criteria, and optimize business process in alignment with Wawanesa's strategy, vision, and themes.
• Establish and drive a continuous improvement culture in the organization through education and thought leadership.
• Lead the execution of process automations, process mining and RPAs.
• Lead a group of process analysts through coaching and mentoring to achieve their business and development goals.
• Provide team guidance to identify and eliminate business process waste, collaborate with business sponsors to create implementation plans for improvements.
• Build and manage relationships with business leaders and align with all company strategic priorities.
• Lead the creation and delivery of presentations to multiple business groups including executive team members.
• Facilitate the development and use of performance metrics to define, measure and report on the progress and success of change and impacts to people on projects.
• Contribute to and manage the forecasted budget.
• Execute projects through planning, removing barriers and leading Agile methodology in team.
• Responsible for the development of new techniques, OPEX improvements and introduction of best practices to support internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead, coach, and mentor specialists to ensure the integration and alignment of OCM activities within projects/programs, including assessments and change management strategies.
• Influential communicator responsible for managing business request backlog, working with stakeholders to adjust priorities and expectations to maximize the business value delivered.
• Liaise with Executives to ensure strategic initiatives align with their strategies and goals.
• Develop and monitor roadmaps to ensure projects and initiatives have appropriate business resources and align to our organizational strategies.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years of experience delivering enterprise-level process improvement activities using structured methodology and project management skills.
• Completion of university degree/certificate or equivalent experience.
• Certified in Lean/Six Sigma Black Belt, or certification in progress.
• Demonstrated experience as lead on multiple enterprise-level strategic initiatives or projects.
• Experience in driving transformative organizational change projects focused on technology implementation, and operational effectiveness and improvements.
• Advanced experience in Agile practices, scrum, kanban.
• Expert presentation creation and presenting skills and experience essential.
• Expert written and oration skills, with the ability to communicate in a clear and concise manner with style fitting for the audience and message.
• Strong leadership ability, leading others to embrace, perform effectively, and adapt quickly to change.
• Strong decision-making skills, with the ability to identify and review potential impacts.
• Strong business acumen with excellent analytical and problem-solving skills and the ability to recognize and resolve critical issues.
• Strong MS Office suite of products.
• PROSCI Occupational Change Management and/or Project Management Certifications are considered an asset.

Diversity Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

At Wawanesa, we are committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) and believe that our strength lies in the diversity of our people – this is supported by having a representative workforce.

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, including racialized persons, women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, gender-diverse and neurodiverse individuals, and anyone who can contribute to the further diversification of thought and ideas.

We aim to ensure our recruitment process is accessible to all candidates. If you require accommodations during any stage of the recruitment process, please reach out in confidence to View email address on canada.jobradars.com.

All Wawanesa job applicants are subject to Wawanesa's Privacy Policy.

Please note that the recruitment process for this position may involve the use of AI tools to screen, assess, or select applicants. All final decisions are taken or reviewed by human recruiters and human hiring leaders in compliance with all applicable legislation.