Director, Sustainability Reporting and Engagement, Office of Sustainability

Position Overview

Office of Sustainability is currently seeking a Full-time Regular Director, Sustainability Reporting and Engagement.

The Director provides strategic leadership in developing short and long-term plans to advance engagement in sustainability and to enhance institutional data management and reporting practices in sustainability.

Working closely with faculty, staff, and student leadership, the Director will build strong reciprocal partnerships and connections to advance sustainability reporting and engagement. The Director leads and supervises the Sustainability Reporting and Engagement department in the Office of Sustainability. This unit comprises a small team of MaPS, AUPE staff, and student interns. Management responsibility includes recruitment, hiring, annual goal setting, recognition, and performance management of staff. The Director is also responsible for budget planning and management (including both internal and external revenue resources) and ensuring effective structures and platforms to support the work of the department.

As a member of the Office of Sustainability senior leadership team, the Director is working both at a strategic and operational level with directors in units across campus. The position requires exceptional leadership and interpersonal skills and the ability to productively engage and collaborate with a diverse range of stakeholders. The work of this position is highly collaborative and the ability to foster meaningful and productive partnerships is foundational to program and position success. This position also supports the Associate Vice President (AVP), Sustainability with preparation of strategies and materials for members of the executive administration and may represent the AVP on external and internal committees.

Position Description

Summary of Key Responsibilities (job functions include but are not limited to):

Leadership:

• Support the AVP in developing institutional level sustainability policy and planning to meet UCalgary’s sustainability aspirations.
• Developing briefing notes and reports for presentation to executive administration, the Board of Governors, General Faculties Council, and other senior internal and external bodies.
• Lead the development of standards and protocols that support the advancement of the operational and engagement components of the Institutional Sustainability Strategy (ISS), including leading the renewal of the operational and engagement components of the ISS.
• Participate in, and where appropriate chair, cross-functional committees as required in support of the sustainability engagement and reporting.
• Represent the University of Calgary and the Office of Sustainability on external committees, and through public presentations on and off-campus.
• In collaboration with Advancement (Communications) support the development of a multi-year communications strategy and annual communications priorities to showcase UCalgary impact in sustainability and strengthen UCalgary’s local and national reputation in sustainability.
• Lead the execution of Office of Sustainability responsibilities in communications.
• Direct, motivate, and manage the activities of the departmental professional staff and student interns, including recruitment and hiring, development of annual work plans, and ongoing performance management, and discipline up to and including termination.
• Annual business plans, work plans, business continuity plans, operating budgets, and human resource responsibilities are completed in a timely manner in alignment with institutional policy and protocols.
• A revenue generation strategy is developed and successfully executed to support the work of the unit including funding for CLL program administration and projects, student internships and related intern-led programs, and other engagement programs as identified.

Sustainability Reporting:

• Develop a multiple year sustainability reporting framework leading to continuous improvement in sustainability reporting practices and external validation of University of Calgary leadership in sustainability.
• Ensure the university maintains a Global and Canadian leadership position within the Times Higher Education’s University Impact Ranking and publishes an annual institutional sustainability report to showcase sustainability impact.
• Create effective data governance practices in alignment with institutional data governance protocols, and data capture practices.
• Leverage enterprise-level resources to access comprehensive and high confidence data in a time effective manner, and develop best practice models in sustainability data governance and reporting.

Sustainability Engagement:

• Drawing on personal expertise and the diverse expertise of key campus partners, develop a transformative multiple year sustainability engagement framework to build a campus culture of sustainability literacy, shared leadership capacity, and communities of practices.
• Lead the implementation, execution, and evaluation of the framework in collaboration with others and through strong reciprocal partnerships with faculty, staff and student leadership.
• Secure external revenue to support the work of the department to effectively grow engagement, campus as a lab including curricular and non-curricular projects, student internships and volunteer programs.

