Vice President - Productivity & Efficiency and Business Management

Job Description

What is the opportunity?

As a VP and strategic leader embedded in the COO Office, you will drive competitive advantage across RBC Capital Markets by translating strategy into operational reality and sustainable value creation. Your mandate bridges three critical pillars: strategy and narrative, operational efficiency and fiscal discipline, with organizational capability building. You will serve as the strategic and operational backbone of the COO Group, shaping how productivity initiatives and organizational alignment translate into measurable business outcomes and stakeholder confidence.

This role demands an operator-strategist, someone who combines deep analytical rigor with the narrative ability to synthesize complexity into clear strategic direction for executive audiences facing ambitious growth and transformation agendas. You will work at the intersection of Productivity & Efficiency (P&E) and Business Management, within the COO Office, ensuring the COO Group priorities and initiatives are coherently orchestrated rather than siloed. This role is equivalent to a Senior Manager or Associate Director level and is not a Finance role.

What will you do?

As a trusted strategic advisor to the COO and transformation leadership, you will own the narrative architecture and operational execution that connect strategy to outcomes:

• Strategy and narrative ownership. You will translate the P&E productivity agenda, and Capital Markets strategic priorities into a compelling, data-driven narrative for stakeholders. This includes articulating the "why" behind transformation - how it creates competitive advantage, enables growth investment, and sustains competitive positioning. You will develop integrated strategy documents, board-ready presentations, and capability-building roadmaps that make transformation tangible and urgent.

• Fiscal planning, measurement, and rigor. You will drive zero-based cost transparency across Capital Markets functions, establishing the true cost of running each business line. You will own Capital Markets fiscal planning cycles, integrate P&E initiatives into financial forecasts, and ensure that productivity gains are tracked, validated, and reinvested strategically. You will maintain an authoritative dashboard of ROI, program health, and efficiency benefits realization.

• Cross-functional orchestration and program governance. You will coordinate business unit leaders to ensure initiatives are sequenced strategically, dependencies are managed, and governance rigor is embedded. You will identify horizontal (cross-functional) opportunities that multiply impact and facilitate trade-off decisions when priorities compete for resources or attention.

• Stakeholder engagement and capability building. You will serve as trusted advisor to senior Capital Markets executives, business heads, and the COO office, providing strategic counsel on pace, organizational readiness, and risk. You will champion a culture of productivity and change mindset, embedding efficiency thinking into performance management and business planning. You will strengthen the COO office's reporting rhythms, ensuring monthly and quarterly metrics tell a coherent story about Capital Markets' strategic trajectory.

• Organizational design and workforce optimization. You will own spans and layers analysis, role pyramid reviews, and organizational health assessments that inform HR discussions and track the health of each business unit. You will partner with HR on workforce planning, mandate development, and location strategy execution to ensure optimal talent distribution across high-cost and low-cost centers. You will design and recommend organizational structures, role definitions, and accountability frameworks that align with business strategy and operational requirements.

• Performance planning and OKR ownership. You will coordinate annual performance planning cycles, including OKR setting, bonus planning, and year-end performance reviews in partnership with HR and Finance. You will manage the setting, tracking, and communication of organizational OKRs, ensuring clear alignment with COO strategic priorities and facilitating regular updates and adjustments. You will design and maintain comprehensive scorecards that provide visibility into organizational performance and enable data-driven decision-making.

• Employee engagement and change communication. You will develop and implement the employee engagement roadmap for the COO Group, including Town Halls, newsletters, and initiative communications that reinforce transformation priorities and organizational culture. You will ensure employees feel agency in the transformation journey, not just disruption, by maintaining clear, consistent communication about organizational changes and their implications.

• Employee experience and organizational change. You will materially improve how Capital Markets employees experience transformation, ensuring communication is clear, change is supported with training and resources, and the organization feels agency in the transformation journey, not just disruption. You will partner with HR to assess organizational capability gaps and design targeted capability-building interventions.

What you need to succeed?

Must-haves

• Proven strategic communication ability. You must be able to write and present at board and C-suite level, taking complex transformation and efficiency analyses and distilling them into clear, compelling narratives. This is not just about polishing slides; it is about being a thought partner who shapes strategy through strategic writing and verbal clarity.

• 5–7 years of progressive experience in strategy, transformation, operations, or management consulting in financial services, capital markets, or comparable complex environments. You have led or deeply shaped major transformation programs or efficiency initiatives end-to-end, from design through adoption and benefits realization.

• Exceptional critical thinking, judgment, and stakeholder navigation. You can work through ambiguity, make sound decisions with incomplete information, and build consensus across competing interests without sacrificing analytical rigor.

• Advanced financial acumen, deep understanding of P&L drivers, capital efficiency metrics (ROE, NIBT, NIE), and how to model cascading impact of efficiency initiatives on business outcomes. Deep fluency with zero-based budgeting frameworks and financial planning and analysis.

• Program and project leadership expertise. Proven ability to manage complex, multi-workstream programs to time and quality, identify and mitigate risks, and maintain team accountability across organizational boundaries.

• Self-directed operator. Comfortable working independently on high-stakes initiatives, and equally comfortable collaborating and building teams when needed.

• Organizational design and change management expertise. Proven experience in organizational design, role definition, and operating model development. Understanding of HR practices related to job architecture, span of control, and talent planning. Experience with workforce optimization, location strategy, and global delivery models.

Nice-to-haves

• Advanced technical mastery in data storytelling and analytics. Mastery in Excel and Tableau with the ability to build dashboards that give executives confidence in their cost base and strategic decisions. More importantly, exceptional ability to translate quantitative insights into narrative and strategic direction that moves senior leaders to action.

• Advanced degree (MBA/EMBA) from a respected program, or specialized credentials (CPA, CFA, CMA).

• Direct experience with program management offices, change governance, or portfolio orchestration in regulated or matrix environments.

• Track record of building organizational capabilities, designing training programs, or driving cultural change initiatives.

• Familiarity with agile transformation methodologies and how to scale them in large, hierarchical organizations.

• Experience in Capital Markets (trading, execution, market data, or similar functions) that informs your ability to navigate Capital Markets complexity and business dynamics.

• Prior experience implementing or managing OKR frameworks or balanced scorecard approaches at scale.

• Experience driving employee engagement initiatives, internal communications, or cultural change programs.

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

• Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities

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

• Opportunities to do challenging work

#LI-KA2

Job Skills

Client Counseling, Critical Thinking, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Decision Making, Group Problem Solving, Long Term Planning, Organizational Change Management, Results-Oriented, Solutions Development

Additional Job Details

Address:

ROYAL BANK PLAZA, 200 BAY ST:TORONTO

City:

Toronto

Country:

Canada

Work hours/week:

37.5

Employment Type:

Full time

Platform:

CAPITAL MARKETS

Job Type:

Regular

Pay Type:

Salaried

Posted Date:

2026-04-01

Application Deadline:

2026-04-15

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.

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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.