Canada Life and Irish Life
Head of FP&A, Europe - GWL
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About Canada Life UK
Canada Life UK looks after the retirement, investment, and protection needs of individuals, families, and companies. We help to build better futures for our customers, our intermediaries, and our employees by operating as a modern, agile, and welcoming organization.
Part of our parent company Great-West Lifeco, Canada Life UK has operated in the United Kingdom since 1903. We have hundreds of respected and supported employees committed to doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues.
Canada Life UK is transforming to create a more customer-focused business by providing our customers with expertise on financial and tax planning, offering home finance and annuities propositions, and providing collective fund solutions to third-party customers.
The Opportunity
The role holder is responsible for the delivery of financial planning, forecasting, performance management, and strategic decision support across Canada Life’s European operations, supporting a consistent pan-European performance narrative for the FP&A Director, Europe – GWL, European Finance Leadership, and Group stakeholders.
This is a senior leadership role within the European FP&A function, accountable for translating the FP&A Director’s strategic agenda into high-quality planning, reporting, insight, and execution across European entities. The role will help embed a cohesive, standardized FP&A operating model, with particular focus on planning discipline, performance insight, automation, AI-enabled analytics, and effective use of on-shore, near-shore, and off-shore capabilities.
Reporting to the FP&A Director, Europe – GWL, the role will act as a senior deputy and trusted partner, leading key workstreams, managing senior stakeholders, and developing a high-performing European FP&A team. The role requires strong executive presence, technical finance credibility, and the ability to provide constructive challenge and clear recommendations in a complex, matrixed environment.
What You'll Do
Pan-European FP&A Operating Model Delivery
- Work in conjunction with the FP&A Director to implement the pan-European FP&A shared service model, ensuring clear accountabilities, interfaces, and ways of working across Finance, Actuarial, and country teams.
- Lead defined elements of the target operating model, including standardized planning, forecasting, and performance management processes across Europe.
- Drive adoption of common KPIs, dashboards, and reporting packs to support a consistent European performance narrative.
- Work with country finance teams to embed practical, sustainable processes that improve insight, consistency, and efficiency.
Planning, Forecasting & Scenario Analysis
- Lead coordination and delivery of the European financial planning cycle, including strategic plan, annual plan, forecasts, and long-term outlook, under the direction of the FP&A Director.
- Ensure planning assumptions, timelines, submissions, and outputs are robust, clearly documented, and aligned with Group and country requirements.
- Own the European consolidation timetable and manage the quarterly consolidation process across European markets, ensuring all Group timelines, submissions, and deliverables are met.
- Develop scenario analysis to support strategic decisions, including market movements, expense pressures, capital implications, and business performance risks or opportunities.
- Partner with Actuarial, Treasury, and Risk to integrate capital, solvency, and liquidity considerations into planning outputs.
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Performance Management & Executive Insight
- Lead the production of monthly and quarterly European performance reporting, ensuring outputs are accurate, insightful, and suitable for senior executive review.
- Deliver clear analysis of P&L, balance sheet, cash, expenses, and capital performance, identifying key drivers, trends, risks, and opportunities.
- Support the development of Board, Committee, Group, and investor relations messaging materials where European FP&A insight is required, including messaging to support GWL.
Automation, Data & Process Improvement
- Support the FP&A Director in developing and executing the roadmap for GWL-led FP&A tool, automation, AI-enabled insight, and self-service reporting within European FP&A.
- Identify and deliver opportunities to standardize and streamline data collection, reconciliations, reporting production, and scenario modeling.
- Partner with Data, IT, and Group Finance teams to improve the quality, consistency, and governance of FP&A data and tools.
- Embed continuous improvement disciplines across key FP&A processes, using metrics and feedback to improve cycle time, control, and insight quality.
Strategic Business Partnering
- Act as a senior finance partner to the CFO and CEO office, supporting strategic agenda setting, business reviews, and decision-making across Europe.
- Translate financial analysis into concise recommendations and actions for the FP&A Director, CFO Europe, Country CFOs, and other senior stakeholders.
- Provide robust financial evaluation and advice on major initiatives, restructuring, and operating model changes.
