Director, Policy

Director, Policy & Profession Engagement Executive Office Toronto, ON, CA

Employment Status:

Permanent

Type of Position:

New Position

Location:

Hybrid

Number of Vacancies : 1

Who We Are

The Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP) serves and protects the public interest by ensuring that the province's pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have the required education, skills and judgment to provide safe, ethical and quality care for patients. We also regulate and accredit Ontario's pharmacies, and hold pharmacy professionals and pharmacies accountable to relevant legislation, standards, policies and a Code of Ethics.

Position Summary

This role serves as OCP's executive lead for policy, profession engagement, knowledge mobilization, stakeholder insight and regulatory innovation. The Director ensures the College maintains a contemporary understanding of pharmacy practice, emerging risks, system priorities and stakeholder perspectives, and translates these insights into policy, engagement and organizational strategies that advance public protection and regulatory effectiveness.

This role ensures that current and relevant professional practice and operational standards are in place and that appropriate engagement and ongoing support for registrants to achieve and maintain these standards are active and effective. With other members of the leadership team, this role supports the development of OCP's strategic goals and identified operational initiatives and provides direct executional oversight of functional and cross-functional initiatives as designated.

This role will work very closely with the Director, Public Affairs & Communications, in establishing and maintaining new relationships with key system partners, networks, and influencers, including relevant government departments, to coordinate stewardship of OCP priorities and communications so that partnerships remain collaborative and productive.

What you’ll do at OCP

Strategic Leadership

Provide leadership for the development, implementation, monitoring, and achievement of the College's Strategic Plan and Operational Plan.

Participate as a member of the Executive Team and contribute to enterprise-wide planning, decision-making and organizational leadership.

Lead cross-functional initiatives and working groups as assigned by the Registrar & CEO.

Foster alignment between policy priorities, operational activities and strategic objectives across the organization.

Monitor progress against strategic objectives and adjust priorities as required.

Identify emerging issues, risks, trends, and opportunities that could impact the College's ability to achieve its mandate.

Advise the Registrar & CEO and Executive Team on strategic implications of regulatory, operational, and stakeholder issues.

Establish annual goals, initiatives, performance measures, and deliverables for the Policy, Profession Engagement, and Knowledge Mobilization functions.

Regulatory Intelligence & System Insight

Lead the College's approach to environmental scanning, regulatory intelligence and system insight generation.

Monitor emerging trends in pharmacy practice, healthcare delivery, technology, education and regulation to identify opportunities, risks and strategic implications.

Ensure intelligence gathered through stakeholder engagement, research, complaints, quality assurance activities and environmental scanning is analyzed and translated into actionable recommendations for leadership.

Champions innovative approaches to stakeholder engagement, policy development, knowledge mobilization and regulatory delivery models that support an outcome-based approach.

Provides central leadership by overseeing the development of OCP's policy priorities, and maintaining current and relevant policies, standards, and any other similar regulatory guidance to the profession.

Provide leadership advice regarding the College's engagement structures/forums and consultation process and oversees the facilitation of collaborative engagement with registrants, operators, and associations throughout the policy development process.

Promote engagement with system partners to inform the policy review and development process, facilitate implementation and support change management, as necessary.

Inform and oversee the development of new and/or revisions of existing policies, ensuring alignment with strategic plan, and obtaining approval as appropriate.

Proactively identify policy gaps and/or opportunities to advance OCP's mandate.

Create updated policy framework and development/review approach based on best practices and an understanding of pharmacy practice-risk.

Delegate policy work as appropriate to staff and oversee o