Project Director- job in Canada

Job title: Project Director
Company: CIBC
Employee Type: Full-Time Employee
Deadline: 30/7/2013
Industry: Other Great Industries
Job Type: Executive
Strategy - Planning
Reference ID: 13009913
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Company Overview

Every day, our 42,000 employees help our clients achieve their financial goals, because what matters to our clients, matters to us. This focus drives our decision making and is underpinned by our commitment to corporate responsibility.

CIBC is a leading Canadian-based global financial institution. Through our three major businesses - Retail and Business Banking, Wealth Management and Wholesale Banking - we provide a full range of financial products and services to 11 million individual, small business, commercial, corporate and institutional clients in Canada and around the world. We invest in our businesses, our clients, our people and our communities to deliver consistent and sustainable earnings to our shareholders. To learn more about CIBC's Lines of Business, please visit our website.

CIBC focuses on what matters to our employees - access to career and development opportunities, safe and healthy workplaces, effective training, and positive work-life balance - so that employees are able to perform at their best, contribute to their communities and focus on cultivating deeper relationships with our clients.

Every year, CIBC is recognized for its business success, community commitment and employee initiatives. We are proud of this success and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and an environment where all employees can excel.
Project Director
Job Description

Job Code: 1709 – Level 9

CIBC is a leading Canadian-based global financial institution. Through our three major businesses – Retail and Business Banking, Wealth Management and Wholesale Banking – we provide a full range of financial products and services to 11 million individual, small business, commercial, corporate and institutional clients in Canada and around the world. We invest in our businesses, our clients, our people and our communities to deliver consistent and sustainable earnings to our shareholders.  To learn more about CIBC’s Lines of Business, please visit our website.


CIBC focuses on what matters to our employees – access to career and development opportunities, safe and healthy workplaces, effective training, and positive work-life balance – so that employees are able to perform at their best, contribute to their communities and focus on cultivating deeper relationships with our clients.


Every year, CIBC is recognized for its business success, community commitment and employee initiatives.  We are proud of this success and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and an environment where all employees can excel.

Job Overview
As a Project Director, you will be responsible for the completion of projects or programs involving several departments, often within a matrix management structure. This includes: developing work plans that include a variety of non-routine assignments or projects, establishing specific objectives, determining appropriate methods and procedures, establishing deadlines and identifying new priorities and taking necessary action. You will follow a formal Project Management Methodology, but also be required to contribute to strategy and play a stewardship role for the Bank from several perspectives including client experience, frontline user, efficiency and risk. Project or program timeframes typically do not exceed 24 months and have annualized operating budget within the millions of dollars.  The focus is to direct multiple or more complex projects or program (e.g., multi-phase or interrelated projects), guided by the work unit's strategic objectives.
Major Activities


1. Initiate the project(s) or program(s) by developing appropriate business cases, outlining costs, resources, timeframes and any other related requirements, such as technical and functional specifications.

- Enhance, upgrade or participate in the development of programs, products or services by assessing the impact, effectiveness and feasibility of proposed changes; make decisions and/or authoritative recommendations regarding feasibility and implementation of changes.
- Develop detailed business cases outlining the project or program goals, terms of reference, manpower and resource requirements and associated costs including a detailed cost- benefit analysis.
- Initiate work orders directed toward the development of a product or service concept.
- Negotiate for staff support to ensure that all the appropriate disciplines are represented on the program or project team. Typically, the team involves jobs from different occupational areas who contribute to the achievement of common objectives or results.
- Co-ordinate and issue project charter and plans.
- Review project plans of reporting project managers ensuring completeness and authorize their funding, within the allocated budget.
- Negotiate with the client(s) regarding deliverables and milestones (the client could be executive management, etc.).
- Develop work plans for a variety of non-routine assignments or projects. This includes establishing specific objectives, determining appropriate methods and procedures, and establishing deadlines.
- Have overall responsibility and accountability for the project budget


2. Execute the project or program plan in a manner that effectively balances the client's specified mix of quality, time and cost.

- Ensure that projects or programs are completed according to general/broad work plans; identify new priorities and take necessary action. This includes directing and having overall responsibility for the implementation of new or modified multi-phase programs or services, and obtaining user acceptance and ensuring consistency with organizational objectives and standards of quality.
- Identify and consider potential opportunities by analyzing the efficiency of specific operations; make related recommendations.
- Direct the project or program team. Typically, establish hiring criteria, interview candidates and make related decisions; develop performance standards, conduct evaluations and recommend salary increases; deal with serious disciplinary problems.
- Provide ongoing advice, guidance or technical support to subordinates by assessing training/development needs, resolving complex problems and authorizing needed resources (incumbents administer and sign team report).
- Build strong and effective working relationships across multiple stakeholder groups


3. Monitor implementation of projects or programs to ensure success.
- Monitor the completion of major milestones and reassign project priorities to maintain the project or program schedule. This includes monitoring the involvement of internal and external resources.
- Monitor and justify expenditures against project or program budget and prepare frequent status reports.
- Conduct overall post-implementation reviews to identify and measure results.
- Investigate and escalate, on an on-going basis, the timely resolution of issues, including those directly related to profit and loss in order to ensure CIBC’s immediate and long-term capability to capitalize on industry and market activities and trends.
- Ensure that senior management approvals on program progress or problem resolutions are obtained in a timely manner.

4. May participate in:
- Policy development, representing the interests of areas (of which the incumbent is a member), and working closely with other groups within CIBC to develop and review policies and procedures in support of objectives.
- Determining strategic direction of areas (of which the incumbent is a member), and conducting presentations, seminars, group discussions, etc.
- Conducting advanced project management workshops and courses when required (e.g., to team members).

Job Requirements
Job Requirements/What We’re Looking For:
- Comprehensive knowledge of the practices, procedures and principles of project management, sufficient to (1) interpret and analyze complex concepts, and apply these in innovative ways in many subjects or functional areas, and (2) be recognized as a subject area specialist
- Detailed working knowledge of CIBC operations across a number of generally-unrelated administrative or operational activities sufficient to apply, adapt and modify detailed practices or processes an asset
- Working (practical) knowledge of a wide variety of external activities (financial and/or other industries, market and/or regulatory environment, or client business practices and needs) sufficient to apply relevant issues or developments to work performed
- Well-developed interactive skills sufficient to convey or present factual and conceptual information on issues which require detailed explanation and interpretation.
- Well-developed influential skills sufficient to resolve distinct differences of opinion or approach; significantly promote and/or negotiate on CIBC's behalf.
- Well-developed writing skills to prepare material where interpretation, analysis, assessment and/or creativity requiring the knowledgeable use of terminology and precise articulation of ideas or opinions is necessary to effectively communicate.
- Developed management/leadership skills sufficient to lead/motivate and develop staff.

-Successful candidates must exhibit CIBC’s values of trust, team work, and accountability
- Contact with very senior management (e.g., EVPs/Presidents) within CIBC or very senior or high profile representatives outside CIBC, for specific work activities.
- Speak on behalf of medium-sized program area (i.e., reasonably diverse in scope of objectives or activities from a CIBC-wide perspective) about a range of processes, services and policies in dealing with a range of contacts.

How to apply:  visit; CIBC.com.