AI Scientist & Engineer, Assurance Innovation Lab

BDO; Halifax; On-site; CAD 93,000 - 116,000; Full time

Job summary

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in Halifax seeks a Manager, Educator Services to provide operational leadership for educator-facing services, including classification, bursary administration, and digital services. You will coordinate professional development validation, service standards, and staff coaching in a high-volume environment.

You will work with Directors, program areas, and partners to strengthen accountability, workforce development, and service quality

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree + minimum six years of related experience.
• Experience leading programs, services, or operational teams in public sector / education.
• Ability to balance policy requirements with service delivery and accountability.
• Experience leading people, setting priorities, and improving processes.
• Experience with structured decision-making processes (e.g., classification, certification, validation).
• Equivalency options are considered and explained in the application.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational leadership for educator-facing services and bursary administration.
• Lead day-to-day service delivery to ensure timely and accurate responses to inquiries.
• Oversee educator classification processes, including review, standards, and reporting.
• Support validation of professional learning and training activities for classification.
• Oversee bursary administration and related workforce supports.
• Support educator-facing digital services and data quality improvements.
• Monitor volumes, risks, backlogs, and drive improvements in service delivery.
• Develop policies, templates, and service standards to ensure consistency.

Skills

Public administration knowledge

Leadership experience

Communication skills

Bilingual (English & French)

Education

Bachelor's degree in public administration, business administration, or related field

Job description

Department: Education & Early Childhood Development

Location: HALIFAX

Type of Employment: Permanent

Union Status: Exclusion - Non Union - NSPG

Closing Date: 28-Sep-26 (Applications are accepted until 11:59 PM Atlantic Time)

About Us

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) is leading the transformation of the early years and public education system in Nova Scotia. We are doing this by designing an innovative curriculum, facilitating excellence in teaching and learning, ensuring an inclusive education experience, and working closely with our partners in early learning and education. This will provide children, students, and families with a strong foundation for success. This department is a perfect fit for those that want to be part of the future of early learning and public education in the province by supporting student learning in a progressive and responsive policy environment.

The Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) branch regulates, funds, and supports early learning and child care providers and sector partners across Nova Scotia. As the sector continues to evolve within a publicly funded early learning and child care system, the department is strengthening how it works with operators to support sustainability, monitor public investment, and help funded organizations meet evolving expectations.

About Our Opportunity

The Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) sector is continuing to grow and mature as part of Nova Scotia’s publicly funded child care system. This transformation has increased the scale, complexity, and visibility of educator-facing services, including educator classification, professional development validation, bursary administration, workforce supports, and digital service delivery.

As Manager, Educator Services, you will provide operational leadership for a portfolio of services that support early childhood educators and strengthen the ELCC workforce. You will oversee educator classification processes, professional learning validation, bursary administration, educator-facing digital services, and high-volume educator inquiries and service requests. This work requires strong operational judgement, service delivery experience, and the ability to lead in a changing environment where programs, systems, and expectations continue to evolve.

You will work closely with the Director, Educator and Family Services, ELCC program areas, digital delivery partners, sector stakeholders, and post-secondary or training partners to support clear, consistent, and responsive educator services. Your work will help strengthen accountability, improve service quality, support workforce development, and ensure educator-facing services are aligned with the needs of the child care system.

Primary Accountabilities

As the Manager, Educator Services, you will:

• Provide operational leadership for educator-facing services, including educator classification, professional development validation, bursary administration, workforce supports, and related service channels.
• Lead and manage day-to-day service delivery to support timely, consistent, and accurate responses to educator inquiries, applications, and service requests.
• Oversee processes related to educator classification, including application review, service standards, quality assurance, reporting, and continuous improvement.
• Support the validation of professional learning and training activities required for educator classification, professional development, or workforce-related initiatives.
• Provide oversight for bursary administration and related supports that help strengthen the early childhood education workforce.
• Support educator-facing digital services, including service readiness, user support, process improvement, data quality, and operational feedback for system enhancements.
• Monitor service volumes, trends, risks, backlogs, and operational issues, and recommend practical actions to improve service delivery and accountability.
• Develop and maintain policies, procedures, tools, templates, and service standards to support consistent and transparent educator services.
• Work with internal partners, external stakeholders, and service providers to clarify requirements, resolve complex issues, and support coordinated service delivery.
• Provide leadership to staff through coaching, workload management, performance support, and clear communication of priorities and expectations.
• Prepare briefing materials, reports, analysis, and recommendations for the Director, senior leaders, and other decision-makers.
• Support workforce development initiatives by contributing operational advice, service data, and practical insight into educator needs, training pathways, and system pressures.
• Promote a respectful, service-oriented, and accountable work environment that supports educators, strengthens public trust, and contributes to a sustainable early learning and child care system.

