Director, Workforce and Talent Strategies

Job Summary

Reporting to the Assistant Vice-President of OVIN, the Director of Workforce and Talent Strategies is responsible for leading strategic initiatives and activities under OVIN's Skills, Talent and Workforce Development vertical. The Director will manage and support a team to successfully develop and execute on strategies and tactical plans, including large-scale projects relating to workforce development, talent upskilling and reskilling, labour market data, and other initiatives to support the workforce of the future for the automotive and mobility sector. The Director will also identify opportunities to further develop the portfolio, including future planning and identifying strategic partnerships/collaborations.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead staff who are assigned to the Skills, Talent and Workforce Development team, including providing guidance and coaching, providing a clear sense of purpose and direction, and creating through his/her leadership a positive and stimulating work environment.
• Ensure roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, and authorities of the team are defined and understood and that appropriate performance management programs are in place.
• Manage thought leadership, research, analysis, and insights activities relating to skills, talent and workforce development to inform the automotive and mobility sector and serve all stakeholders across the province and globally.
• Drive outreach to a broad range of stakeholders across Canada's automotive and mobility clusters to support ongoing skills, talent and workforce development activities and initiatives.
• Liaise with various stakeholder groups across key initiatives, including project partners and contributors, stakeholders and government partners for alignment with agreed upon deliverables and to ensure that activities support the project's intended outcomes.
• Support partnership opportunities with the various ministries and stakeholders to co-develop and negotiate new and existing programs and initiatives.
• Support project team to deliver relevant project deliverables and updates as required by key stakeholders, ensuring that deliverables are at a high-quality level, and to the satisfaction of project funders.
• Provide oversight of pilot design and execution opportunities to support the development of tactics and approaches that support skill and talent development in the sector, and to garner insights and lessons learned.
• Leverage research, consultation, program and pilot data, and findings to explore, formulate and develop strategies and opportunities for the OVIN Skills, Talent and Workforce Development pillar as well as for the overall automotive and mobility portfolio.
• Support marketing and promotional opportunities, events, workshops, stakeholder engagement and outreach.
• Build and maintain the OCI network, including the identification and development of strategic partnerships and initiatives to advance the stakeholder goals of this and other initiatives.
• Provide direction and guidance to OCI service groups as it relates to the Skills, Talent and Workforce Development team activities, as well as support relating to other programs and activities at OCI.
• Other tasks as required to support OVIN.

Qualifications and Competencies

• Formal, specialized post-graduate education in Public or Business Administration, Economics, Political Science or Public Policy; a Masters' degree in one of these fields would be an asset.
• 10+ years experience in consulting, strategy, industry and stakeholder engagement/management, resource development, and supply and demand forecasting.
• Proven leadership ability and management of a team with diverse skillsets and experience.
• Experience leading and managing high complexity programs with multiple partners and various types of stakeholders.
• Experience developing and managing partnerships, and defining and gaining stakeholder buy-in.
• Excellent communication skills (listening, verbal, written, presentation preparation and delivery).
• Strong business relationship management skills with diverse stakeholder groups such as industry, government and internal stakeholders.
• Strong people management or coaching experience, influencing and negotiation skills.
• Strong understanding of industry and academia, policy and planning, government priorities, and commercial endeavours.
• Exercises a higher degree of independent judgement to make decisions.
• Automotive and mobility industry knowledge is an asset.
• Experience with strategic industry skills and talent development initiatives is an asset.
• Lean, Six Sigma, Agile or other process methodologies are considered an asset.

Your Strengths

• Team player with highly developed interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively and collaborate with people at all levels within the organization.
• Demonstrate a high degree of initiative, efficient, organized and able to produce high quality work under pressure in a fast paced environment with the ability to manage numerous conflicting and changing priorities simultaneously.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision and take accountability to address obstacles and overcome barriers by identifying possible resolution options and alternatives.
• Intellectually curious about developments and trends in a sector.
• Able to demonstrate integrity and ethics in decision making and in their relationships with colleagues and clients.
• Able to reflect and promote OCI's values through work with colleagues, clients and stakeholders.
• Embody OCI's commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

Working conditions

• Five days in office
• Requirement to attend events outside of normal business hours.
• Occasional travel within Ontario

OCI is committed to creating a diverse and equitable environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. OCI welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.