Manager, Business Innovation

Job Description

Manager, Business Innovation
Rank 7
Scarborough, ON (Hybrid)

Deadline: The posting will close by November 6, 2026, at 11:59 PM EST.

Ready to help shape the future of the Toyota and Lexus customer and Dealer experience?

Toyota Canada Inc. is currently looking for a strategic and collaborative Manager, Business Innovation to lead focused retail transformation initiatives to address Customer and Dealer experience gaps. This role turns customer, Dealer, operational, and market insights into practical strategies and solutions that deliver measurable value.

Working across Toyota Canada and with Dealers, affiliates, and external partners, you will guide initiatives from problem definition and prioritization through recommendation, validation, implementation planning, and transition to the appropriate business owner. You will also lead and develop a team while building alignment among diverse enterprise stakeholders, including the Business Innovation Dealer Subcommittee.

What We’ll Bring:

Company & Culture

• A hybrid work environment
• A work environment built on teamwork, flexibility and respect
• Professional growth and development programs to help advance your career
• A focus on respect for people and continuous improvement
• Summer Hours – optional condensed work week during the summer

Benefits

• Competitive compensation package including bonus
• Extended health care and dental benefits effective immediately
• Company pension plan with additional employer contributions
• Company Demo vehicle
• Associate vehicle discount program
• Reimbursement programs (tuition & fitness)
• Paid holiday shutdown and competitive paid time off benefits
• Sabbatical leave program

What you’ll be doing:

Customer and Dealer Experience Focus

• Transfer Customer Experience (CX) and Dealer experience (DX) insights, friction points, and journey priorities provided by the Customer Experience department into Business Innovation initiatives.
• Partner with the Customer Experience department to define intended experience outcomes, while establishing measures of solution effectiveness, Dealer value, and business performance for Business Innovation initiatives.
• Apply CX and DX insights and principles to Business Innovation planning, governance, investment, and solution development.
• Maintain a forward-looking view of retail tools and capabilities that could address CX & DX gaps, evolving customer expectations, retail behaviors, and Dealer needs.

Retail Transformation and Strategic Solution Development

• Lead focused strategies and recommendations that address prioritized customer and Dealer experience gaps.
• Translate defined problems into future-state concepts, business requirements, business cases, roadmaps, and implementation pathways.
• Assess how digital capabilities, technology, data, process redesign, partnerships, and organizational change can address each specific gap.
• Ensure proposed solutions are targeted, practical, scalable where appropriate, and aligned with Toyota and Lexus brand and customer experience principles.
• Guide initiatives from concept through validation and implementation planning while maintaining momentum, decision clarity, stakeholder alignment, and transparent escalation of risks.
• Partner with receiving business functions to transition successful initiatives into implementation, sustainment, and ongoing ownership.

Enterprise and Dealer Engagement

• Build trusted relationships with BI Subcommittee Dealers, executive sponsors, business functions, the IS department, affiliates, and external partners.
• Facilitate Leadership discussions to align stakeholders, support timely decisions, and awareness on insights & projects.
• Work with business units to prioritize Business Innovation initiatives based on impact, value, alignment, feasibility, risk, and effort.
• Plan and lead sessions with Dealer partners such as BI Subcommittee meetings and Dealer Task Forces which include detailed agenda planning, content development, idea generation and cross-functional collaboration to generate insights and feedback that influence the path ahead.
• Partner with the key departments throughout solution design and development to align business needs with capabilities, requirements, and delivery feasibility.
• Create alignment among stakeholders with different objectives by establishing a shared understanding of the problem, intended outcomes, roles, and trade-offs.
• Engage Dealers throughout discovery, validation, and solution development, so recommendations reflect operational realities and customer needs.
• Communicate strategic direction, progress, risks, decisions, and recommendations through clear executive-level storytelling and concise reporting.
• Promote awareness of Business Innovation priorities, insights, learnings, and outcomes across the enterprise.

