Associate Director, Strategic Communications, Administrative Services

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

Job summary

uOttawa in Ottawa, Ontario seeks a strategic communications leader to oversee a central team within Strategic Communications. You will provide expert advice, develop and implement comprehensive communication strategies, and ensure alignment with university priorities and brand standards.

The role emphasizes leading internal and external communications, managing workloads, and coordinating with Marketing, Creative Services, and Web units to deliver integrated campaigns across multiple audiences.

Responsibilities

• Oversees development and implementation of annual and multiyear strategies and communication plans for sections in own client portfolio.
• Establishes and applies a framework for prioritizing requests from internal clients with competing priorities according to uptake criteria and deadlines.
• Designs and maintains organizational structure and staff hierarchy; recruits, guides, trains and assesses staff.
• Helps develop and control the section's communication budget; supervises external providers when needed.
• Maintains links with Marketing, Creative Services and Web units to ensure integrated campaign delivery.
• Provides leadership on internal communications for major projects, integrating change management principles.
• Manages messaging during service interruptions or emergencies and maintains a single voice for communications.
• Determines performance indicators and produces scorecards to inform evidence-based decisions.
• Ensures compliance with bilingualism, accessibility (AODA) and inclusive communication requirements.

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: $132 504,00 - $165 630,00

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 obligatio