Senior Manager, Deal Governance Advisor

The opportunity

As part of the Consulting Quality & Risk Management (Q&RM) team, you will play a critical role in shaping the firm’s Consulting pursuits. This is not a coordination role - it is a front-line advisory position focused on strengthening deal quality, reducing delivery risk, and elevating the rigor of our pursuits. You will partner directly with pursuit teams, Partners, and leadership to challenge thinking, surface risks early, and provide actionable guidance that improves the likelihood of successful delivery and sustainable margin outcomes. With increasing adoption of AI-enabled solutions and emerging technologies, this role also plays a key part in integrating AI-driven insights, risk assessment approaches, and governance standards into the deal lifecycle.

This job posting relates to an existing vacancy within our organization.

Your role at a glance 

You will drive the end-to-end execution of the Deal Governance process, ensuring high-quality, consistent, and efficient governance across all pursuits. More specifically, you will: 

• Own and facilitate the Deal Governance process across all deals, clearly communicating requirements and providing hands-on support to pursuit teams
• Act as a trusted advisor, offering a clear point of view on deal quality, risk exposure, and readiness to proceed  
• Conduct initial deal assessments, enabling effective triage and streamlined progression of lower-risk opportunities, while coaching junior team members  
• Assess deals holistically, including solution, commercial structure, delivery feasibility, and overall risk profile 
• Provide real-time feedback and challenge to refine scope, assumptions, and approach, while surfacing risks early and driving mitigations  
• Leverage data and AI-enabled insights to strengthen decision-making and improve consistency of governance outcomes  
• Ensure alignment with Deal Governance requirements while elevating the quality of discussions beyond process compliance  
• Coordinate and facilitate governance reviews, partnering with the Deal Governance coordinator to manage scheduling, prioritization, and execution  
• Capture key decisions, risks, and actions, and drive follow-through to closure  
• Ensure completeness and quality of submissions, maintaining high standards across 
• documentation and tool inputs  
• Partner across the firm (strategic deal teams, Risk, Q&RM, Finance, GCO, and other enabling functions) to strengthen pursuits and provide integrated perspectives  
• Connect teams to the right stakeholders early to proactively address risks and dependencies  
• Identify and resolve process or tool issues, and reinforce evolving Deal Governance protocols across the practice  
• Manage intake and triage of deals across channels (mailbox, email, Teams), ensuring timely response and prioritization 

Key responsibilities

Deal advisory & risk management 

• Facilitate high-impact Deal Governance discussions - focusing on quality, risk, and 
  delivery feasibility - while issuing clear meeting outcomes and actionable next steps to 
  drive execution discipline 
• Provide direct, actionable feedback to pursuit teams on: 
  
  • Solution clarity and completeness 
  • Key assumptions and dependencies 
  • Risks (commercial, delivery, client, and technology) 
  • Gaps in scope, governance, or execution readiness
• Challenge pursuit teams constructively, ensuring risks are explicitly understood and 
  mitigated before deal submission 
• Identify early warning signals (e.g., under-scoped effort, insufficient partner oversight, 
  aggressive pricing, unclear accountability) 

AI-enabled governance and risk insights 

• Apply AI-informed approaches to: 
  
  • Enhance deal risk assessments 
  • Identify patterns and recurring risk themes across deals 
  • Support more consistent and data-driven governance decisions 
• Ensure appropriate Responsible AI and AI risk protocols are considered where AI 
  solutions are involved 
• Contribute to the evolution of AI-enabled Deal Governance tools, dashboards, and 
  insights 

Pursuit team enablement 

• Act as a coach and advisor to pursuit teams throughout the deal lifecycle 
• Act as a front-line advisor during deal intake, guiding teams on how to structure deals 
• for successful delivery, strengthen value propositions, and align commercial models 
• with execution realities before entering formal governance reviews 
• Share best practices, lessons learned, and recurring risk themes across the practice 