Portfolio, Governance, and Performance Management

• Establish priorities, sequencing, resource requirements, milestones, and decision points across the Business Innovation portfolio.
• Develop and maintain governance frameworks that clarify accountability, funding, decision rights, reporting, and escalation pathways.
• Monitor delivery against approved scope, timing, budget, risks, dependencies, and success measures.
• Ensure resources and Business Innovation funds are deployed effectively and in accordance with corporate policies and approved governance.
• Apply structured reviews and continuous improvement practices to refine direction based on evidence, stakeholder input, and results.

Team Leadership and Capability Development

• Lead, coach, and develop Business Innovation team members by establishing clear expectations, priorities, deliverables, and accountability.
• Foster an empowered and collaborative culture grounded in respect for people, curiosity, creativity, agility, continuous learning, and continuous improvement.
• Build capability in strategic problem-solving, retail transformation, business case development, stakeholder influence, and change leadership.
• Remove barriers, support effective resource allocation, and create opportunities for development, knowledge sharing, and career growth.
• Encourage informed experimentation and learning while maintaining disciplined focus on priority customer and Dealer outcomes.

External Insight, Innovation, and Validation

• Research retail, technology, digital, customer experience, and automotive trends to inform enterprise decisions.
• Evaluate emerging capabilities and business models against clearly defined customer and Dealer experience gaps.
• Use targeted research, pilots, and real-world testing, where appropriate, to validate assumptions, reduce risk, and measure value before broader implementation.
• Build relationships with Toyota affiliates, industry partners, vendors, and subject-matter experts to access relevant capabilities and learning.
• Capture and share insights and lessons learned that strengthen Toyota Canada’s retail transformation capability.

What You’ll Bring:

• University Degree and/or College Diploma in Business, Strategy, Marketing, Engineering, Customer Experience, or a related discipline
• 10+ years of experience in automotive, retail, strategy, customer experience, innovation, digital transformation, product, or business transformation roles
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives from problem definition through recommendation and implementation planning
• Experience developing business cases, strategic recommendations, governance frameworks, roadmaps, and executive-level communications
• Experience working with Dealer, field, retail operations, sales, marketing, service, technology, or customer experience functions is an asset
• People leadership experience, including coaching, capability development, prioritization, and performance management
• Strong customer experience and friction-analysis capability using qualitative and quantitative insights
• Advanced strategic thinking and the ability to connect immediate experience gaps with enterprise priorities and longer-term competitiveness
• Ability to build trust, consensus, commitment, and clear decisions across diverse internal and external stakeholders
• Strong governance, portfolio leadership, planning, organization, and executive communication skills
• Learning agility, curiosity, and the ability to apply external insight and experimentation to improve decisions and outcomes
• Ability to travel within Canada and the United States as required
• Bilingual (English and French capability is an asset

About Us

Toyota Canada Inc. is the exclusive Canadian distributor of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Toyota Canada's head office is in Toronto, with regional offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Halifax. Toyota parts and accessories are distributed through TCI's Parts Distribution Centres in Bowmanville and Vancouver. TCI supports over 287 Toyota and Lexus dealers in Canada with services that include training, sales, marketing, environmental and customer satisfaction initiatives.

What Sets Us Apart?

A focus on people, passion for Toyota, innovation and continuous improvement have made us an award-winning company, recognized worldwide for our technological leadership and superior standards of quality, community involvement and environmental responsibility.

What You Should Know:

Our success begins and ends with our people. We embrace diverse perspectives and value unique human experiences. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer that celebrates the diversity of the communities where we live and do business. Applicants for our positions are considered without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, religion, or any other characteristics protected by law. Please advise us at any point during the recruitment and selection process or your employment if you require accommodation. Please note TCI may use AI-powered tools to assist us with initial screening and assessment. Talent Acquisition Specialists always review all applications and Hiring Managers always make final hiring decisions throughout the selection process.

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