Director, Network & Security AI and Automation

Permanent Full Time

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Director, Network & Security AI and Automation

We are seeking a Director, Network & Security AI and Automation to establish and lead an engineering function within Network & Security Services with two complementary mandates: applying automation and AI to improve the engineering, delivery, and operations of network and security products; and building the security tooling, controls, and operational capabilities needed to protect AI platforms, applications, and agents. The Director will improve service speed, consistency, reliability, and scalability while helping Canada Life adopt AI securely and responsibly at scale.

Our ideal candidate combines strong network and security engineering experience with expertise in automation, AI-enabled operations, AI security, and technical leadership. You will establish reusable engineering patterns and use AIOps to strengthen operational visibility, proactive issue detection and response, and service resilience. Equally, you will lead the engineering and integration of capabilities that secure AI itself, protecting its supporting infrastructure, data access, integrations, and agent actions. Working with technology, security, and governance partners, you will translate AI security requirements into practical controls and sustainable services, with clear ownership and support models aligned to enterprise standards.

• Establish and lead the Network & Security AI and Automation function, including its roadmap, delivery priorities, engineering standards, and long-term capability development across automation, AIOps, and security for AI.
• Build and develop a team of technical practitioners, fostering software engineering discipline, continuous learning, collaboration, and accountability.
• Partner with network and security product owners, engineering teams, and operations teams to identify and prioritize automation opportunities across the product and service lifecycle.
• Deliver reusable automation for provisioning, configuration, testing, deployment, lifecycle management, and operational workflows across private and public cloud environments.
• Establish Infrastructure as Code, API integration, orchestration, and DevSecOps practices, supported by version control, automated testing, controlled deployments, and reusable patterns.
• Engineer AIOps capabilities that integrate telemetry and service context to improve observability, correlate events, detect anomalies, and support proactive issue detection and response.
• Develop automated diagnostics and remediation with appropriate approvals, access controls, auditability, rollback, and human oversight to protect service resilience.
• Lead the engineering and integration of AI security tooling and controls within the Network & Security Services mandate, partnering with enterprise architecture, information security, technology risk, identity, data, and AI platform teams.
• Establish capabilities to discover AI services and agents, assess security posture, identify unmanaged AI use, and monitor access and activity across enterprise AI environments.
• Engineer controls for AI platforms, applications, and agents, including secure connectivity, least-privilege access, data protection, policy enforcement, and restrictions on agent tools and actions, in partnership with accountable technology teams.
• Define support models, documentation, runbooks, and operational readiness requirements with delivery and operations partners to sustain capabilities beyond initial implementation.
  Coordinate delivery across technology partners and vendors, aligning dependencies, platform integrations, and investment priorities with enterprise standards and roadmaps.
• Manage the function’s resources and tooling investments, balancing innovation and delivery with security, maintainability, cost, and long-term supportability.

• Post-secondary degree or diploma in information technology, computer science, engineering, or an equivalent combination of training and experience.
• Significant experience delivering and supporting highly available enterprise network and security platforms, with demonstrated leadership of engineering teams and cross-functional initiatives.
• Proven ability to establish or mature an automation capability, translating business priorities into a practical roadmap, reusable solutions, and sustainable operating practices.
• Strong foundational knowledge of enterprise networking, security products, and private and public cloud infrastructure, including their integration and operational requirements.
• Practical experience with Infrastructure as Code and configuration automation tools such as Terraform and Ansible, scripting or development languages such as Python or PowerShell, and API-based integrations.
• Strong understanding of software engineering and DevSecOps practices, including source control, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, secrets management, secure deployment, and rollback.
• Experience with observability platforms, telemetry integration, event correlation, and operational analytics, with the ability to apply AI and machine learning to appropriate operational use cases.
• Strong understanding of security for generative AI platforms, applications, and agents, including risks involving prompt injection, sensitive data exposure, excessive permissions, and unauthorized tool use.
• Experience engineering and integrating enterprise security controls, with the ability to apply secure connectivity, identity and access controls, data protection, security posture management, and monitoring to AI environments.
• Ability to translate AI security and governance requirements into technical controls, reusable implementation patterns, and operational capabilities in collaboration with accountable enterprise partners.
• Experience establishing production readiness, support ownership, documentation, and service management integration for engineering solutions.
• Strong business acumen and the ability to prioritize investments, assess delivery trade-offs, manage vendor relationships, and demonstrate measurable value.
• Proven ability to coach and develop technical practitioners and build effective relationships across engineering, operations, architecture, security, and risk teams.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to explain technical opportunities, dependencies, and risks to senior leaders and delivery partners.
• Ability to adapt to an evolving technology landscape while maintaining disciplined engineering, secure implementation, and reliable service delivery.
• Relevant professional certifications in cloud, networking, security, automation, or AI are an asset.
• Experience in financial services or another regulated enterprise environment is an asset.

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The base salary for this position is between $150,000 - $180,000 annually. This represents base salary only and does not represent other variable compensation components of our total compensation ( i.e. annual bonus, commission etc). If you are selected to move forward in our recruitment process, your recruiter will be able to discuss additional details of our total rewards program with you.

Career opportunities will be open a minimum of 5 business days from the date of posting, closing dates will vary depending on the search activity. All applications received will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Grow with Canada Life

We’re united by a shared purpose: to improve the financial, physical and mental well-being of Canadians. Our company is trusted by 1 in 3 Canadians and contributes to the strength of communities across the country.

We’re looking for people who live our values everyday: we step up, we do the right thing, and we deliver – for our customers, communities and each other. Are you someone who always strives to do the right thing, who steps up for themselves and others, and who delivers with impact? Then we want to hear from you!

What we offer:

We’re committed to supporting our employees through every stage of their career. Here’s what you can expect as a full-time or part-time permanent team member:

• Career Development: Opportunities for career advancement, access to industry-leading learning programs and up to $2,000 annually towards education reimbursement.

• Health & Wellness: Flexible health and dental benefits, plus a $5,000 mental health benefit to support your well-being.

• Time Off: In addition to regular vacation and personal days, we support community involvement with a volunteer day. 

• Financial Security: Company-matching pension plan, share ownership program and additional investment options.

• Rewards and Recognition: Employee recognition programs, service milestone celebrations, employee discounts and more!
• Emphasis on Community: We provide a workplace where employees feel connected and supported through Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), mentorship programs, social clubs and events.

Learn more about Canada Life.

We’re committed to removing barriers and ensuring equal access to employment. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation during the application process may contact talentacquisitioncanada@canadalife.com. All information provided will be handled in accordance with applicable laws and Canada Life policies.

Canada Lifewould like to thank all applicants, however only those who qualify for an interview will be contacted.