Associate Director, Facilities Operations and Ancillary Services

University of Ottawa; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Ottawa is seeking an Associate Director of Operations to lead Building Systems operations and maintenance across complex facilities. You will design strategies to extend asset lifespans and deliver tactical objectives for sanitary services, carpentry, building envelope, and related services in science labs and offices.

You will drive continuous improvement, manage a multi-union workforce, and collaborate with Planning, IT, Risk Management, and executives to optimize performance

Qualifications

• University degree in facilities management or engineering or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in facilities management and/or maintenance in a complex and diverse environment.
• Extensive knowledge of engineering systems and sound operational and maintenance practices.
• Knowledge of process improvement frameworks such as Lean Six Sigma, TQM, Design Thinking, Kaizen, 5S.
• Demonstrated flexibility to lead in a changing and complex environment.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
• Advanced analytical and computer skills.
• Experience with building service contracts, estimations and contracting processes.
• Experience in multi-union environments with multi-million operating budgets.
• Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written).

Responsibilities

• Provides leadership and logistics support to the operation teams and shapes a growth-ready structure.
• Leads strategic planning and execution of major and minor infrastructure projects.
• Develops and implements policies and procedures for emergencies and maintenance of all equipment.
• Drives continuous improvement and innovation to optimize processes and assets.
• Oversees project onboarding from construction to operations.
• Manages performance of internal and external trades with clear KPIs.
• Shares industry best practices and supports asset optimization decisions.
• Advises on budget allocation within approved constraints.
• Facilitates collaboration with Planning, Project Delivery and Business Management teams.
• Oversees staffing, hires and manages maintenance personnel across unions.
• Plans and coordinates response to emergencies and ensures business continuity.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Project management

Budget management

Communication

Stakeholder engagement

Risk management

Facilities management

Education

University degree in facilities management or engineering

Job description

Facilities services are characterized by a dynamic and creative growing team where the winds of change are blowing, offering people like you opportunities to use your leadership and innovation skills to contribute to the achievement of their inspiring mission: to deliver best in class research infrastructure, reshape campus life and student experience, and provide a sustainable environment for students, researchers, teachers and community.

uOttawa’s facilities encompass three main sites that are comprised of over 600,000 square meters of building space (over 6.4 million square feet), 42.5 hectares of grounds, 125 buildings and 4,500 beds in 11 residences. There are over 150 employees in Facilities, including Project Managers, Energy and Commissioning Specialists, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, Architects, and space Planners. The facilities capital and operating expenditures are in the range of $100M for the University’s $2.0 billion assets under management. The 20-year Capital spending plan envisions $4.0 billion of new investment highlighted by uOttawa launch of project Top Shelf, a $300 million capital investment to build a new facility for the Faculty of Health Sciences at uOttawa’s River Campus, as well as a tower at the Roger Guidon campus to house uOttawa’s new Advanced Medical Research Center (AMRC).

Position purpose:

The Associate Director is seen as one of the Senior Director’s trusted partners and advisor in leading the Operations to become a business-oriented organization. In this capacity, he/she organizes, directs and controls, on behalf of the Senior Director, all the University’s Building Systems operations and maintenance activities.

The incumbent directly manages the operations of the service. In this capacity, he/she designs and establishes strategies for extending and optimizing the lifespan of existing assets, which includes providing tactical delivery of the goals and objectives for managing the infrastructure – sanitary services, carpentry, locksmithing, building envelope, disaster restoration, ground, logistic, postal services and transport - of a complex and diverse environment ranging from complex research laboratories to office spaces.

This seasoned professional will provide recommendations to the Senior Director on strategies and continuous improvement initiatives to implement that would have an impact on the life of University assets. As such, he/she will act as a strategic agent-of-change, be responsible for creating structures and processes to measure and manage assets proactively in order to enable continuous improvement and increased efficiencies aligned with associated resources at the University.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Provides leadership and logistical support to the Operation teams. Develops and sets up a structure adapted to the growth and evolution of the service. This includes maintaining a healthy and productive work environment, recruiting, training, leading, mobilizing and evaluating the staff under their responsibility in a multi-union environment. Plays a key role amongst management in promoting performance and health and safety values to create a culture of safe performance that supports operational and strategic decision-making.
• Provides innovative and strategic leadership and expertise in planning, executing, monitoring and evaluating major and minor projects related to the infrastructure under their responsibility.
• Leads in developing and implementing policies, systems and procedures to systematically handle emergencies, and in operating and maintaining all equipment and infrastructure under their responsibility. The incumbent will ensure compliance with University policies as well as municipal, provincial and federal codes and regulations.
• Advocates for, and seeks opportunities to implement, incremental innovation and continuous improvement. Continually seeks to optimize process performance. Works with the leadership team to drive broad cultural change and position the organization for long-term success by helping to build or improve high performing processes.
• Commissions and onboards projects to ensure a seamless transition between construction and on-going operation.
• Evaluates and manages performance of internal and external tradespeople through balanced key performance indicators. Ensures that system data remains accurate to allow for ongoing analytical analysis and auditing. Ensures complete transparency in the methods used.
• Provides expertise on industry best practices and identifies areas for incremental business optimization.
• Provides qualitative and quantitative recommendations and data to assist the senior director in determining how to change and improve various assets and how to allocate the departmental budget to operations within approved budget constraints.
• Drives and facilitates effective collaboration and communication with key internal groups, such as Planning, Project Delivery and Business Management. Ensures effective and timely communication with executives and other University bodies, such as Risk Management, IT, Research and Protection.
• Oversees hiring and leads and manages the maintenance staff to optimize operations, minimize expenses and maximize tenant satisfaction.
• Identifies risks, issues evaluations and takes appropriate action to eliminate or mitigate risks. Plans, directs and co-ordinates activities in the event of emergencies, service interruptions or breakdowns. Applies, tests and maintains the Business Continuity Plan to ensure critical operations at the University can operate continuously.

What you will bring:

• University degree with qualifications in facilities management or engineering or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience or progressive responsibility in facilities management and/or maintenance in a complex and diverse environment.
• Extensive knowledge of engineering systems and sound operational and maintenance practices
• Knowledge of process improvement frameworks such as Lean Six Sigma, TQM, Design Thinking, Kaizen, 5S, would be considered an asset.
• Demonstrated flexibility with the ability to lead in a changing and complex environment.
• Ability to encourage innovation in others through strong communication, relationship building and listening skills.
• Strong business acumen and advanced analytical and computer skills.
• Knowledge and experience of building service contracts, estimations and contracting processes and practices.
• Demonstrated experience with management and supervision in a multi-union environment and with multi-million operating budget.
• Effective written and verbal communication and presentation skills.
• Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written).