Manager, Programs and Services, Employment Ontario

PROGRAM: Employment Ontario 

COMPANY: Skills for Change 

LOCATION: Toronto, ON 

REPORTS TO: Director, Program Operations

EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Permanent 

HOURS: 35 hours per week (Monday-Friday with occasional evening and/or weekend hours) 

JOB GROUP: Management (Non-Unionized) 

START DATE: Immediately

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Open until filled

GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITY: 

With 39 years of operations, Skills for Change is a highly respected non-profit charity with a province wide reputation for pioneering programs that respond to shifting immigration and workplace trends and lead to employment. We offer a range of accelerated programs including mentoring, employment, settlement, language training together with specialized programs for skilled trades, women, and youth. We have 5 locations across the GTA and serve 16,000 clients annually. 

We believe we are in the best position to provide thought leadership through evidence-based programming, impact stories and proactive policy advocacy using knowledge mobilization products. 

Reporting to the Director, Program Operations the Manager, Programs and Services manages a portfolio of programs, assesses community needs and formulates creative strategies to address them through the development of significant projects, programs, and services.  A strong relationship manager, the 

Managers build upon existing partnerships and develop new community ties to ensure Skills for Change is top of mind, maintains a competitive advantage and is effective in-service coordination within the community. The Manager contributes to continuous improvement by providing leadership to quality improvement processes including supporting the development of SfC’s Balanced Scorecard and Performance Indicators, Client Feedback Surveys, Systematic Reviews, and program evaluation activities. 

With a strategic focus on data driven outcomes, this role will be integral in leading the Employment Ontario department through sector transformation. In consultation with the Senior Manager, the Manager will write policy and procedures for assigned programs, and ensure programs are aligned with funder standards and customer service requirements. 

The ideal candidate has: 

• A track record of taking initiative in managing competing organizational and departmental priorities and working effectively under pressure when facing extremely short deadlines 
• Strong organizational and project management skills and demonstrated capacity to develop and implement practical strategies, plans, and solutions to identified issues and problems 
• Strong leadership skills, with demonstrated experience leading teams through change management
• The ability to work effectively with others at varying levels of the organization and consistently display a high level of professionalism in all interactions including experience with maintaining confidentiality as needed 
• Exceptional research, writing, analytical and organizational skills, and the ability to convey and communicate complex concepts in a clear, concise and logical manner
• Superior critical thinking skills, including the capacity to identify and appropriately assess and order competing interests and priorities
• A proven ability to assimilate information gathered through research and consultations, apply that information in creative and cross-cutting ways, and to synthesize appropriate strategies and responses. 
• Strong relationship management skills, with track record of successful community and partnership development 

SPECIFIC ACCOUNTABILITIES: 

• Lead day to day program management across two sites from staff leadership, reporting, community relations, budgeting and business planning, and other duties required of the position 
• Leads a team of frontline and supervisory staff to develop a culture of innovation and performance, ensuring appropriate, empathetic, timely and quality service to clients, and data driven outcomes are consistently achieved by staff
• Support the senior leadership with developing and implementing a strategic plan for the Employment Ontario Employment Services Transformation 
• Support in developing and implementing a service accountability framework in order to implement quality improvement and provides a consistent approach to program delivery across multiple sites
• Manages existing community relationships, while developing new partnership opportunities based on gaps in service and EO Transformation requirements, ensuring strong external service coordination
• Ensure organization is aware of all appropriate current and upcoming opportunities including transformation changes that affect program development strategies, and ensuring that SfC remains positioned to respond to appropriate opportunities that fit our mission and capabilities
• Oversee the implementation of a comprehensive operational plan detailing goals, objectives and performance standards for programs that is accountability to program metrics and funder requirements
• Oversee program budgets and directly manages budget lines as designated by the Senior Manager 
• Monitor and report on deliverables of program teams and provides direction to team 
• Work closely with other program managers to build best practices across teams 
• Assist with the development the proposals to public and private funding organizations, based on emerging opportunities throughout each fiscal year and ensure the quality and content of proposals that are fully responsive to requirements
• Staying abreast of current and future programmatic directions and funding prospects of various funders and becoming familiar with research sources on the non-profit sector.
• Establish linkages and provide senior leadership with relevant community partners to develop innovative ideas to meet current and evolving client needs 
• Participate in public meetings and events to develop and maintain organizational visibility 
• Other duties assigned by the Director

REQUIREMENTS QUALIFICATIONS: 

• Post-secondary degree in nonprofit management, public/business administration, public relations or any other related field is required. A Master’s degree is considered an asset. 
• Minimum of seven (5) years’ experience working in non-profit, philanthropy or in government in a similar role is required. (Graduate degree may be substituted for one or more years of experience). 
• Minimum of three (3) years’ experience coordinating and delivering Employment Ontario programs 
• Strong report writing skills, ability to take data and turn it into information that informs strategic and operational decision making
• Minimum two (2) years leading teams in a union and non-union environment
• Experience with the implementation of change management approaches and leading change at the team level is considered an asset
• Experience working with Salesforce and CAMS considered an asset
• A clear, mandatory vulnerable sector check 
• Position requires travel; car is an asset 

PLEASE SEND YOUR APPLICATION TO:hr@skillsforchange.org

Skills for Change provides learning and training opportunities for immigrants, refugees and equity seeking groups to access and fully participate in the workplace and wider community to persons with disabilities to newcomers to Canada (including refugees) to Indigenous peoples to members of a visible minority to children or youth to seniors to the LGBTQ2 community.

Skills for Change offers accommodation for applicants with disabilities in each stage of the hiring process. If you are contacted regarding a job opportunity, please advise if you require accommodation. This document is available in alternate format on request.

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