Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Projects

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* Who we are:

** Fairstone Bank and its family of brands are united in delivering innovative, accessible and reliable financial solutions that enable Canadians to reach their goals. Over the years, our brand family has grown. In 2024, Home Trust Company, Home Bank and Oaken Financial became part of the Fairstone Bank family of brands, alongside Fairstone, Eden
* Park* and Fig.

Together, we are the leading alternative lending bank in Canada. We have the collective experience and expertise to better serve our customers and foster our partners’ growth. With a diverse suite of products—residential and commercial mortgages, consumer deposits and GICs, credit cards, retail and automobile financing, personal loans and digital lending—we offer financial solutions tailored to all Canadians, including newcomers, small-business owners, smart investors and savvy consumers.

Backed by nearly a century of lending experience through its legacy companies, Fairstone Bank and its brand family are proud to be Canada’s leading alternative lending bank.
** Eden Park:
** Eden Park Inc. (“Eden Park”) is a dynamic automobile finance brand committed to enabling our dealer partners to sell more cars. Since 2012, Eden Park has serviced a wide network of automobile dealers and tens of thousands of consumers from coast to coast.

Join Eden Park as a Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Projects reporting to Michael Scotland and be part of our talented and growing team!
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* About the role:

** Reporting to the Vice President of Operations, the Senior Manager of Strategic Initiatives & Projects drives cross-functional collaboration to deliver high-impact initiatives that enhance operational efficiency and align with strategic goals. Acting as both a subject matter expert and project manager, this role serves as the primary liaison with key vendor partners, including providers of Loan Origination and Loan Management Systems.

You will lead coordination between internal teams and external stakeholders, ensuring business requirements are translated into effective solutions and projects stay on track. Additionally, you will evaluate existing processes, identify opportunities for improvement, and recommend actionable strategies, while keeping senior leadership informed of progress and outcomes.

Accountabilities include:

Manage assigned projects
* Outline objectives, initiate discovery, recommend courses of action
* Set meetings with stakeholders, set agendas, record minutes, capture takeaways, follow up with stakeholders on action items
* Create detailed project plans, including key milestones, timelines, dependencies, and track and communicate project progress

Manage Project Budgets
* Ensure projects costs are approved, track vendor work and ensure projects are kept on budget
* Review and approve project invoices ensuring adherence to agreements
* Manage annual project budgets

Ensure project/initiative Requirements meet business needs
* Gather high level business requirements from stakeholders and relay requirements to external or internal stakeholders
* Ensure business requirements are translated into appropriate technical requirements
* Obtain feedback and sign-off from relevant SMEs for all requirements, technical or otherwise
* Liaise with external vendors and ensure all Statements of Work, Business Requirements, and Solution Documents are sufficient

Troubleshoot Project Issues
* Coordinate with 3rd party vendors and internal stakeholders to find solutions to problems with urgency
* Escalate issues as needed to ensure timely resolution

Lead System/Platform Enhancements
* Maintain detailed knowledge of operational platforms and functionalities
* Act as subject matter expert for key platforms participating in User Acceptance Testing (UAT) prior to production deployments and ensure adequate testing plans are followed
* Plan and prepare for all system deployments coordinating with other managers to ensure all testing, training and release notes are understood in advance
* Coordinate and sign-off on production deployments with vendor during hours of release, coordinating with internal stakeholders

Evaluate Existing Processes and Investigate Solutions to…