Director, Community Services

Institute of Public Administration of Canada; Yellowknife; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

City of Yellowknife invites an experienced leader to oversee community programs, recreation, parks, public facilities, libraries, and homelessness initiatives. Reporting to the City Manager, the Director will manage a team of four direct reports and a broader staff, shaping services for a growing northern capital.

You bring strategic vision, political acuity, financial discipline, and the ability to lead through change and public scrutiny.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a relevant field.
• Significant senior leadership experience in multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience with budgets, facilities, or public-facing services is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Set a clear strategic direction for the department and translate Council priorities into practical results.
• Strengthen service standards, 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 planning and stewardship of public facilities, parks, programs, and community assets.
• Foster relationships with Indigenous governments, community partners, and residents.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Public sector leadership

Budgeting & financial stewardship

Performance measurement

Stakeholder engagement

Change management

Evidence-based decision making

Education

Relevant university degree

Job description

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.

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.