City : Toronto, Canada

Category : Finance

Industry : Financial Services

Employer : Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan - OTPP

Director, Private Asset Operations

The opportunity

The Private Asset Operations group is responsible for the investment operations (new deal and transaction support, trade settlement, and investment accounting) for all Private Asset investing activities including direct and fund investing in private equity, infrastructure, natural resources, private credit venture capital, real estate (Cadillac Fairview)  and alternative investment structures. 

The Director, Private Asset Operations has overall accountability for ensuring a highly productive and efficient operations group and working with the Investments Division’s Private Asset teams and other functional partners to provide top tier support, implement day to day operational activities in an efficient and risk conscious way, and foster and facilitate innovation.

Who you'll work with

You will have the opportunity to build and maintain good working relationships with all key partners including Investments Division, Cadillac Fairview, Finance and Enterprise Operations leadership teams, executive team, business unit leaders, functional partners, external vendors and agencies.

What you'll do

Strategic:

• Organize the Private Asset Operations group for value added results – ensuring efficient processes, strong governance and high level of service to its clients.

• Build out of any incremental functions and/or processes to support the Teachers’ investment strategy. 

• Ensure internal alignments are realized & optimized between groups.

• Support the team in operationalizing complex cross border investment structures efficiently

• Ensure private asset finance data is thoughtfully architected within the organization

• Ensure the group has the right skills and that each role is filled with the right individuals. 

• Providing a focus and direction for talent development and succession planning.

• Key member of Financial Operations’ leadership team responsible for ensuring overall objectives are being met.  

Process

• Provide mentorship to direct reports and assist them in striving to make their department more efficient, effective and service oriented 

• Drive employee productivity by harnessing new systems, designing and implementing operational improvements, and developing productivity measures and monitoring results

• Ensure vendor service delivery quality through monitoring results and constructive dialogue

• Promote cross operational group understanding of processes, controls and required results

• Provide leadership in scoping out what the required enhancements are of the investment accounting system to drive continued efficiencies and reporting 

• Promote employee productivity through productivity measures, training, and cross- training

• Provide quarterly attestation of internal controls for the Private Asset Operations group

• Remain current with new and emerging industry operational standard methodologies

• Leading the development of key initiatives for the Private Asset Operations group and mobilizing the team to achieve the desired outcomes.

Implementation & reporting

• Provide excellent client service to the Investments Division through producing timely and accurate information, holding “client” feedback sessions and anticipating needs

• Managing dashboards to measure key metrics which will promote accountability, efficiency and accuracy of information. 

Management accountability

• Overall accountability for department of ~ 20 people, with responsibility for all people and budget management activities 

• Recruit, engage, develop and retain a seasoned, senior team of Financial Operations’ professionals

• Coach and mentor direct reports; develop the next generation of leaders for succession planning

• Evaluate members of the Private Asset Operations group to ensure they have the appropriate skills and capabilities to succeed in their responsibilities

• Responsible for Financial Operations’ relationship with Cadillac Fairview and their Finance and Operations teams

• Demonstrate Teachers’ values consistently in interactions across all levels of the organization

• Drive efficiency in execution across the full range of Private Asset Operations’ services

• Stay current on the strategic direction of Teachers’, Investments to determine how best to align resources to support their strategies

Decision making

• Superior decision making skills are critical to this role.

• Need to make operational decisions on a day to day basis – balancing daily time pressures and ensuring high grade results. 

• Possess sound risk identification skills, ability to balance risks with business needs and requirement to make timely decisions with imperfect information. 

What you'll need

• Excellent understanding of general business and management practices

• Excellent understanding of the pension sector

• Extensive knowledge of Private Asset investing (both direct and through externally managed structures) and related settlement, portfolio accounting and fund-level measurement processes and practices

• Deep knowledge of operations, internal controls, application management, operational improvement approaches

• CPA (CA), CFA or MBA

• Technically conversant with a wide range of investment products

• General knowledge of Private Asset investment operations, practices, and processes

• 10 years + of related professional experience in financial operations

• Experience with leading teams

• Successful track record for project planning and management and possesses the ability to be a key driver in implementing change across the operational groups. 

#LI-OTPP

What we’re offering

• Pay-for-performance environment that offers competitive salary and incentive

• Numerous opportunities for professional growth and development

• Comprehensive employer paid benefits coverage

• Retirement income through a defined benefit pension plan

• The opportunity to invest back into the fund through our Deferred Incentive Program

• A flexible/hybrid work environment combining in office collaboration and remote working

• Competitive time off

• Our Flexible Travel Program gives you the option to work abroad in another region/country for up to a month each year

• Employee discount programs including Edvantage and Perkopolis

• Degreed: a digital platform that helps you quickly and easily discover, share, and track various learning resources — from courses to videos to articles and more

At Ontario Teachers', diversity is one of our core strengths. We take pride in ensuring that the people we hire and the culture we create, reflect and embrace diversity of thought, background and experience. Through our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy and our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), we celebrate diversity and foster inclusion through events for colleagues to connect for professional development, networking & mentoring.  We are building an inclusive and equitable workplace where our talent is respected, accepted and empowered to be themselves.  To learn more about our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, check out Life at Teachers'.

How to apply

Are you ready to pursue new challenges and take your career to the next level? Apply today! You may be invited to complete a pre-recorded digital interview as part of your application.

Accommodations are available upon request (peopleandculture@otpp.com) for candidates with a disability taking part in the recruitment process and once hired.

Candidates must be legally entitled to work in the country where this role is located.

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