- Lead or support ad hoc financial analysis, business cases, and executive briefings as required.
Governance, Controls & Stakeholder Management
- Ensure European FP&A reporting, planning, and forecasting outputs are delivered to agreed standards, timelines, and governance requirements.
- Maintain strong documentation, controls, and review disciplines across FP&A processes, tools, automation solutions, and AI-enabled models.
- Develop trusted working relationships with key stakeholders across Europe and Group FP&A, including Group Finance, Country CFOs, Finance teams, Actuarial, Risk, Data, and IT, embedding the European agenda and contributing to improvements in Group-wide FP&A processes through effective engagement, alignment, and delivery.
- Escalate material issues, risks, and dependencies clearly, with practical options and recommendations for resolution.
Senior Leadership & Team Development
- Lead, coach, and develop FP&A colleagues across on-shore, near-shore, and off-shore locations, ensuring clarity of priorities and high-quality delivery.
- Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, curiosity, and continuous improvement within the wider FP&A team.
- Deputise for the FP&A Director on relevant planning, reporting, and stakeholder matters where appropriate.
- Develop capability within the team to strengthen financial insight, business partnering, data literacy, and automation skills.
What You'll Bring to the Role
- Demonstrable track record in senior FP&A and/or finance business partnering roles, ideally within life insurance or broader financial services.
- Experience supporting or leading regional/centralised FP&A delivery within a complex, matrixed organization.
- Strong understanding of financial planning, forecasting, performance management, and management information processes.
- Detailed understanding of life insurance financials, including earnings drivers, expenses, capital, and solvency, with IFRS 17 knowledge.
- Experience improving finance processes through standardization, automation, workflow tools, reporting platforms, or data visualization.
- Exposure to AI-enabled analytics, predictive forecasting, or advanced scenario analysis in a finance or FP&A context would be advantageous.
- Ability to influence, challenge, and build credibility with senior stakeholders across countries and functions.
- Experience leading, coaching, and developing finance professionals, including geographically dispersed teams.
- Ability to translate complex financial information into clear insight, recommendations, and executive-level messaging.
- Hands-on experience with enterprise planning, reporting, or visualization tools such as Anaplan, Oracle, SAP, Power BI, Tableau, or similar.
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Leadership Competencies & Behaviours
- Strategic and commercial mindset, with a strong focus on value creation, efficiency, and high-quality decision support.
- Strong stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills, with confidence operating with senior leaders.
- Constructive challenge and sound judgment, with the ability to balance pace, quality, risk, and control.
- Change-oriented leader who can embed standardized processes, automation, and continuous improvement.
- Inclusive people leader who builds engaged, capable, and collaborative teams across multiple locations.
- High integrity, strong control mindset, and calm, considered leadership style under pressure.
Benefits of Working at Canada Life
We believe in recognizing and rewarding our people, so we offer a competitive salary and benefits package that’s regularly reviewed. As a Canada Life UK colleague, you’ll receive a competitive salary and comprehensive reward package including a generous pension and bonus scheme, along with income protection, private medical insurance, and life assurance. We have a fantastic number of other benefits and support services as well as regular personal and professional development.
How We Work at Canada Life
Our culture is unique and incredibly important to us. We care about doing the right thing for our people, customers, and community and helping others to build better futures. Our blueprint behaviors shape and influence how we work, and are central to the relationships we have with others. Every day we are encouraged to be more curious, own the outcome, face into things together, and find a way forward.
We want colleagues to have rewarding careers with us so we invest in the development of our people, technology, and workplaces. That’s why we offer a range of training, flexible working, and opportunities to grow and develop.
Diversity and Inclusion
Building an inclusive workplace with a diverse workforce where everyone can feel they belong and achieve their potential regardless of gender, ethnicity, or any other characteristic is a key commitment for us. We are proud of the progress we’re making in DEI, and we continue for it to be a significant focus.
“At Canada Life we believe in the power of great people from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives coming together to build better futures. Emerging talent is crucial to our growth and creating an environment that continues to inspire us all.” – Nick Harding, Chief People Officer, Canada Life UK
We appreciate that everyone has different work and life responsibilities. We’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements, including part-time, for any of our roles should this be a requirement for you.
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