Indigenous Relations Project Engagement Lead

Powered by water... and by people like you Providing clean electricity to 4 million customers takes a diverse workforce and that’s where you come in. We need your talent to help us build major projects to meet growing demand. To help our customers find clean energy solutions for their homes and businesses and to be ready to respond during storms and outages to keep our system reliable. Working for BC Hydro is meaningful. And now, the stakes have been raised as we work towards a solution to climate change while safely providing clean, affordable electricity to our customers. We offer a healthy work life balance, training opportunities and career progression. We're proud to be ranked as one of B.C.'s Top Employers and one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers. Join us as we build an even cleaner B.C. **JOB DESCRIPTION** **Duties**: - This position’s primary focus is to consult with First Nations on complex BC Hydro - which may impact Aboriginal rights and interests. From an Indigenous Relations (IR) perspective, - these projects require significant and meaningful consultation planning and implementation in - seeking First Nations support and/or regulatory approval.- Through complex projects, this role will navigate high impacts on project footprint, land access, Indigenous culture and heritage, environment, regulatory, supporting First Nations social and - economic interests.- Works within project team to ensure that consultation requirements are addressed within an appropriately defined project schedule. Collaboration with the PM and other project team - members (Environment, Properties, Stakeholder Engagement, Procurement, Engineering, - Schedule, Document Control) is crucial to meet the “on time, on budget" corporate goal.- Provides advice and guidance to the project teams on how to address First Nations concerns, enhance reconciliation and proactively reducing risk to project implementation.- Provides strategic advice to management on how to address complex and intractable issues by proposing viable solutions and keeping projects on track.- Develops significant budgets for capital projects that reflects all IR requirements. - Develops IR content for regulatory process documents (e.g. permits, license of occupation, certificate of public convenience and necessity, environmental certificates from provincial and - federal authorities).- Negotiates agreements (capacity funding, impact benefit, consultation protocols, etc.) with First Nations as required. - Prepares for and attends oral hearings as required, as part of the standard regulatory process. - Develops policy for cross departmental initiatives. - Represents and/or provides expertise to assist in planning initiatives with government agencies, and First Nations.- Proficiently interprets diverse policies such as: internal, - BCEAO (e.g., regulatory requirements for completing IR info for provincial certificate) and / or - CEAA (e.g., regulatory requirements for completing IR info for federal certificate) and others.- This role serves as key contact in conjunction with Senior Relationship Leads for identified First Nations. The collaboration with the Relationship Leads (RLs) is critical. The position - implements the consultation protocols that the Senior Relationship Leads negotiate.- Establishes and maintains positive relationships with First Nations to achieve success in our mutual agreements and to deliver timely project completion.- Provides guidance and mentorship to junior and intermediate members of the team. **Qualifications**: *** - University degree is required. University Post Graduate Degree (Master’s) is a strong asset. Education in Public Administration, economic development, law, anthropology or related discipline - or equivalent.- A minimum of 10 years of experience in a business environment (public or private sector preferably resource-based organization) including experience in managing multiple complex - projects in cross cultural Indigenous settings with exposure to policy standards, design and - development.- Demonstrated proficiency in the following: knowledge and understanding of the importance building and maintaining relationships with First Nations; First Nations consultation, engagement - and negotiation in British Columbia; cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity.- Demonstrated proficiency in the following: knowledge and understanding of the importance building and maintaining relationships inside and outside of BC Hydro, negotiation and persuasive - influence; strategic and tactical planning; project management principles and practices; analysis - and critical thinking; creativity and innovation in problem solving; interpersonal and communication - skills (written and oral); organizational skills- Experience working independently and proactively and achieving desired business results is required.- Experience working within a large resource-based organization and within cross-cultural settings is