Consultant, Facilitation & Research

Blackbird Strategies; Ottawa; Hybrid; CAD 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and dental benefits

Paid time off

Professional development opportunities

Collaborative environment

Job summary

Blackbird Strategies is seeking a Consultant who can fluidly move between facilitation and research. This early-career role lets you run client sessions, synthesize information for engagements, and act as a knowledge worker within our facilitation practice.

You will design agendas, capture decisions, and turn room outputs into client-ready materials while building government relations and policy analysis skills in a collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• 1–2 years of relevant experience (internships, co-ops, or academic research count).
• Strong writing and synthesis skills; you can turn a messy pile of information into a clear brief.
• Comfort in a room: note-taking, gentle facilitation support, or co-leading sessions.
• Curiosity about government relations, public policy, and Indigenous affairs.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and self-directed.
• A degree in political science, public policy, communications, or a related field.

Responsibilities

• Facilitation: Support client workshops, stakeholder sessions, and internal strategy discussions.
• Facilitation: Help design agendas, discussion guides, and engagement materials.
• Facilitation: Capture key takeaways, decisions, and action items from sessions.
• Facilitation: Organize session outputs, precedents, and templates for future files.
• Research: Prepare briefing notes, environmental scans, and issue backgrounders.
• Research: Scan for social licence and political risks that shape client realities.
• Research: Track legislative, regulatory, and political developments relevant to client files.

Skills

Writing & synthesis

Facilitation

Note-taking

Policy curiosity

Education

Degree in political science/public policy/communications

Job description

At Blackbird Strategies, we believe in expertise, not just experience.Our team brings deep expertise across management consulting, government relations, policy, Indigenous affairs, health, crisis communications, government operations, issues management, and finance. No matter your title, we lean on each other to bring a holistic worldview to every client we serve.

The Role

We're looking for a Consultant who can move fluidly between facilitation and research. This is an early-career role, but it's not a narrow support position - you'll help run client sessions, synthesize information for engagements, and act as a knowledge worker within our facilitation practice: turning what happens in the room into client-ready materials.

What You'll Do

Facilitation

• Support client workshops, stakeholder sessions, and internal strategy discussions
• Help design agendas, discussion guides, and engagement materials
• Capture key takeaways, decisions, and action items from sessions
• Act as the knowledge worker for engagements - organizing session outputs, precedents, and templates so they're usable on future files

Research

• Prepare briefing notes, environmental scans, and issue backgrounders for client and internal use
• Scan for social licence and political risks that shape client realities
• Track legislative, regulatory, and political developments relevant to client files

What You Bring

• 1-2 years of relevant experience (internships, co-ops, or academic research count)
• Strong writing and synthesis skills - you can turn a messy pile of information into a clear brief
• Comfort in a room: note-taking, gentle facilitation support, or eventually co-leading sessions
• Curiosity about government relations, public policy, and Indigenous affairs
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and self-directed
• A degree in political science, public policy, communications, or a related field

Why Blackbird

Titles don't define what you work on here. You'll be exposed to a wide range of files - from Indigenous relations to corporate government affairs to risk advisory services - and work alongside senior team members who'll actively mentor you. We provide generous health and dental benefits, paid time off, professional development opportunities, and a collaborative environment.