Director, Technology Transformation And Architecture - Investment Management

THE ORGANIZATION

PwC and PwC Canada

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is one of the preeminent professional services firms in the world. In Canada, PwC has more than 7,600 partners and staff in locations from coast to coast. With more than 110 years of excellence in Canada, PwC provides industry-focused professional services including consulting, assurance, tax, and deals. PwC helps to resolve complex issues and to identify opportunities for growth, innovation, cost efficiencies and improved risk management on behalf of a wide range of public, private corporate, investor and government clients.

As part of a global network of over 276,000 people in 157 countries, PwC Canada helps organizations and individuals create the impact they’re looking for, by delivering the best of their collective thinking, experience and solutions to build public trust and enhance value for their people, and for clients and communities.

PRACTICE OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND

Investment Management

As a result of a combination of prudent yet appropriately assertive fund management, strong sector regulation, good governance, and excellent performance track record, Canada has become recognized as a global leader in pension fund asset management. This is true both in terms of traditional assets classes such as public equities and fixed income, as well as alternative asset classes, such as private equity, infrastructure and real estate. Plans such as CPPIB, OTPP, PSP, CDPQ and BCIMC, each managing assets in the hundreds of billions of dollars, are among the key players in this space.

With such significant organizations as those noted above in its back yard, along with other major firms that focus on similar asset and investment management already among its key clients and targets, it is clear why PwC Canada would choose to expand its Investment Management practice to specifically focus on the unique and evolving needs of this important sector.

With the Pensions and the broader Institutional Asset Management sector being somewhat underdeveloped from a consulting point of view and considering the strong brand and numerous client relationships PwC has already established, there is a tremendous opportunity to successfully claim significant market share through this initiative. The practice will provide consulting expertise aligned to the strategic, operational and technological aspects of growing and managing/operating large institutional investment funds, broadly outlined as:

• Technological: Investment Management Firms’ need to buy/upgrade/implement new front, middle and back-office investment enablement systems and platforms (increasingly cloud based) to support all the above changes and also to provide protection against cyber and other global threats.
• Strategic: Investment Management Firms’ pursuit of new investment and business strategies (associated with emerging issues such as major Macro shifts, ESG, among others) and building better alignment between the Public and Private markets businesses.
• Operational: Investment Management Firms’ need to refine and improve business processes (often aligned with changing regulatory requirements and/or reporting expectations) and build transformation roadmaps for the future business.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Director, Technology Transformation and Architecture - Investment Management

In a world of “digital and data everything”, the Director, Technology Transformation and Architecture, for the Investment Management practice is a critical hire.

This role will focus on consulting to Investment Management firms’ CTO’s, and senior stakeholders, with a fundamental understanding of current architectures, the issues associated with it and what leading practices are for fully integrated solutions to support future business growth. This is a transformative function that will enable new operating models to support pension fund and investment management firms as they move increasingly into alternative investments, new asset classes, more global portfolios, delivering solutions that will future-proof and create optimal integration and alignment between the public and private markets investments of these businesses.

The role will be responsible for developing front to back, enterprise-wide transformational architectures. Working with clients to understand their strategic imperatives and translating them into solutions that support front, middle and back-office functions in the achievement of their goals through optimal use of principally cloud technology solutions and advanced data analytics and AI. One of the key emerging trends in pension fund management that needs to be supported from a technology perspective is in ESG. The ESG dimension will include implementing initiatives that enable the imperative to attract and retain capital, accelerate sustainable and responsible growth, and mitigate enterprise risk.

The Technology Transformation role will work closely with client firm CTO’s and senior stakeholders across four primary areas:

1. Strategic: seen as an advisor/SME to the CTO and broader executive on all technology architecture; helping them develop a clear vision and road map for the future.
2. Infrastructure: helping CTO’s make forward looking, integrated decisions on matters of data, security, maintenance and network management.
3. Business Partnering: bringing deep understanding of the business – including specific investment-related processes and technologies and helping to articulate how they can come together to drive an overall solution; assisting CTO’s and their teams in developing service models to ensure the business realizes the benefits from major initiatives.
4. Thought Leadership: bringing a proven (agile) problem solving ability to guide clients around potential pitfalls and advocate for modular and scalable architectures.

Given PwC’s existing strong and deep relationships with Investment Management clients, the firm is well positioned from a brand permission perspective to pursue and win with this plan to introduce and build out an integrated finance transformation offering.

KEY DELIVERABLES

As the Director, the individual will partner up with a team of problem solvers, helping to solve complex business issues from strategy to execution.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Set up and support a technology strategy and architecture project according to a vision
• Effectively communicate complex material effectively in written and oral formats to various audiences
• Support pursuit teams and proposal development including innovative approaches and methodologies tailored to address specific client requirements
• Connect across the PwC global network to share experiences and apply global ideas to our Canadian client base
• Help solve business problems for Investment Management Clients across Financial Services, with a focus on the priority segment of Private Equity and Pension Funds
• Interview clients to identify the root causes of problems and turn analyses into insight so they can grow
• Mentor, motivate and inspire staff on the team through meaningful connections and support team activities to foster an environment of collaboration and success
• Be accountable for solution architecture for large scale technology advisory and transformation projects comprising multiple resources and teams
• Understand how IT strategies support client business strategies in the asset management sector
• Help clients to define the right technology solutions to move their business forward, with the goal of improving the effectiveness of our clients’ IT organizations
• Stay abreast of key industry developments in Canada and globally
• Understand the key market trends and challenges facing asset management clients
• Translate business capabilities into solution architectures that consistently exceed clients’ expectations

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Relevant experience in a leading management or technology consulting firm, demonstrating knowledge of strategy, and technology used by Asset Management clients to serve their stakeholders
• Possess an understanding of the full spectrum of technologies from the front office (i.e., CRM, deal management, and portfolio management technology) to the middle and back-office infrastructure in the Asset Management sector (e.g. pension funds, private equity etc.)
• A demonstrated commitment to valuing differences, developing, and coaching diverse teams, and ensuring diverse perspectives are heard
• A track record of successful project delivery based on practical and modular architectures with experience integrating SaaS, cloud native and on-premise solutions
• Travel involved (10% to 20%)
• Demonstrated skills in modeling business data, business strategy, problem-solving, team coordination and communication
• Curiosity about emerging technologies including cloud, Data Science and Machine learning is an asset
• Exposure to Business Architecture techniques to bridge the gap between business and technology is an asset
• Designed architectures for systems/workflows providing critical support to the Portfolio Management, Portfolio Construction, Trading, Investment Operations and Risk Management functions
• Proven track record of solving significant business problems that reflects strategic and creative thinking, individual initiative, and motivating teams
• Experience in delivering large business and IT transformations and full life-cycle projects including experience with public and private markets would be an asset
• Ideally in-depth knowledge of and experience working with industry specific technologies (i.e. Charles River IMS, State Street Alpha, BlackRock Aladdin, SimCorp, etc.)

ABOUT LHH KNIGHTSBRIDGE – www.lhhknightsbridge.com