Manager, Portfolio Performance & Insights at Definity, Toronto

AI Summary

This Manager, Portfolio Performance & Insights role at Definity in Toronto, ONT, Canada, is crucial for co-leading the central analytical engine for personal insurance portfolio objectives. You will oversee timely, high-quality portfolio performance monitoring, insight generation, forecasting, and deep-dive analysis. The position requires a university degree in a related field, over seven years of progressive experience in analytics or insurance performance analysis, and proven leadership of analytical teams.

The Opportunity

As the Manager, Portfolio Performance & Insights at Definity, you will play a fundamental part within the Personal Insurance Portfolio Management team. This pivotal role involves co-leading the central analytical engine essential to support Definity’s overarching portfolio objectives. Reporting to the VP, Personal Insurance Operational & Financial Planning, you will be accountable for overseeing the delivery of timely, high-quality portfolio performance monitoring, comprehensive insight generation, precise forecasting, and in-depth deep-dive analysis. In close partnership with other leaders, your mandate is to ensure the team consistently provides clear, actionable insights that effectively diagnose performance trends, elucidate the underlying reasons behind results, and ultimately support effective decision-making by Regional Portfolio Directors. This role uniquely combines strong people leadership, a commitment to analytical excellence, and rigorous operational oversight. You will be instrumental in building and overseeing a centre of excellence for analytical talent, meticulously managing the team’s end-to-end workflow, and collaborating closely with Personal Insurance Directors and senior stakeholders to align analytical efforts with the most critical business priorities and the long-term portfolio strategy. Regular exposure to senior leaders is expected, requiring you to confidently form and present robust portfolio recommendations that influence strategic and tactical decisions across the Personal Insurance division.

Key Responsibilities & Analytical Leadership

A core aspect of this position involves leading portfolio performance monitoring and insight generation. You will oversee the continuous monitoring of Personal Insurance portfolio performance across all products and regions, directing the generation of actionable portfolio insights. This guidance will enable the team to move beyond mere reporting, clearly explaining underlying drivers and trends. Ensuring all analysis tells a cohesive story around profitability, risk quality, and market dynamics, supported by clear recommendations, is paramount. You will champion a culture of analytical curiosity and proactive insight generation, encouraging early identification of trends, risks, and opportunities. Furthermore, you will support the development and refinement of portfolio forecasts by ensuring underlying assumptions are informed by current performance trends, emerging insights, and identified risks and opportunities. Overseeing deep-dive analysis and strategic projects is another critical responsibility. This includes prioritizing and managing a portfolio of deep-dive analytical projects designed to diagnose root causes of performance trends. Partnering with Regional Portfolio Directors, you will help frame strategic questions and ensure analysis directly informs portfolio actions and decisions, maintaining consistency, quality, and relevance of analytical outputs across all projects. Translating analytical findings into clear, data-driven portfolio recommendations, outlining trade-offs, expected impacts, and practical actions, will be key. You will also partner with stakeholders to evaluate potential portfolio actions and scenarios, ensuring recommendations are grounded in robust analysis and aligned to financial and risk objectives. Developing and leading a high-performing analytical team is central to this role. You will build and lead a centre of excellence for portfolio analytics, accountable for the engagement, development, and performance of all Personal Insurance Portfolio Analysts. Providing ongoing coaching, mentoring, and constructive feedback will support both technical capability and professional development, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performance team culture. You will also manage the operational workflow for the centralized analyst team, including project intake, prioritization, capacity planning, and quality control, facilitating a weekly prioritization forum with Regional Portfolio Directors to ensure analytical resources are aligned to the highest-value business needs. Serving as the primary liaison between Portfolio Directors and the analyst team, you will ensure strong communication, clarity of expectations, and effective delivery.