Principal Lead - Portfolio Management

Belonging to Air Canada is safely putting your career on course as a Canadian icon and recently named Best Airline in North America. Take your career to new heights by joining our innovative and diverse team at the forefront of passenger air transport.

The Manager - Portfolio Management occupies a strategic leadership position within the Office of Transformation of the IT, Data, and Digital Solutions (IDS) team. They are responsible for defining and evolving technology portfolio management capabilities as the organization transitions to a product-driven operating model. This position offers the senior leadership team an integrated end-to-end view of demand, investments, and execution across multiple Product and Engineering teams.

The incumbent will oversee and assume responsibility for all centralized IDS portfolio management, including demand management and prioritization, roadmap development, planning, and financial management.

Acting as a trusted advisor and integrator, the Manager - Portfolio Management provides an overarching portfolio vision that influences prioritization, funding decisions, and risk management to ensure technology investments align with business outcomes and executive objectives.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Portfolio and Investment Management

• Understand, implement, and evolve the technology portfolio management strategy in accordance with the objectives of the IDS leadership and the product and platform operating model.
• Define the overarching portfolio vision that informs executive decisions regarding prioritization, sequencing, and trade-offs among competing initiatives.
• Provide a centralized, integrated view of demand, roadmaps, dependencies, and investments for multiple Product and Engineering teams.
• Influence prioritization and planning through insight, analysis, and facilitation rather than formal decision-making power.
• Establish clear frameworks and guardrails to distinguish initiatives that require program management support from those that require product-scale execution.

Demand Integration, Roadmaps, and Financial Data

• Evolve the demand integration process to better align with the product operating model, using technology to automate steps wherever possible; define, communicate, promote, and ensure compliance with the process.
• Supervise the demand integration process to ensure consistency in triage, transparency, and alignment with strategic capabilities and priorities.
• Ensure product roadmaps account for approved long-term demand, capital priorities, and planning commitments.
• Lead the evolution of product- and portfolio-related financial aspects, including capital planning, forecasting, and alignment with Finance leadership and audit expectations.
• In collaboration with Finance leadership, ensure business cases are developed, validated, and approved for priority investment initiatives, guaranteeing consistency and quality across proposals.
• Work in partnership with Finance and Product teams to transition from project-driven funding to product-driven investment models.

Information Reporting, Risk, and Visibility

• Establish a standardized approach for reporting on demand integration that provides complete visibility into the status of the demand funnel, improving communication and alignment with operations.
• Provide leadership through clear, decision-driven portfolio reporting that exercises strategic influence rather than merely offering retrospective status updates.
• Proactively collaborate with Product and Implementation teams to identify cross-portfolio risks, dependencies, and constraints in both execution and budget; implement mitigation measures with stakeholders.
• Enable versatile reporting capabilities integrated into working methods (e.g., leadership status reporting, initiative overviews, Jira-based effort and capacity reporting).

Stakeholder Management

• Act as a strategic liaison between multiple Product, Platform, and Engineering teams collaborating to achieve shared business goals.
• Facilitate alignment by connecting insights from teams, portfolios, and investment horizons, as well as with teams whose initiatives span multiple products, platforms, or operating structures.

People Leadership and Capability Building

• Lead and develop a team of up to four specialists dedicated to portfolio management, building competencies and ensuring practice consistency.
• Define uniform portfolio management methods, tools, and expectations while allowing flexibility to support Product teams.
• Actively coach team members, develop core competencies, and manage succession planning for core portfolio skills.
• Provide organizational leadership across a broad spectrum of competency areas, balancing strategic objectives with operational excellence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; PMP, Agile/Scrum, PROSCI, or equivalent certifications an asset.
• At least eight years of progressive experience in technology transformation, portfolio management, or related leadership roles.
• Expertise in financial management and operating model transformation a major asset.
• Proven ability to establish methodologies, governance frameworks, and execution standards within complex organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to manage ambiguity and achieve results in a dynamic environment.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to influence senior leadership.
• Ability to communicate with key stakeholders and summarize key points by analyzing complex information through reports, dashboards, and presentations.
• Strong communication and organizational skills, with a prominent executive presence.
• Demonstrate punctuality and reliability to support the overall success of the team in a fast-paced environment.

Employment Conditions:

Candidates must be eligible to work in the country concerned at the time an offer of employment is presented and are responsible for obtaining necessary work permits, visas, or other authorizations. Proof of eligibility must be provided prior to the start date.

Language Requirements

All things being equal, preference will be given to bilingual candidates.

Diversity and Inclusion

Air Canada is strongly committed to diversity and inclusion and aims to create a healthy, accessible, and rewarding workplace that highlights the unique contribution of our employees to our business success.

As an equal opportunity employer, we encourage diverse applications to ensure a varied workforce representative of our customers and the communities where we live and serve.

Air Canada thanks all applicants for their interest, but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.