TekStaff's Client has a current vacancy for 'VP KYC Client Enablement"
TekStaff is an IT Placement agency and interested in positioning you with our client.
This is an approximate 12 month contract located in Toronto, ON in office every other day (2 days one week, 3 days the next week)
Role Mandate
The VP, KYC Client Enablement is responsible for leading the end-to-end Know Your Customer (KYC) program, including New-to-Bank (NTB) onboarding, periodic KYC refresh activities, and client outreach. This role oversees the successful execution of KYC due diligence activities performed by both internal teams and external consulting partners, ensuring regulatory requirements, risk standards, and service level expectations are met.
The VP, KYC Client Enablement serves as the primary point of coordination between business stakeholders, clients, operations, compliance, and third-party service providers. The role is accountable for identifying and resolving operational issues, driving continuous process improvements, managing escalations, and ensuring a high-quality client and stakeholder experience throughout the KYC lifecycle. This opportunity is being recruited to provide maternity leave coverage and offers leadership of an onshore team of four employees, along with oversight of approximately 200 offshore contractor resources.
This is a unique opportunity to join client during a period of significant transformation. The successful candidate will work closely with Commercial Banking partners while helping drive the transition from Fenergo to CM CIF, providing exposure to change leadership, operational excellence, and stakeholder management. The scale of the mandate, combined with the opportunity to lead through change and contribute to a major business transformation, makes this an excellent opportunity for learning, growth, and professional development.
Key Responsibilities
KYC Program Management
- Lead and oversee New-to-Bank onboarding and KYC refresh program across Capital Markets.
- Ensure timely completion of customer due diligence activities in accordance with regulatory requirements, internal policies, and service level commitments.
- Monitor program performance, productivity, quality, and key risk indicators to ensure effective execution of KYC activities.
- Maintain oversight of case inventories, aging, turnaround times, and overall program health.
Third-Party Vendor Management
- Manage and oversee external consulting firm responsible for executing KYC onboarding and refresh reviews.
- Establish performance expectations, service level agreements, quality standards, and operational governance routines.
- Review vendor performance metrics and implement corrective actions as required.
- Provide direction, coaching, and ongoing support to ensure delivery expectations are consistently achieved.
- Escalate and resolve operational, quality, capacity, and performance issues impacting program delivery.
Stakeholder Management
- Build and maintain strong relationships with business partners, Issues Management, AML, Risk, Operations, and senior leadership.
- Act as a trusted advisor and primary point of contact for KYC-related matters and program updates.
- Facilitate regular governance meetings and provide reporting on key initiatives, risks, issues, and program performance.
- Partner with stakeholders to prioritize activities, resolve challenges, and align on business objectives.
Client Outreach and Escalation Management
- Oversee client outreach activities related to KYC, regulatory initiatives, and other ad hoc requests.
- Manage complex or sensitive client escalations, ensuring timely resolution and clear communication.
- Serve as the escalation point for issues raised by consulting partners, lines of business, and clients.
- Balance regulatory requirements with client experience considerations to achieve positive outcomes.
Issue Resolution and Risk Management
- Identify, assess, and manage operational issues, process gaps, and emerging risks.
- Lead root cause analysis efforts and coordinate remediation plans with appropriate stakeholders.
- Track and monitor issue resolution activities to ensure sustainable outcomes.
- Escalate significant risks, control concerns, and delivery challenges to senior leadership as appropriate.
Continuous Improvement
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on enhancing efficiency, quality, controls, and client experience.
- Identify opportunities to streamline workflows, reduce manual effort, and improve operational effectiveness.
- Implement process enhancements, standardization efforts, and automation opportunities where appropriate.
- Develop and maintain procedures, playbooks, and governance documentation to support a scalable KYC operating model.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in law, Finance, Risk Management, or a related field.
- ACAMS certification (preferred) or equivalent AML/KYC industry designation.
- 7+ years experience managing third-party vendors, consulting firms, or outsourced operations.
- Proven people management experience, including leading, coaching, developing, and performance managing teams in a high-volume operational environment.
- Strong understanding of KYC regulatory requirements, customer due diligence, lifecycle management, and risk management practices.
- Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional teams and stakeholder engagement initiatives.
- Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and decision-making skills.
- Exceptional communication, relationship management, and conflict-resolution abilities.
- Demonstrated experience operating within a complex matrixed organization, with the ability to influence and drive outcomes across multiple stakeholder groups including Business, Compliance, Risk, Operations, Technology, and external service providers.
- Experience leading operational transformation, process improvement, or large-scale regulatory initiatives within a financial services environment.
- Capital market experience will be beneficial.
Technical Skills
- Intermediate to advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, and SharePoint.
- Intermediate SharePoint experience, including document management, governance documentation, collaboration sites, workflow coordination, and content administration.
- Experience with KYC, client lifecycle management, onboarding, or case management platforms.
- Exposure to Fenergo or similar client lifecycle management (CLM) platforms is strongly preferred.
- Experience developing and maintaining management reporting, dashboards, executive presentations, and performance metrics.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret operational data, identify trends, and drive data-informed decision making.
- Knowledge of workflow optimization, automation opportunities, and operational excellence methodologies.
- Experience supporting governance, issue management, control environments, and remediation activities within a regulated financial institution.
TekStaff may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools as part of the applicant screening process. However, applications will also be reviewed by a member of our Recruitment team to ensure a fair and thorough assessment.
