Director, People and Culture

Reporting to the Vice President, Human Resources, the Director, People and Culture provides strategic leadership and functional direction in the areas of Organizational Learning, Change Management, Strategic Talent and Workforce planning and HR programs within an environment of continuous improvement and transformational change.

The Director is responsible for guiding the execution of the College’s People Plan (multi-year strategy), reporting on the College’s progress in achieving identified success measures and leading the Plan update/refresh.  The incumbent oversees the methodology for measuring and reporting on employee engagement and guides the leadership and management teams on the development of employee engagement strategies and plans that will have a measurable impact.

The Director is the champion for leading a culture of employee learning and development through increased organizational training for all employees. As organizations find ways to help employees learn in the “flow of work”, the incumbent will lead initiatives to build learning pathways for learners to be self-directed, coaching and mentoring and instructor-led classes.  Ensuring our employees have learning opportunities in ways that they want to and like to learn.

The Director is responsible for leading the development of flexible workplace strategies and examination of strategic workforce planning with both onsite and offsite options.  This transformational strategic talent planning work is pivotal to Algonquin College’s future business model.

The Director manages the people, operational and financial responsibilities of the functional area encompassing talent acquisition and management, employee and leadership learning and development, systems reporting, workforce analytics and diversity and inclusion strategies and change management function.

As a member of the College’s senior leadership team, the Director participates in or leads internal Committees and working groups, and represents the College in external forums.  The Director acts as a senior advisor to the Algonquin College Executive Team, Deans, Directors, Chairs and Managers and provides strategic and operational talent management and organization development advice to various Algonquin College committees, and fosters constructive and collaborative working relationships with the Academic and Support Staff union executives.

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum of a four (4) year Bachelor’s degree is required, preferably in Organizational Development, Human Resources Management or a specialty area within the Human Resources discipline;
• A graduate degree in Organizational Development or a Human Resources specialty is preferred; Certified Human Resources Leader designation is preferred;
• Minimum of eleven (11) years of directly-related progressive leadership experience (i.e.,  Talent Management, Organizational Development, Learning and Development or related Human Resource experience);
• Minimum of eight (8) years of progressive management experience in a unionized environment;
• Minimum of three (3) years of experience working as a member of an organization’s leadership team;
• Training in adult learning is preferred;
• Demonstrated experience designing, executing and reporting on multi-year and multi-faceted human resources strategies;
• Extensive experience in drafting and delivering reports, presentations and information to executive levels as well as other internal and external audiences;
• Demonstrated experience and skills in leading projects through the project life cycle;
• Strong knowledge in Learning and Development processes and tools;
• Demonstrated experience in all aspects of Talent (acquisition, retention and development) and employee engagement programs;
• Ability to apply business principles and systems thinking to strategic planning, budgeting and resource planning, financial management, risk management, change management, and measurement and benchmarking for organizational excellence.