Chief Talent and Capability Officer — Applied-AI Portfolio

The mandate

Critical capability shortages are now limiting execution of an applied-AI investment plan. Teams can recruit prominent profiles, but the enterprise lacks a dependable view of which skills are truly scarce, how quickly they become productive and where internal talent can substitute for expensive external supply. Model-cost escalation increases the urgency: architecture and commercial choices are inseparable from who can design, evaluate and operate them. The Chief Talent and Capability Officer will create an evidence-led talent system around those constraints.

The portfolio supports approximately C$950 million in AI product and services revenue and encompasses roughly 300 employees and material partners across Canada, Toronto and the wider operating region. The talent remit reaches research, engineering, product, delivery, commercial and leadership populations. Demand varies by programme, yet capability planning is often expressed through generic job families or vacancy counts that cannot inform investment.

The objective is verified capability supply, internal mobility and deeper leadership. The organisation needs to know what expertise exists, at what proficiency, with which deployment constraints and against what future demand. It must then decide whether to build, move, hire, partner or redesign work. Learning activity without evidence of changed performance will not meet the brief.

Why this seat is open

This is a newly created urgent appointment because distributed people ownership cannot resolve the constraint at investment-plan speed. Interim governance keeps essential decisions moving, but one permanent executive is needed. The search aims to reach an accepted offer within six to eight weeks while avoiding premature organisation disruption. This hybrid Toronto position supports international relocation and reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor.

What you will own

You will create a capability taxonomy tied to actual work and outcomes. Product and technical leaders must define observable proficiency rather than aspirational labels. The resulting inventory should cover employees and material partners, reveal concentration risk and identify where a small number of experts are masking system weakness. Privacy and employee trust need deliberate design.

Demand planning will connect the investment portfolio to roles, skills, timing and economics. You will show which gaps threaten milestones, which can be addressed through work redesign and which justify external hiring or partnership. Model-cost choices should inform talent scenarios: scarce optimisation, evaluation and platform skills may create greater value than adding undifferentiated capacity.

Internal mobility must become a normal source of supply. You will remove policy and managerial barriers, create transparent opportunity mechanisms and use assessed capability to match people with consequential work. Development pathways should combine real assignments, coaching and technical evidence. Leaders remain accountable for releasing talent, not merely attracting it.

Leadership depth is a separate priority. Assess pivotal posts, define readiness and build successors through assignments linked to the investment plan. External search should complement this bench. Across the 300-person employee and partner perimeter, the talent function needs clear owners for workforce intelligence, acquisition, learning, mobility and succession, with a cadence focused on outcomes.

The first 12 months

During the first 90 days, identify the capabilities that constrain the highest-value portfolio commitments. Validate demand with business cases, assess existing supply, examine hiring and learning effectiveness and map critical-person dependencies. Review the talent leadership team and present a prioritised gap map, economic options and scorecard to the executive sponsor.

Between months four and nine, launch targeted build, move, buy and partner interventions. Place internal talent into priority work, redesign learning around performance evidence and concentrate recruiting on verified shortages. Address leadership gaps and demonstrate that one material programme received qualified capability faster or at better economics because the new system changed allocation.

At month twelve, verified supply and internal mobility should be repeatable rather than exceptional. The board needs a three-year capability plan linking portfolio demand, model economics, leadership succession and workforce cost. Downside actions should show how commitments change if particular skills cannot be secured at the assumed time or price.

What the board will measure

The first-year talent case should remain within 10% of authorised cost and delivery assumptions, with future variance explained early. Three quarterly forecasts must reconcile portfolio milestones, capability demand, workforce, cash and partner supply. A defined critical-skill shortage should improve quantitatively from an auditable baseline.

Priority capability and succession risks should close to agreed dates with proof that intervention produced usable capacity. Critical-talent retention should reach at least 90%, and ready-now successors should cover 70% of direct reports. Severe workforce or capability escalations may not remain without resolution or explicit acceptance beyond 30 days.

The person

You are a Chief Talent Officer, Learning and Capability Head or Deputy CHRO with 22–28 years in AI, enterprise software, data infrastructure, cloud, analytics, applied research or an adjacent knowledge-intensive enterprise. You have carried accountability associated with at least C$550 million of portfolio or budget and led at least 200 people.

Your record shows capability systems changing allocation and delivery, not merely producing skills inventories. You can evidence internal mobility, reduced time to proficiency, stronger succession and better workforce economics. The board will examine a case where the original hiring plan proved inadequate and you changed the work or supply strategy. References must isolate your decisions and lasting effect.

Compensation and terms

The expected package is C$330,000–440,000 base plus annual incentive, calibrated to final scope and current mix. Any long-term element uses normal performance and vesting conditions. A notice period up to six months can be managed. The successful talent leader will work routinely with the chair, executive committee and the enterprise's principal capital sponsors.

Confidentiality

Identifying information and the capability gap analysis will follow confirmed reciprocal interest under formal confidentiality. Market, scale and situation details are composite and must not be treated as clues to a particular company.