Supervisor, Climate Transition & Sustainability

The Role

Provides strategic leadership, oversight, and coordination to support the Region’s corporate and community climate change transition, and meet the Region’s current and future emission’s targets and sustainability goals to build a more equitable, prosperous, and resilient low-carbon community through the transition off fossil fuels and efficient use of resources.

This includes: managing complex projects; consulting, collaborating, and building consensus with cross-departmental staff and leadership, area municipal and agency partners, community stakeholders, and the public; leading the development of corporate-wide strategies; oversight of measuring, monitoring, and communicating progress through analytics and reporting; informing and advising Regional Council; and supervising and developing a team of expert staff.
 

Duties/Responsibilities

• Oversees the cross-departmental development of corporate-wide strategies and business plans (i.e. the corporate climate transformation strategy and carbon budget). Establishes project scope, requirements, and an overall work plan for achieving project deliverables. Monitors implementation, budgets, and deadlines. Provides regular project updates/reports to Director and Council, including for final Council approval/endorsement of final project(s). Maintains project documentation. 
• Represents the Region, and facilitates other regional contacts’ participation, in corporate climate leadership opportunities, and on cross-departmental and inter-municipal working groups.
• Supervises climate transition and sustainability staff, including: data, analytics and monitoring staff; and corporate and community program and project support. Reviews technical information and program direction with other senior staff supporting climate transition and sustainability work. Administers contracts with consultants, including reviewing and monitoring work quality/progress.
• Supervises evaluation methods/approaches and statistical techniques for carbon planning and other assessments used to support decision-making and project outcomes, ensuring adherence to provincial guidelines/methodology and current research standards and best practices.  
• Advances policy development through research and education, working with professional organizations, stakeholder groups, and the general public. Prepares politically sensitive and sometimes confidential correspondence and reports regarding public policy issues.
• Provides municipal leadership to collaborative working groups with area municipal, agency, public, and special interest group participants. Represents the Region’s interest during same and at public consultation meetings.
• Manages the development and coordination of marketing/awareness, promotion, media and public engagement activities to promote and support transformative climate action. Responds to questions/ concerns.
• Liaises with Provincial and Federal governments to advocate for, undertake, and/secure funding for collaborative initiatives. Supports the Region’s climate related government relations initiatives.
• Administers and monitors project budgets; provides recommendations to Manager based on project needs. Has signing authority. 
• Performs related duties as required.
   

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge and skills normally acquired through a university degree in Planning, Environmental Management, Environmental Studies, Sustainability or related discipline, plus progressively responsible related experience managing complex multi-stakeholder projects. 
• Knowledge and in-depth technical and social understanding of sustainability and climate change, statistical analysis techniques, and data management principles, procedures, and practices. 
• Project management skills to manage multi-stakeholder projects. Analytical, research, organization, and problem solving skills to plan and develop objectives and determine goals; coordinate the work of consultants and staff; and meet deadlines. Ability to balance multiple objectives, and identify urgencies and importance of each project.
• Ability to leverage interdependent working relationships, and hold multiple points of view from different functional areas to make balanced decisions and recommendations when incorporating diverse perspectives.
• Commitment to continuous improvement and team/organizational learning.
• Communication, leadership, facilitation, conflict management, negotiation, and human relations skills to: manage, train, develop, motivate, and support staff to achieve goals; facilitate consensus building and project approach and techniques with project stakeholders on sensitive/political issues; represent the Region and negotiate project outcomes with stakeholders; present studies, reports, and detail multi-stage projects to stakeholders, including Council; respond to inquiries from the public; and participate as an effective team member.
• Solid understanding of municipal programs and services with respect to corporate and community energy use, emissions, and sustainability.
• Knowledge of and ability to comply with policies, procedures, collective agreements, related legislation (e.g., the Municipal Act, provincial climate legislation), federal and provincial plans, Regional and Area Municipal plans and policies, and relevant by-laws. 
• Ability to make effective recommendations and decisions regarding program approaches and policies, involving interpretation of legislation, regulations, guidelines, literature, and scientific data which carry health impact, and political, legal and financial implications. Ability to write clear, comprehensive reports to Standing Committees and Regional Council, and compose correspondence, project plans, and policies. 
• Research, data analysis, modelling and analytical skills to understand, interpret, and communicate quantitative and qualitative information related to the science of climate change and the principles of sustainability. 

Additional Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to synthesize unique, complex issues regarding engineering, economics, planning, environmental concerns, public perceptions, and politics; and make inquiries to obtain information to form opinions, make decisions, and advise. Ability to monitor news media to keep current on local and national issues, policies, and developments relevant to department programming. 
• Computer skills with ability to use software such as Microsoft Office.
• Ability to adjust schedule to work evenings to accommodate meetings.
• Ability to travel within Waterloo Region.
• Ability to support and demonstrate the Region’s values.