Associate Director, Strategic Communications, Administrative Services

University of Ottawa; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 133,000 - 166,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Ottawa is seeking a communications leader to provide strategic guidance for a central team within Strategic Communications. The role develops and implements communication strategies to support university priorities, aiming to foster engagement among students and staff while protecting and promoting the university’s reputation.

The position leads a diverse portfolio, ensures alignment with university directions, and collaborates with Marketing, Creative Services, Web, and

Qualifications

• Graduate degree in communications, journalism, public relations or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Ten years’ progressive experience in communications management and leadership, including organizational/internal communication.
• Seven years’ progressive experience in team management, conflict resolution, negotiation and project management.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in French and English.

Responsibilities

• Oversees development and implementation of annual and multiyear strategies and communication plans for sections in own client portfolio.
• Establishes a framework for prioritizing requests from internal clients with competing priorities according to uptake criteria, service level and deadlines.
• Designs and maintains organizational structure and staff hierarchy; recruits, guides, trains, supervises and assesses staff.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Bilingual communication (English & Fr)

Change management

Project management

Stakeholder management

Education

Graduate degree in communications/public relations/journalism or equivalent

Job description

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Posting Reason:

Replacement of a regular position

Job Type:

Employee

Anticipated Duration in Months (for contracts and temporary assignments):

N/A

Job Family:

Marketing and Public Relations

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service - Department:

Strategic Communications

Campus:

Main Campus

Union Affiliation:

N/A

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/09/02

Applications must be received BEFORE (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/09/28

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

Non-Union Grade NM3

Salary Range:

$132504,00 - $165630,00

Position Purpose:

Provides communications leadership, expert advice and strategic guidance for all sections under own supervision. Develops and implements communication strategies in support of University priorities as well as those of assigned administrative sections. Fosters understanding, engagement and participation among students and employees regarding services, policies and organizational changes, while helping protect and promote the University’s reputation among targeted internal and external audiences.

Manages a central team of communications experts assigned to a diverse portfolio of internal partners with multiple, sometimes competing, priorities. Establishes means of prioritizing, managing requests, dividing the workload and setting service levels, to offer proactive, consistent and predictable service to all client sections.

Ensures own team’s actions align with University directions and best strategic communication practices. Ensures links with other Marketing and Communications office units, including Marketing, Creative Services, Web, Content Marketing, Public Affairs, Media Relations and Language Services.

Offers each internal partner an integrated, consistent approach based on an overall communications plan drawing on the full range of office expertise, rather than a continual series of one-time, isolated actions.

Contributes through own leadership to the ongoing evolution of the University’s communication service provision model, encouraging adoption of client-focused approaches for internal partners and ensuring optimal use of resources to maximize impact of University-wide communication initiatives.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Oversees development and implementation of annual and multiyear strategies and communication plans for sections in own client portfolio. Offers expert advice to section client leaders and managers regarding target audiences, channel selection and required resources, such that each section has a strategy aligned with University priorities rather than relying on a succession of one-time actions.
• Establishes and applies a framework for prioritizing and weighing requests from internal clients with competing priorities according to uptake criteria, service level and deadlines, so that team’s capacity and workload distribution are determined based on request importance rather than order of arrival or requester influence.
• Designs and maintains organizational structure and own section’s staff hierarchy. Recruits, guides, trains, supervises and assesses staff, and divides workload among client portfolios to ensure the team capacity, new staff and mobilization required to provide services reliably and efficiently.
• Helps develop and control own section’s communication budget. Supervises work of external providers as needed, to optimize use of staff and ensure that external production meets University brand standards and deadlines.
• Maintains links with Marketing, Creative Services and Web units, and with other communications teams, for clients’ campaign, digital and editorial content, and web presence needs, to ensure integrated implementation of central team activities and avoid overlapping efforts among units.
• Provides leadership on internal communications regarding University projects bringing major change (policies and guidelines, system changes, structural reviews) by integrating change management principles, thus reducing resistance, accelerating take-up of new work practices and protecting project investment value.
• Manages operational and exceptional messaging to the University community during service interruptions, major work, IT incidents or emergencies, and maintains the procedures, templates and approval chains needed. During disturbances, maintains University community trust in services by providing accurate information delivered through a single voice.
• Determines portfolio performance indicators, analyzes initiative reach and engagement levels, and produces scorecards for client sections and management. Enables evidence-based communications decisions and direction adjustments during a cycle rather than after the fact.
• Ensures compliance with University bilingualism, language quality, accessibility (AODA) and inclusive communication requirements in all portfolio products. Working with Language Services and Francophonie- and EDI-related sections, ensures that the University meets its legal and statutory obligations, and that all community members can access information in their language and format of choice.
• Monitors editorial practices and organizational communication trends, developing tools, templates and training for client sections. Makes clients more autonomous, freeing team capacity for jobs with high strategic value.

What you will bring:

• Graduate degree in communication, journalism, public relations or a similar area, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Ten years’ progressive experience in communications management and leadership, including significant experience in organizational or internal communication
• Seven years’ progressive experience in team management, conflict resolution, negotiation and project management
• Bilingualism (French and English), spoken and written
• Extensive experience in developing and implementing communications strategies for multiple internal clients with competing priorities, including determining audiences, choosing channels and establishing performance indicators
• Experience in communication related to organizational transformation projects, with mastery of change management principles
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in French and English, including ability to write and edit in both languages
• Knowledge of the workings of a university or large public organization, including governing authorities and unionized workplaces
• Proven ability to form partnerships and collaborative relationships with diverse internal stakeholders, at different levels of the hierarchy
• Notable ability to manage competing requests and justify own prioritization decisions to senior clients tactfully and firmly
• Outstanding ability to co-ordinate multiple files under pressure, establish priorities and meet strict deadlines
• Ability to quickly understand complex files and extrapolate clear messages from them for diverse audiences
• Knowledge of accessibility requirements (AODA), principles of inclusive communication and institutional requirements regarding bilingualism and the Francophonie
• Ease in using digital communication performance analysis tools, with ability to draw on them for actionable recommendations
• Sound judgment, autonomy, diplomacy and high level of discretion in handling confidential information

Key Competencies at uOttawa:

Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact [e-mail] to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position:

The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.