Senior Manager, Portfolio Management & Program Delivery

Being part of Air Canada is to become part of an iconic Canadian symbol, recently ranked the best Airline in North America. Let your career take flight by joining our diverse and vibrant team at the leading edge of passenger aviation.

The Senior Manager, Portfolio Management & Program Delivery is a strategic leadership role within IT, Data & Digital (IDD), accountable for advancing technology portfolio management and enabling disciplined execution of complex programmes and projects. The role provides senior leadership with integrated, decision-oriented visibility across demand, investment, roadmaps, delivery performance, risks, dependencies, capacity and business outcomes.

Based on organisational priorities, the incumbent may lead a portfolio-management function, oversee a team of programme and project delivery professionals, personally lead one or more large strategic programmes, or assume a combination of these accountabilities.

Acting as a trusted advisor, integrator and people leader, the incumbent aligns technology investments and delivery priorities with branch objectives and measurable business value.

The role partners closely with senior stakeholders across IDD, Finance, Strategic Procurement and business branches and requires strong executive presence, sound judgement and the ability to influence across complex, cross-functional environments.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Portfolio & Investment Management

• Lead and evolve portfolio-management practices in alignment with IDD strategy and the Product & Platform Operating Model.
• Provide an integrated view of demand, investments, roadmaps, dependencies, delivery health, resource capacity and business outcomes across product, platform and engineering teams.
• Shape decision-oriented insights that support prioritisation, sequencing, funding and trade-off decisions across competing initiatives.
• Oversee demand intake and triage to promote transparency, consistent evaluation and alignment with strategic priorities and available capacity.
• Partner with Finance and business stakeholders on capital planning, forecasting, business cases, investment governance and benefits realisation.
• Establish practical frameworks and guardrails that clarify when initiatives require programme-management support versus product-level execution.

Program & Project Delivery Leadership

• Provide expert guidance and oversight throughout the project lifecycle, ensuring initiatives are well defined, properly planned and executed with discipline.
• Based on assignment, personally lead one or more large, complex technology or transformation programmes, establishing governance and bringing business and technology leaders together to deliver expected outcomes.
• Define fit-for-purpose project structures, delivery models, governance forums and team constructs, ensuring roles, accountabilities, decision rights and resourcing needs are clear from initiation through execution.
• Support project budgeting and financial planning, including cost estimates, funding assumptions, resource forecasts, vendor spend and ongoing monitoring of budget performance against approved plans.
• Lead and oversee programme managers, project managers, project analysts and other delivery professionals, providing direction, coaching and escalation support.
• Provide hands-on oversight and advisory support to programme and project managers, including review of steering committee materials, executive updates, delivery plans, RAID logs and decision to ensure issues, risks and recommendations are clearly framed for leadership.
• Participate in key governance forums, steering committees and executive readiness discussions as appropriate, providing independent delivery perspective, challenge and escalation support where required.
• Establish clear success criteria, key performance indicators and delivery measures, and monitor progress against scope, schedule, budget, quality, value and outcome commitments.
• Conduct risk assessments, identify interdependencies and constraints, and drive timely mitigation and escalation with accountable stakeholders.
• Apply agile, waterfall and hybrid delivery approaches as appropriate, while ensuring alignment with IDD standards and evolving ways of working.

Governance, Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Provide concise executive-level portfolio and programme reporting that highlights accomplishments, decisions required, risks, dependencies, financial performance and corrective actions.
• Implement consistent governance, health checks, quality assurance and performance-management practices across assigned portfolios and programmes.
• Drive the use of fit-for-purpose tools, dashboards and Jira-based reporting to improve visibility, data quality and decision-making.
• Promote benefits realisation and value tracking so investments remain connected to expected business outcomes.
• Drive continuous improvement in portfolio and delivery processes, using metrics, feedback and lessons learned to improve predictability, speed and quality.
• Maintain awareness of relevant regulatory, audit, security and compliance requirements and ensure they are incorporated into governance and execution.

Stakeholder, Financial & Partner Management

• Build trusted, collaborative relationships with senior leaders, product and platform teams, engineering, Finance, Strategic Procurement, business partners and external vendors.
• Act as a strategic advisor to senior leaders, programme sponsors and decision-making forums, translating complex information into clear choices and recommendations.
• Facilitate alignment across teams where initiatives span multiple products, platforms, delivery organisations or investment horizons.
• Support vendor governance and coordination to enable effective blended teams, clear accountability and high-quality outcomes.

People Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead, mentor and develop a team of approximately 4-6 portfolio, programme and/or project-management professionals, fostering a collaborative, accountable and high-performance environment.
• Establish consistent methods, tools, expectations and ways of working while maintaining flexibility to meet the needs of different portfolios, products and programmes.
• Build organisational capability through coaching, knowledge sharing, succession planning and targeted development of critical portfolio and delivery skills.
• Promote a culture of curiosity, innovation, ownership, continuous improvement and outcome-focused execution.
• Conduct regular performance and development discussions, provide constructive feedback and support career growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, technology, finance, engineering or a related discipline; an advanced degree is an asset.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in technology transformation, portfolio management, enterprise programme delivery or related leadership roles.
• Demonstrated success leading large, complex, cross-functional initiatives and/or portfolio-management functions in a dynamic organisation.
• Strong portfolio and financial-management capability, including demand prioritisation, investment planning, business cases, forecasting, resource planning and benefits tracking.
• Proven ability to establish and improve governance frameworks, delivery methodologies, management practices, reporting standards and reusable tools.
• Experience leading and developing multidisciplinary teams and creating clarity in ambiguous or evolving operating environments.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to synthesise complex information into clear executive-level insights and recommendations.
• Exceptional stakeholder-management, facilitation and communication skills, with demonstrated executive presence and the ability to influence without direct authority.
• Working knowledge of agile, waterfall and hybrid delivery methods; PMP, Agile/Scrum, Prosci or equivalent certifications are assets.
• Experience in the airline industry, technology vendor management or operating-model transformation is an asset.
• Demonstrate punctuality and dependability to support overall team success in a fast-paced environment.

Conditions of Employment:

Candidates must be eligible to work in the country of interest at the time any offer of employment is made and are responsible for obtaining any required work permits, visas, or other authorizations necessary for employment. Prior to their start date, candidates will also need to provide proof of their eligibility to work in the country of interest.

Linguistic Requirements

Based on equal qualifications, preference will be given to bilingual candidates.

Diversity and Inclusion

Air Canada is strongly committed to Diversity and Inclusion and aims to create a healthy, accessible and rewarding work environment which highlights employees’ unique contributions to our company’s success.

As an equal opportunity employer, we welcome applications from all to help us build a diverse workforce which reflects the diversity of our customers, and communities, in which we live and serve.

Air Canada thanks all candidates for their interest; however only those selected to continue in the process will be contacted.