Deal Governance execution 

• Facilitate Deal Governance review forums (Pursuit Strategy, Solution Review, Deal 
• Review), ensuring focused, decision-oriented discussions 
• Capture key decisions, risks, and required actions; drive follow-through to resolution 
• Ensure governance requirements are met while minimizing administrative burden on teams 

Continuous improvement & insights 

• Identify trends across deals and recommend improvements to:
  • Governance processes 
  • Risk frameworks 
  • Tools and templates 
• Support implementation of new technologies, including AI-driven governance capabilities 
  
  • Contribute to training and enablement sessions for Consulting teams

Skills and attributes for success

• Strong commercial and delivery acumen 
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate and influence across cross-functional teams to drive aligned outcomes 
• Structured risk mindset - able to quickly identify key risks and required mitigations 
• Executive presence and confidence to challenge senior stakeholders constructively 
• Analytical and strategic thinker with the ability to connect solution, commercial, and delivery considerations 
• Experience with AI, emerging technologies, or digital solutions, including understanding of associated risks 
• Ability to translate governance requirements into practical, actionable guidance 
• Effective communicator with strong ability to translate complex concepts into clear, actionable guidance with the ability to provide clear, concise, and directive feedback 
• Comfortable operating in fast-paced, high-pressure pursuit environments 
• Proactive in building and sharing knowledge while seeking innovative ways to improve processes, design, and efficiency 
• Resilient and resourceful, with strong analytical skills and the ability to navigate ambiguity and make sound decisions under pressure 
• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to challenge the initial ask and bring forward clear perspectives and innovative ideas 
• Demonstrates strong attention to detail and commitment to quality 
• Strong verbal and written communication skills 
• Proven ability to work independently with minimal supervision, while collaborating effectively with virtual teams 
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and competing priorities within the Deal 
• Governance team, collaborating effectively across Canada and GDS in both remote and 
• in-office environments to ensure seamless coordination across locations and time zones 
• Proven ability to meet tight deadlines while delivering high-quality work and ensuring diligent follow-up 
• Strong capability to synthesize activities into clear conclusions, applying appropriate documentation standards and capturing lessons learned 
• Demonstrated commitment to safeguarding confidential and proprietary information 
• Highly organized, proactive, and outcome-oriented

Tools and enablers 

• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, Power BI, 
• Teams), with proficiency in leveraging Copilot to enhance productivity and workflow efficiency  
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Power BI and SharePoint, including the development and use of dashboards for performance tracking and risk insights  
• Proficient in Deal Governance tools and platforms (e.g., DealHub, risk assessment tools), supporting structured deal review and oversight  
• Familiarity with internal tools, platforms, and knowledge hubs (e.g., Delivery Excellence, 
• Client & Industries Hub, Canada AI Hub) to support engagement delivery and best practices  
• Exposure to AI-enabled tools and analytics platforms, applying emerging capabilities to enhance insights and decision-making

Qualifications 

• 7+ years of experience in consulting, deal shaping, risk, or delivery roles 
• Strong understanding of end-to-end consulting delivery and deal lifecycle 
• Proven experience working on complex, multi-stakeholder pursuits 
• Demonstrated ability to assess risk and challenge assumptions at senior levels 
• Bachelor’s degree (advanced degree or relevant certifications an asset) 
• Preferred, but not required: familiarity with EY-specific institutional knowledge, 
• including acronyms, Industry Groups (IG), Service Lines (SLs), Sub Service Lines (SSLs), 
• competencies, and organizational structure

What we offer

When you thrive, we thrive. The EY benefits package goes above and beyond, focusing on your physical, emotional, financial and social well-being: 

• $5,000 per year for mental health support benefits 
• Wellbeing benefit of $1,200/year

Explore how a career at EY is yours to build at  https://www.ey.com/en_ca/careers/personalized-career-development 

Discover how, when and where you can work at https://www.ey.com/en_ca/careers/flexibility-mobility  

Are you ready to shape your future with confidence? Apply today.

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