Senior Project Manager

Senior Project Manager

Specialty Insurance, Driven by Aviva  |  Calgary, AB (Hybrid)

Optiom is in the best chapter of its story so far. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Aviva Canada, we are scaling a specialty Managing General Agency (MGA) that places vehicle replacement & warranty insurance at the point of financing through a national network of broker and dealer partners. The work in front of us is significant: new systems, new processes, new teams, and a transformation agenda that touches three brands and three provinces. The Execution Office is the engine room — and we are looking for a Senior Project Manager who is built to do the work, not just oversee it.

We need a builder. Someone who rolls up their sleeves and writes the plan, drafts the deck, runs the working session, and updates the RAID log themselves — because that is faster and more accurate than asking three other people to do it. Someone who uses governance and process where they earn their keep, and skips the rest. We are not looking for a PM who will slow the work down with forms, ceremonies, and certifications-for-the-sake-of-it. We are looking for someone whose instinct is to ship the outcome.

If you escalate risks before they become issues, present to a steering committee with the same calm confidence you bring to a working session, and treat 'how can I help unblock this today' as a more important question than 'is the template current' — we want to talk to you. This is not a coordination role. It is an accountability role for the outcomes that move our business forward.

What You'll Do

• Own the full lifecycle of strategic initiatives across Optiom, O2 Insurance Services, and Bamboo Premium Financing — scoping, planning, executing, reporting, closing — and personally building the artifacts that move the work forward.
• Write the project plan, draft the steering committee deck, maintain the RAID log, and run the working session yourself. Lean on tools and templates only where they earn their keep; skip the ceremony where they don't.
• Manage interdependencies across concurrent initiatives, escalating sequencing decisions to the Director, Execution Office and VP Operations early — not late.
• Translate project status into business-relevant language for SLT and Aviva Canada governance interfaces. Communicate good news and bad news with equal professionalism — and short, useful updates over long, formal ones.
• Identify current-state processes and design future-state with subject matter experts across underwriting, claims, compliance, finance, and operations. Move from whiteboard to working pilot quickly.
• Help build out Optiom's PMO infrastructure — but only the parts that demonstrably help us deliver. Right-size governance to the project; protect the team from forms, gates, and reporting cycles that don't change outcomes.
• Partner with functional leads across Sales, Underwriting, Compliance, Finance, and IT to ensure project commitments are honoured and change lands with the people doing the work.

 What You Bring

• A Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Project Management, Operations Management, or a related field — or equivalent demonstrated experience that more than makes up for it.
• Minimum 5 years of progressive project management experience, with at least 2 years personally driving multi-stakeholder, cross-functional projects in a corporate environment.
• A builder's instinct — you draft the plan, build the deck, write the status update, and run the working session yourself rather than delegating those out. You are comfortable in the work, not just above it.
• Demonstrated experience holding multiple concurrent projects without losing delivery rigour on any of them — and the judgment to know which ones need formal governance and which ones need a phone call.
• Outcome focus: a track record of delivered results, not delivered documents. You can point to specific business outcomes you moved across the line.
• Clear, direct stakeholder communication — short status notes, punchy steering committee summaries, and the candour to flag risk without dressing it up.
• Confidence presenting to senior leadership — and the judgment to know when to escalate, when to absorb, and when to redesign.

Bonus Points For

• Experience in a regulated industry — insurance, financial services, fintech, or professional services — and comfort with compliance, audit, and governance environments.
• Working knowledge of premium financing operations or vehicle protection products (GAP, creditor insurance, warranty).
• Experience reporting up to a corporate PMO or navigating dual approval chains in a parent-company environment, with the judgment to operate inside structure without becoming bureaucratic.
• Project management certifications such as PMP, PRINCE2, PMI-ACP, or Lean Six Sigma — useful as evidence of foundational training, but not required and not a substitute for delivery experience.
• Practical fluency in project management tools — Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Asana, Jira, or equivalent. We care that you can pick up a tool quickly, not that you have any particular badge.
• Bilingual English/French.

What We Offer

• Base salary of $85,000 – $105,000, plus an annual performance bonus of 10–15% of base. On-target total cash compensation of $93,500 – $120,750.
• Comprehensive group benefits — medical, dental, vision, EAP — eligible from date of hire.
• Three weeks of vacation to start, increasing with tenure.
• Employer-supported professional development — designation renewal fees, professional memberships, and approved continuing education reimbursed where they directly support your work.
• Hybrid work model in Calgary with a minimum of three in-office days per week.
• A high-impact, high-visibility mandate inside one of Canada's most established insurance groups.

Who We Are

Optiom Inc. is a Managing General Agency (MGA) and a wholly owned subsidiary of Aviva Canada. We specialize in vehicle replacement & warranty insurance products distributed through a national network of broker and dealer partners — embedded at the point of vehicle financing and leasing, providing Canadians with meaningful replacement value protection. Originating in British Columbia in 2008 and now headquartered in Calgary, Optiom has grown to deliver dependable protection through a national network of more than 330 dealerships and 900 broker offices, with over 600,000 policies sold to date. We operate with the entrepreneurial energy of a specialty MGA, backed by the resources and credibility of one of Canada's largest and most trusted insurers.

Optiom operates three brands: Optiom (specialty insurance), O2 Insurance Services (brokerage), and Bamboo Premium Financing (premium financing). We are headquartered in Calgary with operations across Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.

How to Apply

Apply through this platform with your resume and a brief note about why this role interests you. Our HR team reviews applications on a rolling basis and will respond within five business days. We thank all applicants for their interest; only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.

Optiom is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in any stage of the selection process — please let us know how we can support you.

Optiom uses AI tools to assist with initial screening. All final hiring decisions are made by Optiom's human hiring team.