Associate Director, Operational Innovation

What is the opportunity?

The Associate Director, Operational Innovation is a hands-on role responsible for translating the group’s Operational Development roadmap into managed delivery programs and driving end-to-end outcomes for operational improvement initiatives across RBC CM COO. This role bridges strategic framework development and hands-on delivery through strong individual contribution, managing senior stakeholder relationships, and ensuring that operational development initiatives are executed with rigour, speed, and adherence to enterprise standards. The role also supports broader Operational Readiness activities where cross-mandate engagement is required. 

What will you do?

Operational Assessments: Lead structured operational assessments and process discovery to identify and qualify operational development opportunities.  Develop or support business cases and ROI models for operational development initiatives as required.  Present recommendations to management for roadmap prioritisation.   Apply standardised assessment criteria to rank and sequence opportunities by value, feasibility, and risk.

Program Delivery: Own end-to-end delivery of multiple concurrent operational development initiatives, managing scope, timelines, dependencies, risks, and executive reporting across the portfolio. Partner with business, technology, data, and architecture teams to translate solution designs into operational procedures, process maps, and supporting artifacts. Lead implementation planning, rollout sequencing, training delivery, and post-implementation monitoring, applying lessons learned to continuously improve delivery.

Continuous Improvement Governance: Support establishment and ongoing requirements related to continuous improvement governance structures, including working groups and stakeholder forums. Ensure all initiatives are delivered in alignment with enterprise governance and operational standards. Enforce design patterns and change management processes across the team. Lead risk reviews for new initiatives and maintain audit-ready documentation.

Stakeholder Management: Serve as the primary point of contact for business partners on active operational development initiatives. Communicate delivery status, risks, and outcomes clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. Build and maintain effective working relationships across business, operations, technology, data and risk functions.

Team Mentorship & Knowledge Management: Mentor across a team of senior professionals, fostering a culture of rigor and delivery excellence. Own the development and maintenance of operational best practices repositories including process standards, templates, and tools.  Codify lessons learned to drive consistency and quality across the function.

Operational Readiness Coordination: Provide delivery support to cross-mandate workstreams where Operational Development and Operational Readiness activities intersect.

What do you need to succeed?

Must-have

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in finance, Business administration or a related field.

• Experience: 7–10 years of progressive experience in operations, process improvement, program management, or organisational development, with at least 2–3 years in a people or program leadership capacity.

• Stakeholder Management & Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills with proven ability to manage cross-functional stakeholder relationships and senior management.

• Program & Delivery Management: Strong program and project management capability with experience managing multiple concurrent initiatives, including milestone tracking, dependency management, risk escalation, and executive-level reporting.

• Analytical Thinking & Business Judgment: Data-driven approach to problem-solving.

Technical Skillset: The following technical skills are strongly preferred for this role:

• Microsoft Suite: Expertise and fluency in the Microsoft Applications suite i.e. Excel, PowerPoint, Word.

• Business Intelligence and Dashboarding: Building and maintaining operational dashboards and KPI reports using Tableau or Power BI.

• Data Preparation and Transformation: Experience in preparing, cleaning and integrating datasets from multiple sources using Excel, SQL and tools like Alteryx, DBT or Python.

• Data Modeling and Analytics: Data modeling and data mart design experience on platforms such as DataBricks or Snowflake to support high-volume analytics.

• Data Engineering Basics: Understanding of ETL/ELT pipelines and data quality principles to support analytics and automation workflows.

• SQL and Database: Querying relational databases, data extraction, and supporting operational workflows with structured data.

• Low-Code/No-Code Platforms: Workflow design and automation using Power Automate, Zapier, or enterprise equivalents for rapid solution delivery.

• Python Skills: Core scripting capability for automation logic, data transformation, and integration across operational tools and systems.

Nice-to-have

• Experience in financial services or a regulated industry, with capital markets knowledge a particular asset

• Exposure to continuous improvement methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent.

• Experience contributing to business case development and ROI quantification.

• Version Control and Basic DevOps: Familiarity with Git and CI/CD concepts for maintaining reproducible, manageable automation code.

• Business Process Modeling: Proficiency in BPMN notation, swimlane diagrams, and flowcharts to document and communicate process design.

• RPA Skills: Development using UiPath, Blue Prism, or Automation Anywhere, including deployment and performance monitoring.

• API and Integration Basics: Working knowledge of RESTful APIs and webhooks to connect systems and data sources.

• Cloud Platform Basics: Basic knowledge of AWS, Azure, or GCP, including infrastructure and managed services relevant to automation hosting.

What’s in it for you?

We thrive on the challenge to be our best, progressive thinking to keep growing, and working together to deliver trusted advice to help our clients thrive and communities prosper. We care about each other, reaching our potential, making a difference to our communities, and achieving success that is mutual.

• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including bonuses and flexible benefits, competitive compensation, commissions, and stock where applicable.

• Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities

• Ability to make a difference and lasting impact.

• Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team.

• Flexible work/life balance options.

• Opportunities to do challenging work.

• Opportunities to take on progressively greater accountabilities. 

• Access to a variety of job opportunities across business.

Job Skills

Business Process Improvements, Commercial Acumen, Customer Service Management, Decision Making, Detail-Oriented, Product Services, Quality Management, Risk Management

Additional Job Details

RBC CENTRE, 155 WELLINGTON ST W:TORONTOTorontoCanada37.5Full timeCAPITAL MARKETSRegularSalaried2026-05-122026-05-26

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the application deadline date above

Our Employment Opportunities

At RBC, we are guided by living shared values of Client First, Integrity, Collaboration, Respect and Excellence and winning together as One RBC. We believe an inclusive workplace that has diverse perspectives is core to our continued growth as one of the largest and most successful banks in the world. Maintaining a workplace where our employees feel supported to perform at their best, effectively collaborate, drive innovation, and grow professionally helps to bring our Purpose to life and create value for our clients and communities. RBC strives to deliver this through policies and programs intended to foster a workplace based on respect, belonging and opportunity for all.

RBC is presently inviting candidates to apply for this existing vacancy. Applying to this posting allows you to express your interest in this current career opportunity at RBC. Qualified applicants may be contacted to review their resume in more detail.