Associate Director, Bancassurance Operations and Services

Why Join Sun Life Vietnam

At Sun Life, we cultivate a High-Performance, Caring Culture that empowers our people to achieve outstanding results, embrace continuous growth, and create meaningful impact. We succeed together by fostering an inclusive environment where wellbeing, collaboration, and accountability are equally valued.

About the Role

The Associate Director, Bancassurance Operations and Services leads the design, governance and continuous enhancement of the Banca Operations and Service capability, enabling sustainable business outcomes by transforming from activity-based execution to outcome-based management. The role is accountable for driving service excellence, operational efficiency, stakeholder satisfaction and effective risk control through a scalable and disciplined operating model.

Responsibilities

• Operational Excellence & Service Delivery: Ensure day-to-day business operations are delivered compliantly and consistently across Sales, Bank, and internal operations stakeholders. Monitor service quality, turnaround time and issue address, and lead corrective actions to improve productivity, stakeholder experience, and business continuity. Continuously strengthen service delivery standards for Bancassurance operations.
• Process Automation, Improvement: Strengthen the digital transformation aspect by incorporating AI, automation and digital tools to improve operational efficiency, scalability and service quality across the Bancassurance operating model. Deliver measurable outcomes through reduced turnaround time, higher productivity and increased automation adoption.
• Business Operations Governance: Establish governance frameworks, controls, and procedures to ensure compliant and sustainable Bancassurance operations. Lead operational risk management, issue resolution, remediation tracking, and business continuity planning. Partner with Compliance, Legal, Finance, Risk, Operations, and bank stakeholders to ensure regulatory and business requirements are met.
• Vendor, Contract & Budget management: Lead in working vendor, contract and procurement to ensure effective service delivery, compliance. Manage Marketing Allowance and Internal Banca budgets to optimize spending efficiency and maximize business value. Evaluate vendor performance and business investments to improve results, cost effectiveness and financial governance.
• Cross-functional Project Delivery: Lead cross-functional and strategic initiatives, ensuring business value delivery. Partner with stakeholders to simplify operating models and remove barriers to growth. Translate business priorities into scalable operating models, governance, and execution plans.
• People Leadership: Improved team capability, engagement, productivity, and succession readiness.
• Ensure all activities, decisions and deliverables comply with fair treatment of Clients principles, proactively identifying and mitigating risks of unfair client outcomes in line with Company conduct expectations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Economics, Finance, Banking, Insurance or a related field; relevant professional certifications in project management, operational excellence, process improvement or risk/control management are preferred.
• Typically 8+ years of relevant experience in insurance, banking, relevant fields.
• 3+ years of experience leading and developing teams.
• Experience managing contracts, vendors, budgets, events/business campaigns and stakeholder governance, process improvement, service governance, cross-functional project delivery.

Required Skills

• Advanced knowledge of Bancassurance operating models, insurance and banking distribution, sales service operations, partner governance and regulatory expectations.
• Proven capability in operational excellence, service delivery management, process redesign, automation, continuous improvement.
• Strong financial governance and vendor/contract management knowledge, including budget control, procurement coordination and service performance oversight.
• Advanced stakeholder management, influencing and business partnering skills with Sales, Bank partners, Product, Marketing, Operations, Compliance, Legal, Finance and Risk.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and project delivery skills; ability to convert business needs into operating models, dashboards, measures and executable plans.
• Excellent communication skills in English and Vietnamese; advanced Microsoft Office.
• Demonstrate the Curiosity to effectively leverage AI tools to enhance productivity, decision-making, and quality of outcomes within the role.

Preferred Skills

• Problem solving requirements in terms of how standardized, varied, complex and interdependent problems and issues are typically faced by this job.
• The role addresses complex, interdependent operational issues that require balancing business priorities, partner expectations, regulatory requirements, cost control, service quality and continuity of operations.
• The role is expected to diagnose root causes, define measurable outcomes, align stakeholders, design practical solutions, and lead implementation through governance routines and project discipline.
• The role must identify best practices, anticipate future operating model needs, and drive continuous improvement rather than only resolving individual incidents.
• Demonstrate strong accountability in problem solving by proactively identifying, owning, and resolving all issues within scope, regardless of formal task assignment.