Manager, Community Engagement

Mission

The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) is the largest school board in western Canada with over 144,000 students and 16,000 employees. Our mission: Each student, in keeping with their individual abilities and gifts, will complete high school with a foundation of learning necessary to thrive in life, work and continued learning. We pride ourselves in the values we hold. Students come first. Learning is our central purpose. Public education serves the common good. The CBE encourages an inclusive and equitable workplace, which supports our diverse student and employee community. We encourage all applicants to join our dynamic, diverse, and collaborative culture and welcome applications from all qualified individuals.

When you apply to the CBE, you can feel good about serving our future leaders and contributing to student success.

Competition Info

Competition Close Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2025 at 11:59pm

Calendar: 12 month

Salary: Exempt SP1 - $118,200 - $144,100

FTE: hours per week

What does this role look like?

The Manager, Community Engagement plays a key role in working with senior leaders at the CBE to advance best practices in community engagement and support student learning. This includes leading system-wide engagement initiatives, delivering professional development opportunities to leaders and supporting schools and service units in their engagement activities. This is an excellent opportunity to involve the CBE community in decisions that affect them and make a meaningful difference in the lives of students, staff and families.

The ideal candidate has success in building collaborative relationships, experience managing issues and risk and a demonstrated ability to lead teams and achieve outcomes within a fast-paced and highly-visible environment. Key responsibilities include managing engagement projects that are broad in scope and range from short-term to multi-year, facilitating effective in-person and online engagement opportunities, reporting on engagement results to contribute to CBE strategic and operational planning and exemplifying community engagement best practices as identified in CBE's Dialogue Framework

What will you do?

Under the direction of the chief communications officer, the manager will lead and provide strategic advice and support for initiatives from inception through to execution and evaluation. These jobs have significant interaction with internal and external stakeholders and operate in a complex institutional, social and political environment.

Depending on the area of focus, these responsibilities can include but are not limited to:

Community Engagement

• Develop, champion, and lead the community engagementstrategy for the CBE in alignment with the Education Plan, strategic initiatives, CBE's brand guidelines, and image. This includes working closely with other managers in Communication and Engagement Services and senior leaders from other departments to define and support engagement strategies and communication requirements to support engagement.
• Lead and manage large engagement projects that are broad in scope and range from short-term to multi-year.
• Evaluate community engagement initiatives and projects based on stakeholder and client feedback and build continuous improvement into work processes.
• Facilitate effective in-person and online engagement opportunities.
• Capture engagement lessons learned to ensure continuous improvement of CBE community engagement practices, both within and outside the organization.
• Report on engagement results to contribute to CBE strategic and operational planning.
• Design and deliver community engagement, professional development, and collaborative learning opportunities for system leaders.
• Developing and evolving the Dialogue Framework as required to ensure it continues to meet the needs of our system and its stakeholders.
• Guide and exemplify community engagement best practices as identified in the Dialogue Framework and Toolkit, and work to make adjustments and improvements on an ongoing basis.
• Build and strengthen collaborative relationships with CBE leadership (including the Board of Trustees), internal clients, and stakeholders. Work with external stakeholders and community engagement experts when required.

Partnerships

• Execute the strategic partnership plan and look for ways to continuously improve partnership processes and best practices (intake process, database management, relationship management, and key measurements).
• Establish and manage a recognition strategy that fosters strong relationships with community partners.
• Build, maintain and evaluate relationships with partners to ensure continued alignment with CBE needs, mission, values, and goals in the Education Plan.
• Promote partnerships both internally and externally to share and showcase the important work the CBE does with various organizations to support student success and overall well-being.
• Negotiate new or renew partnership agreements in consultation with Legal Services and senior leaders.
• Work collaboratively with EducationMatters to ensure alignment of fundraising activities with CBE priorities that support schools and students.
• Manage the intake and management processes for new partnerships through an internal database.
• Manage the in-kind donations process to ensure schools are receiving items where the benefit to students exceeds the cost to accept and make use of the item.
• Provide strong leadership and guidance to support the work of communications advisors in working with partners and supporting partnerships activities across the system.
• Work collaboratively with schools to create positive connections between them and community organizations and individuals.
• Lead and provide strategic advice on hosting or attending events that celebrate partnerships and our partners.
• Work with external consultants on partnerships projects, as needed.

What are we looking for?

Qualifications

Education and Experience

• University degree in communications, business administration, or an equivalent combination of directly related education and directly related experience may be considered.
• IAP2 certification preferred (for Community Engagement).
• Minimum seven years of progressively more responsible relevant experience in the field of communications, community engagement, non-profit management, or community relations
• Demonstrated ability to work in a leadership capacity within a team environment that operates in a fast-paced, dynamic and highly-visible environment. Experience with a high-profile public sector or not-for-profit organization of significant size, complexity, and diversity preferred.
• Success in building and maintaining collaborative relationships with senior leaders, corporate and community partners, government agencies, and internal and external stakeholders.\Success leading project teams to achieve positive outcomes for the organization.
• Experience managing issues and risks.
• Experience analyzing and reviewing input and synthesizing materials in a clear and meaningful way.
• Experience in the following areas would be an asset: facilitation training, leading larger-scale community engagements, change management, managing complex partnerships/relationships.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies

• Ability to effectively frame complex issues and develop strategic plans.
• Creative and disciplined problem-solving.
• Ability to achieve results individually and as a leader of a team.
• Excellent time management skills and the ability to adapt to sudden changes in priorities.
• Experience in project management and/or client consultation, complemented by a highly developed sense of customer service.
• Exceptional interpersonal communication skills and the ability to build relationships and trust with staff at all levels (particularly senior leaders) of the organization and external organizations.
• Excellent written communication skills for various channels and audiences.
• Ability to decipher complex information and tailor messages to a variety of audiences internally and externally and through numerous channels.
• Constant professionalism in a highly visible, publicly-scrutinized organization.
• Ability to translate business goals into mutually beneficial partnerships between the CBE and external organizations or individuals.
• Expertise in building and leading teams.
• Initiative to work independently and enjoyment of collaboration.
• Openness to accept and drive change.
• High integrity for the quality of work and how it is done, including completeness and accuracy.
• An ability to adapt to changing priorities.
• Ability to participate collaboratively in a creative learning team environment. Demonstrated ability to deal with sensitive matters and maintain strict levels of confidentiality.
• Interest in continuous learning and ongoing training to support core work.

Note: This job requires the ability to travel to locations outside of the primary work location.

Conditions of Employment

Police Information Clearance: Applicants new to the Calgary Board of Education WHO ARE OFFERED EMPLOYMENT must complete and pass a police information clearance before employment is confirmed.

Be Part of Our Success

A career with the CBE offers incredible opportunities, rewards and supports.

What happens next?

We thank all candidates for their interest in this position however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Land Acknowledgement

The Calgary Board of Education acknowledges the traditional territories and oral practices of the Treaty 7 Nations, including the Siksikaitsitapi Nations, Tsuut'ina Nation, and the Îyârhe Nakoda Nations. We acknowledge the Métis Nation within Alberta, and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of southern Alberta. As a learning organization, we are committed to advancing the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action focused on Education for ReconciliACTION.

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