Manager, Strategic Initiatives

**Schedule**
Monday - Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm

**Education Level**
University Degree; Project Management Designation (PMP) is an asset

**Career Level**
5-10 years experience

McMaster’s **Faculty of Science** is a large community of faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, and staff dedicated to promoting excellence in learning and research. All of our activities, in the classrooms, laboratories and in the community, contribute to our central mission: To advance scientific discovery and address global challenges through diverse and collaborative research, education and engagement, in service to current and future generations. Our research-intensive Faculty, McMaster’s largest, is home to over 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students working to learn about and explore the boundaries of scientific knowledge. The Faculty of Science has a broad and complex structure composed of 8 academic units and 5 institutes and centres with over 220 faculty members and over 150 permanent staff. McMaster University is consistently ranked as one of the top research universities in Canada and one of the country’s most innovative.

The **Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Special Projects** will oversee and manage resources needed to refine, implement, and measure strategic initiatives and associated projects. They will **work closely with the Dean, Associate Deans, and department and institute Chairs and Directors** to develop, assess, operationalize, oversee, report on and, where needed, refine the 3 pillars of the Faculty of Science (FOS) strategic plan - Discovery, Learning, and Communication. They will act as the main contact to department Chairs and other stakeholders of the strategic plan, including parties external to the Faculty, as well as representing Science at committees and working groups. Day-to-day activities of this portfolio include supervision, project planning and development, communication/liaison, collaborative leadership, consultation, student leadership development, and financial management. This role is required to work collaboratively and support a wide range of leaders, partners and stakeholders across departments, programs and institutes ensuring timelines are met and activities are delivered.

**_ Strategic Planning and Implementation of Strategic Initiatives_**
- Develops, implements, and oversees a dynamic strategic planning framework to implement the FOS Strategic Plan initiatives. Facilitates the development of a prioritization process which includes tracking and reporting of strategic initiatives to the Dean on a regular basis.
- Develops and implements a continual metric tracking and reporting framework utilizing data available from a variety of resources including IRA, ROADS, Registrar’s office, Employee experience surveys etc.
- Manages multiple projects and establishes multi-group teams as needed. Oversees resource deployment.
- Develops and manages all aspects of projects from planning, consultation, communications, resources, budget, risks, and issues.
- Develops and maintains project plans, prepares project status reports and keeps management, and other project stakeholders informed of the status.
- Provides insight and advice to ensure FOS’ needs and priorities are effectively addressed, and strategic objectives are met.
- Provides advice and guidance to Associate Deans, Department and Institute Chairs and Directors, Managers of other portfolios and other stakeholders with respect to the development of projects, including project scope, resourcing, timelines, charter, and budget.
- Supports the development, planning and identification of growth and strategic opportunities, by collecting relevant data, researching best practices and trends, and obtaining relevant feedback from internal and external stakeholders.
- Performs a gap analysis to identify specific needs, recommends solutioning, and, where appropriate, implements improvements to existing business practices and processes.
- Identifies and oversees key success/satisfaction metrics to aid in the continuous improvement and uses these indicators to aid with development and implementation of recommendations and solutions.
- Meets with Faculty Council, Deans Advisory and strategic initiatives staff regularly to review the strategic plan and the prioritization of project assignments.
- Provides leadership with a particular focus on implementing McMaster’s EDI strategic plan in coordination with all activities of our FOS strategic plan implementation.
- Provides strategic oversight in leading and implementing a change management process.

**_ Stakeholder Experience Management_**
- Manages initiatives related to students, staff, and faculty members and develops and implements solutions to enhance experiences and to ensure alignment with the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Coordinates and connects with undergraduate and graduate student clubs, representatives and governing bodies,