Director, Community Services

City-of-Yellowknif; Yellowknife; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

City of Yellowknife seeks a seasoned Director to lead community programs, recreation, parks, facilities, libraries, and homelessness initiatives. You will steer a team of four direct reports and about 57 indirect reports, aligning Council priorities with practical results.

The ideal candidate offers extensive senior leadership experience in municipal services, strong budgeting skills, and a collaborative approach across departments and community partners.

Qualifications

• Progressively responsible senior leadership experience, ideally in municipal government.
• Experience directing multidisciplinary teams, budgets, and programs.
• Ability to translate Council priorities into actionable results.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for community programs, recreation, parks, facilities, libraries, and homelessness initiatives.
• Direct budgeting, forecasting, resource allocation, and financial stewardship.
• Build management capacity and succession planning within the department.
• Engage with Indigenous governments, community partners, and residents.
• Balance immediate service needs with long-term planning and fiscal responsibility.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Budgeting & financial stewardship

Performance measurement

Public sector governance

Team building & staff development

Strategic communications with Council

Education

University degree in a relevant field

Tools

Municipal governance tools

Job description

Full-time, Permanent, On-site

Shape the next generation of community life in Canada's North

This is an opportunity to lead one of the City's most visible and community-facing portfolios while helping define how public services, facilities, programs, and partnerships evolve to meet the needs of a growing and changing northern capital.

Yellowknife combines the influence of a territorial capital with the accessibility and authenticity of a close-knit community. Set on the shores of Great Slave Lake, the city offers a vibrant cultural scene, year-round recreation, modern amenities, and immediate access to the outdoors.

The Opportunity

Reporting to the City Manager and serving as a member of the Senior Management Committee, the Director provides strategic leadership across community programs, recreation, parks, public facilities, library services, and homelessness initiatives. The role leads four direct reports and approximately 57 indirect reports.

The Director will:

• Set a clear strategic direction for the department and translate Council priorities into practical results
• Strengthen service standards, operational accountability, performance measurement, and long-term planning
• Lead departmental budgeting, forecasting, resource allocation, and financial stewardship
• Build management capacity, clarify expectations, and support employee development and succession planning
• Guide the responsible planning and stewardship of public facilities, parks, programs, and community assets
• Foster strong relationships with Indigenous governments and organizations, community partners, other governments, user groups, businesses, and residents
• Contribute to corporate strategy, emergency readiness, organizational improvement, and cross-departmental collaboration

• Encourage innovation while ensuring services remain reliable, accessible, inclusive, and responsive

The mandate calls for a leader who can balance immediate service demands with long-term thinking, community expectations with fiscal responsibility, and operational consistency with thoughtful change.

The Leader We Are Looking For

You are a strategic and service-oriented executive who sees possibility in complexity.

You bring sound judgment, political acuity, financial discipline, and the ability to lead through change and public scrutiny. You are equally comfortable advising Council, collaborating with senior colleagues, supporting managers, and engaging openly with residents and community partners.

You do not need to be the technical expert in every area of the portfolio. More important is your ability to lead subject-matter experts, build a cohesive management team, use evidence to guide decisions, and create a culture of accountability, inclusion, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Candidates should bring a relevant university degree, at least 10 years of progressively responsible experience, and significant senior leadership experience involving multidisciplinary teams, budgets, programs, facilities, or public-facing services. Experience in municipal government, recreation, facilities, libraries, homelessness initiatives, unionized environments, Indigenous relations, or intergovernmental partnerships would be an asset.

Why Yellowknife. Why now.

Few municipal leadership roles offer this breadth of impact.

The next Director will influence the services and spaces that support recreation, learning, inclusion, community connection, public life, and wellbeing. The role also offers the opportunity to strengthen how the City plans, collaborates, measures performance, and prepares for the future.

This is your opportunity to lead where your decisions are visible, your relationships matter, and your impact can be felt across an entire community.

Join Us

Applications will be reviewed as they are received. Early applications are encouraged as the City may proceed with interviews and move forward with a preferred candidate once a strong match has been identified.

The City of Yellowknife is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to inclusive, accessible recruitment. Accommodations are available at all stages of the process. The City is committed to hiring a diverse and skilled workforce that is representative of the community, strengthening our ability to provide high-quality services and excellent customer service to residents and business owners. In addition, the City of Yellowknife is committed to reconciliation and implementing actions intended to increase the number of Indigenous peoples who work for the City. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and encourage Indigenous persons to self-declare when submitting their applications.