Associate Director, Strategic Initiatives & Administration

McMaster University; Hamilton; On-site; CAD 105,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

McMaster University in Hamilton, ON, seeks an Associate Director, Strategic Initiatives & Administration to lead planning, governance, and organizational effectiveness within the Office of the Registrar.

The role drives RO-wide strategic initiatives, coordinates budgeting and reporting, and ensures alignment of initiatives across eight departments. Strong leadership, project management, and change management skills are essential.

Job description

Associate Director, Strategic Initiatives & Administration

Regular/Temporary

Regular

Location

Central Campus

Open Date

2026/10/22

Job Type

Continuing

Close Date

2026/11/02

Employee Group

TMG

Favorite Job

Department

Full/Part Time

Full-Time

Salary Grade/Band

Under Review

Salary Range

$0.00 - $0.00 (annual)

Job Code

105021

Existing Vacancy

Yes - Backfilling as Existing

Target Number of Openings

1

35

Job Description

Anticipated Start Date: January 4, 2027

Hiring Salary Range: $105,000 - $135,000

The Office of the Registrar (RO) provides a number of services to both prospective and current students and is the primary source of information on enrolment, convocation ceremonies and important student dates and events throughout the year. We are a smart, collaborative group of approximately 100, spread across eight departments: Student Services & Financial Support, Undergraduate Recruitment, Undergraduate Admissions, Records, Systems, Scheduling & Examinations, Communications and Engagement and Strategic Initiatives & Administration. This supportive and dynamic team works together to provide assistance to students from their first-point-of-contact with McMaster until they graduate.

The Strategic Initiatives and Administration unit provides strategic and operational leadership to the Office of the Registrar's financial, operational, workforce, and administrative planning. The team provides integrated planning, project leadership, and strategic support to the Office of the Registrar’s strategic plan, pan-university wide initiatives, strategic enrolment management efforts, and organizational effectiveness priorities. The successful candidate will have a unique opportunity to help shape the future Strategic Initiatives and Administration team, supporting the development of its priorities, services, and long-term strategic direction.

Job Summary:

The Associate Director, Strategic Initiatives and Administration provides leadership, expertise, and strategic advice in support of planning, governance, organizational effectiveness, resource stewardship, and institutional initiatives within the Office of the Registrar (RO).

The role leads the implementation of RO wide strategic initiatives by prioritizing initiatives, process re-engineering, providing change leadership, ensuring organizational effectiveness, and service modernization, while developing, managing and reporting on strategic initiatives (e.g. Office of the Registrar Strategic Plan, business process re-engineering, reporting on the McMaster Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) plan, etc.), leading budget and report preparation activities, inclusive of financial processing, revenue, forecasting and human resources management. The role applies leading practices, and ensures results are delivered to defined quality, budget, and time objectives.

The role is accountable for leading complex strategic and operational projects that advance priorities of the RO, and through them, the broader university.

Reporting to the University Registrar and working closely with the Senior Management Team, the Associate Director has a view across all units in the RO and provides strategic leadership across the portfolios, with a primary focus on integrating planning, operations, and resources across units to enable coordinated execution of strategic priorities. The role leads the execution of finance and human resources support across all units in the RO, in partnership with unit leaders and subject matter experts (e.g. HR Partners, finance specialists, etc.).

The role also provides executive-level analysis, planning support, budget and resource planning coordination, workforce planning, operational effectiveness leadership, and space planning oversight.

Accountabilities:

Strategic Planning & Initiatives

• Leads portfolio-wide strategic planning by designing, implementing, and evaluating the RO strategic plan to ensure clear connection to RO and institutional priorities, and emerging faculty and student needs and the advancement of an integrated, student-centred experience across the student lifecycle
• Identifies, recommends, and leads cross-functional initiatives by drawing connections between institutional priorities, student needs, and operational requirements, advancing integrated solutions that enhance the student experience and create university-wide efficiencies
• They are empowered to draw connections between institutional priorities, and unit-level (e.g. Admissions, Student Services & Financial Support) needs, and suggest, and lead, with the endorsement of the University Registrar, projects and activities that stitch together initiatives that streamline the student experience and create efficiencies from a University-wide perspective (e.g. establishing and leading the approach to map the undergraduate and graduate student lifecycle, aligned with goals in the University-wide SEM Plan).
• Translates strategic priorities into coordinated operational plans and leads the implementation of strategic initiatives and projects, across the RO, including business transformations, process re-engineering, organizational effectiveness, change leadership, and institutional priorities, acting as a strategic integrator across units to ensure alignment of activities, timelines, decision-making, and unit-level execution.
• Maintains portfolio-wide oversight of strategic initiatives and priorities, monitoring progress, dependencies, risks, timelines, and outcomes and project deliverables and providing regular updates to support executive decision-making and accountability.
• Supports effective RO governance and strategic decision-making by coordinating planning, information, reporting, and follow-through across key leadership and governance forums.
• Identifies interdependencies, resource implications, risks, and cross-functional impacts across RO units to inform integrated planning and executive decision-making.
• Prioritizes initiatives, allocates resources, and makes decisions related to project implementation, operational improvements, and organizational effectiveness initiatives in support of RO and institutional priorities.
• Coordinates the SEM Plan progress monitoring and reporting for the University, working across RO units, Faculties, and central University partners to track progress, follow up on assigned tactics and