Assistant Director, Communications, Political Action

Branch:
Communications, Education and Human Rights Branch

Employment Type:
Term up to one (1) year

Linguistic Requirement:
Bilingual (English, French)

Global Linguistic Level:
C1

Salary:
$137,213 to $154,436 + $1, Bilingual Allowance)

Location:
Unifor 2025 excluded

Search Area:
Internal; Membership; Public

Closing Date:
12/22/2025

Who are we?

Founded in 1966, the Public Service Alliance of Canada represents 250,000 workers in every province and territory in Canada and in locations around the world. PSAC is headquartered in Ottawa with regional offices across the country. PSAC strives to enhance its members' quality of life and has been at the forefront of significant and successful campaigns for workplace and human rights. Learn more about our victories.

We will support your mental and physical health with:

• Flexible work arrangements (hybrid employees may have their own dedicated workstations).
• Group benefits (health, dental, life insurance, disability insurance, employee and family assistance), such as $7,500 for mental health professionals, that are 100% paid by the employer. Defined benefit pension plan (50/50 contribution from you and us).
• Three weeks' vacation to start, plus extra paid leave to support your wellness.
• Generous support for your professional growth and career development.
• $800 per year recreation allowance.

Primary Responsibilities:

Under the direction of the Director, Communications, Education and Human Rights, the Assistant Director, Communications, Political Action, and Campaigns plays a leadership role in supporting the communications objectives of the PSAC.

Responsibilities include overall management and administration of the teams under their portfolio. This position helps lead a dynamic team of people skilled in communications, online engagement, issue-based campaigning, and political action. The Assistant Director is accountable for delivering external communications and providing strategic advice to PSAC's elected leadership.

What you will bring to the table:

Education/Experience

• A post-secondary degree in communications, journalism, public relations or any related field. Candidates with five (5) years of experience in a leadership role related to communications may also be considered.
• A minimum of five (5) years of experience in a senior strategic communications role.
• A minimum of five (5) years experience leading a team and utilizing management practices (such as budgeting, performance management and staff development).
• Experience in a labour or social justice organization or comparable public sector experience is considered an asset;
• Excellent managerial skills and experience to lead a diverse team of skilled practitioners in a unionized environment in a variety of pressure situations and the ability to anticipate and adapt to changes and to lead, inspire, motivate teams to implement strategic organizational decisions.

Knowledge

• Extensive knowledge in Communications and political action, strategic planning, organizational change.
• Knowledge and experience using various campaign tactics.
• Demonstrated knowledge of how to effectively shape public opinion and develop campaign that lead to policy or legislative change.
• Knowledge of the PSAC policies and programs objectives.
• Strong knowledge of the political and operational inter-relationships within a large national union organization.
• Knowledge of the principles and practices of labour management strategies, interpretations, positions and approaches.
• Good knowledge of the organization and structure of the federal public sector, and the Canadian Parliamentary system.

Abilities

• Ability to work with external stakeholders such as, but not limited to, advertising firms to identify the most appropriate strategies to further advance the PSAC's strategic agenda.
• Ability to interpret public opinion research, including polling and focus groups and use the information to shape messages, campaigns and advertising.
• Significant leadership, negotiations and facilitation skills within a unionized environment to provide the PSAC leadership with sound counsel on communication strategies, human resources, financial management, organizational development, program management and evaluation related to Communications, campaigns and political action.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement strategic organizational plan and policies as well as to communicate broad organizational policies and priorities.
• Demonstrated project management skills and the ability to think strategically and anticipate future trends to effectively build organizational capacity.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to deal effectively with conflicts, build credibility and trust between the parties and support/promote union-management partnerships.
• Excellent judgment; demonstrated problem-solving, consultative, persuasive and conflict resolution skills to provide sound direction and advice on a variety of complex operational and/or political issues.
• Strong understanding of a variety of leading-edge issues, which are highly important to the labour movement.
• Second language skills as per the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) level indicated above.
• Strong computer skills.

Personal suitability

• Understanding and demonstrated commitment to trade union and equity principles and social justice objectives.

What you need to know:

• Second language level indicated above is based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Preferred candidates may have their second language skills assessed as part of the hiring process. However, valid federal government SLE results can be used toward this.
• While we appreciate all the candidates' interest, only those considered in the process will be contacted.
• A full job description is available upon request.

NOTES:

Internal applicants should submit their résumé online through HRMS.

Indeterminate PSAC employees who meet the qualifications of this position can request a transfer in accordance with the relevant collective agreement by submitting an application on or before the closing date. Please upload a cover letter indicating that you are requesting a transfer as well as a resume in your candidate profile (if not previously done) and indicate
"Yes"
under
"Employment Information"
.

Employment Equity at PSAC is focused on five groups: women, Indigenous peoples, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, and the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. If you belong to one or more of these groups, please consider responding to the voluntary employment equity section of the online application.

All individual information collected from this questionnaire will be kept strictly confidential.

In many cases, you may identify in more than one designated group. For example, you may identify yourself as an Indigenous person and a person with a disability and a woman.

False declarations will be taken seriously and may prompt an investigation or further actions, as necessary.

Please contact - to obtain this questionnaire in an alternate format (e.g., large print), should you need more information, or require assistance in completing this questionnaire.

For accommodation needs or to obtain a copy of the documents in alternate format, please email -