Qualifications and Experience

To be successful in this role, you have a bachelor’s degree in public administration, business administration, or a related field, in addition to a minimum of six years of related experience. An equivalent combination of training and experience may be considered.

You bring experience leading programs, services, or operational teams in a public sector, education, early learning and child care, human services, workforce development, regulatory, or client-service environment. You understand how to manage service delivery in a complex and changing system, and you are comfortable balancing policy requirements, operational realities, client service, and accountability.

You have experience leading people, setting priorities, managing workloads, supporting staff performance, and improving processes. You can work through ambiguity, identify service risks or gaps, and develop practical solutions that improve consistency, timeliness, accuracy, and user experience.

You also have experience:

• Managing programs or services that involve application review, assessment, eligibility, classification, certification, validation, or other structured decision-making processes.
• Interpreting and applying legislation, regulations, policies, procedures, program criteria, or service standards.
• Supporting service delivery improvements, including process mapping, workflow redesign, quality assurance, performance monitoring, or digital service implementation.
• Working with internal and external partners to resolve complex issues and support consistent program or service delivery.
• Using information, data, and service trends to identify risks, monitor performance, and make recommendations.
• Preparing briefing materials, reports, correspondence, procedures, and recommendations for management or senior leaders.
• Communicating clearly with staff, partners, stakeholders, and service users, including when issues are sensitive, urgent, or complex.
• Managing confidential and sensitive information with sound judgement and discretion.

You are a collaborative leader, strong communicator, and practical problem solver. You bring good judgement, professionalism, and a service-oriented approach to your work, and you can support accountability while building positive relationships across a complex service system.

Assets

• Knowledge of Nova Scotia’s early learning and child care sector, including educator classification, professional learning, workforce development, and sector sustainability.
• Experience with educator certification, classification, credential assessment, registration, licensing, or similar assessment-based services.
• Experience administering bursaries, grants, training supports, workforce development programs, or related funding initiatives.
• Experience supporting digital service delivery, online applications, registries, case management systems, or client portals.
• Experience developing or monitoring service standards, performance indicators, dashboards, or operational reports.
• Experience working with post-secondary institutions, training providers, professional learning organizations, sector partners, or regulated service providers.
• Experience leading staff in a high-volume, client-service, operational, or public-facing program environment.
• Bilingualism in English and French.

Equivalency

We welcome candidates with diverse and transferable experience. Applicants who do not meet the exact education requirement may still be considered if they clearly demonstrate an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.

Equivalent experience should show substantial depth in financial analysis, accounting, funding administration, compliance monitoring, internal controls, or a closely related area. Applicants relying on equivalency must clearly explain in their application how their background gives them the financial judgement, analytical skills, and accountability experience needed for this role.

• Career development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career
• Engaging workplace: our employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in, we have forward-thinking policies and strategies
• Countless career paths
• A Dynamic, client-focused office environment where service excellence and teamwork are our focus.

Pay Grade:EC 11

Salary Range:$3,571.99 - $4,465.03 Bi-Weekly

Employment Equity Statement: Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve. The Government of Nova Scotia has an Employment Equity Policy, and we welcome applications from Indigenous People, African Nova Scotians, Persons of African Descent, Racialized Persons, Persons with Disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ Persons and Women in occupations or positions where they are under-represented. If you are a member of one of these equity groups, you are encouraged to self-identify on your electronic application.

Accommodation Statement: We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Candidates may request accommodations based on any grounds protected by the Human Rights Act. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process, please contact us at [e-mail].

Current government employees may access this posting through the link below:

PLEASE NOTE: Candidates will not be considered for an interview if applications are incomplete or are missing information.

If you are receiving a pension from the Nova Scotia Public Service Superannuation Plan (PSSP) or any related plans, you cannot receive pension payments while contributing to the same plan. If you accept a position that requires PSSP contributions, your pension payments must be stopped. Please contact the Nova Scotia Pension Services Corporation for more information.

Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer. We thank all applicants for the interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. All questions and concerns may be directed to [e-mail].