Qualifications / Requirements:

• A graduate degree in a related discipline is required; specializations in sustainability science and social change theory are highly desired. Must currently be eligible to work in Canada.
• 10-12 years of directly related and progressive experience in sustainability reporting and communications (5 years minimum) and engagement is required, preferably in a post-secondary education context.
• An advanced understanding of sustainability science and social-ecologic systems with a demonstrated ability to effectively communicate sustainability concepts and translate social change theory to practice.
• Demonstrated and advanced proficiency in fostering meaningful and productive partnerships; proven leadership and team building experience towards a common goal, developing strategy and leading complex change involving cross-function teams.
• An advanced proficiency in educational engagement models, social change theory and facilitation with a demonstrated successful track record in practice, preferably in a post-secondary education context.
• An advanced understanding of the field of sustainability reporting and emerging best practices, and demonstrated experience leading sustainability reporting, data governance and analytics strategy and practices.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing sustainability and climate change communications strategies grounded in social sciences and social change theory.
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills and demonstrated experience with the authorship of technical and concept-based reports including briefings for executive administration and confidence in public speaking and engaging diverse audiences.
• Tolerance for ambiguity, shifting priorities and complex situations with an ability to work positively under pressure and an ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• An ability to communicate complex ideas, anticipate potential objections and positively engage others in exploring differing points of view and finding common ground.
• Advanced facilitation and mentoring skills to mediate conflict, problem-solve, and respond appropriately to concerns to achieve successful outcomes.
• An ability to achieve positive outcomes by engaging, motivating, coaching and mentoring staff to excel despite obstacles and challenging situations.
• A demonstrated successful history of staff management and leadership in a unionized environment with full cycle managerial duties.
• Successful track record in financial management including budget planning and execution, and in securing external grant revenue and management of grant agreements.
• A high degree of professionalism, tact, discretion, and respect is required in all interactions.
• A strong understanding of business and political acumen in a large and complex organization.
• A strong service orientation is considered highly desirable, as is the ability to build positive, long-term, collaborative working relationships.
• Understands, and is sensitive to, the confidentiality of information gathered, and exercises sound judgment in discerning how information is conveyed.
• Ability to formulate and interpret policies and processes, anticipate regulatory and academic issues, identify and mitigate risk and provide information and advice to all levels within the University, and to internal and external contacts of the University.
• Exceptional organizational, project management, and administrative skills including an ability to conceptualize, organize, and direct multiple concurrent projects and programs.
• Experience with Microsoft Project and/or other project management tools. Superior working knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite and Excel in particular, and with Quality Management System practices.
• Knowledge and understanding of the University operational policies, procedures, and practices is desirable.
• Knowledge and understanding of the University collective agreements with AUPE and TUCFA is desirable, as is proficiency with University business applications (e.g., PeopleSoft, Hyperion, MS Office, eFIN, etc.).

Application Deadline:  September 29, 2022

We would like to thank all applicants in advance for submitting their resumes. Please note, only those candidates chosen to continue on through the selection process will be contacted.

Additional Information

This position is classified in the Management Career Band, Level 3 of the Management and Professional Staff Career Framework.

To find out more about management and staff opportunities at the University of Calgary and all we have to offer, view our Management and Staff Careers website.

The University strongly recommends all faculty and staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

About the University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is Canada’s leading next-generation university – a living, growing and youthful institution that embraces change and opportunity with a can-do attitude. Located in the nation’s most enterprising city, the university is making tremendous progress on its Eyes High journey to be recognized as one of Canada’s top five research universities, grounded in innovative learning and teaching and fully integrated with the community it both serves and leads. The University of Calgary inspires and supports discovery, creativity and innovation across all disciplines. For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.

The University of Calgary has launched an institution-wide Indigenous Strategy in line with the foundational goals of Eyes High, committing to creating a rich, vibrant, and culturally competent campus that welcomes and supports Indigenous Peoples, encourages Indigenous community partnerships, is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives in all that we do.

As an equitable and inclusive employer, the University of Calgary recognizes that a diverse staff/faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers that have been historically encountered by some people in our society. We strive to recruit individuals who will further enhance our diversity and will support their academic and professional success while they are here. In particular, we encourage members of the designated groups (women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible/racialized minorities, and diverse sexual orientation and gender identities) to apply. To ensure a fair and equitable assessment, we offer accommodation at any stage during the recruitment process to applicants with disabilities. Questions regarding [diversity] EDI at UCalgary can be sent to the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion ([email protected]) and requests for accommodations can be sent to Human Resources ([email protected]).

We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, however preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada.