Director, Health, Safety, & Organizational Resilience

City of Saint John; New Brunswick; On-site; CAD 132,000 - 156,000; Full time

Job summary

City of Saint John is seeking a Director of Occupational Health, Safety & Organizational Resilience to provide enterprise-wide leadership for transforming and modernizing the City’s OHS program. You will shape a corporate safety strategy, strengthen resilience, and embed a culture of safety excellence across a diverse municipal workforce.

You will lead organizational change, align departments, engage unions and staff, and translate safety vision into measurable outcomes.

Qualifications

• Ten years of progressive leadership in OHS, operations, or related field; municipal or unionized environment experience preferred.
• University degree in a relevant field; professional certification in OHS.
• Knowledge of applicable OHS legislation, regulations, and leading practices.
• Proven ability to lead enterprise-level strategies and transformational programs.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and execution of the City’s Corporate Safety Strategy.
• Transform and modernize the OHS program and governance.
• Drive change management and embed safety into strategic planning.
• Influence senior leaders and engage stakeholders to build alignment.
• Oversee investigations and organizational learning to reduce risk.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Influence & negotiation

Data & risk management

Communication

Safety & health expertise

Change management

Public sector experience

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business/Public Administration/HR/OHS

Post-secondary education in OHS

Professional OHS certification

Job description

Position Overview

The Director of Occupational Health, Safety & Organizational Resilience provides enterprise-wide strategic leadership for the transformation, modernization, and continuous improvement of the City's Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) Program. As a key member of the City's leadership team, the Director will shape and execute a forward-looking Corporate Safety Strategy that strengthens organizational resilience, reduces risk, and advances a culture of safety excellence across a diverse municipal workforce.

Competition Number

26-106

Salary

$131,945.00 - $156,298.00/Year

Job Type

Permanent Full Time

Closing Date

November 4, 2026

Position Overview

The Director of Occupational Health, Safety & Organizational Resilience provides enterprise-wide strategic leadership for the transformation, modernization, and continuous improvement of the City's Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) Program. As a key member of the City's leadership team, the Director will shape and execute a forward-looking Corporate Safety Strategy that strengthens organizational resilience, reduces risk, and advances a culture of safety excellence across a diverse municipal workforce.

The Director will lead organizational change and influence leaders at all levels of the organization to embed safety, risk management, prevention, and employee well-being into strategic and operational decision-making. This position will build alignment across departments, engage union and employee partners, and create the conditions necessary for sustainable adoption of new policies, practices, systems, and behaviours.

The Director will provide strategic advice to senior leadership on occupational health and safety, enterprise risk, regulatory compliance, emerging workplace risks, and organizational readiness. The role will balance strategic leadership with operational oversight, translating the City's safety vision into measurable outcomes, strengthened organizational capability, and sustained cultural change.

Success in this role will require a leader who can influence, build trust across diverse stakeholder groups, navigate competing priorities, and create shared accountability for safety outcomes. Formalizing governance mechanisms, notably through a cross-functional team (CFT), which brings together operational, administrative, and safety leaders to provide coordination, consistency and accountability.

As the Director Occupational Health, Safety & Organizational Resilience, your key responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Lead the development and execution of the City's Corporate Safety Strategy, establishing strategic priorities, objectives, performance measures, and accountabilities that align occupational health and safety with the City's broader strategic direction.


• Lead the transformation and modernization of the City's OHS Program, redesigning policies, processes, systems, and practices to reflect legislative requirements, leading practices, emerging risks, and the evolving needs of the organization.


• Lead organizational change associated with the transformation of the safety program, developing and executing change management strategies that build awareness, create alignment, address resistance, engage stakeholders, and achieve sustained adoption of new approaches and practices.


• Influence and partner with senior leaders, departmental leadership teams, managers, and employees to embed safety and risk management into strategic planning, operational decision-making, workforce practices, and organizational performance.


• Build organizational alignment and shared accountability for safety, using strong influencing, relationship‑building, consultation, negotiation, and communication skills to bring diverse stakeholders together around common objectives.


• Establish and strengthen corporate safety governance, defining clear roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, escalation processes, and decision‑making structures to support consistent and effective safety practices across the organization.


• Drive measurable improvements in safety performance, leveraging data, trends, leading and lagging indicators, risk assessments, and organizational insights to identify priorities and evaluate the effectiveness of safety strategies and interventions.


• Provide strategic advice and recommendations to the senior leadership team and Council, as appropriate, on significant health and safety risks, regulatory requirements, organizational exposure, emerging issues, and opportunities to strengthen workplace safety and resilience.


• Develop and maintain trusted relationships with managers, employees, union representatives, and other key stakeholders, fostering collaboration, credibility, transparency, and shared ownership of safety outcomes.


• Lead and develop a high-performing team of safety professionals, building organizational capability, professional expertise, leadership capacity, and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.


• Oversee significant incident investigations and organizational learning, ensuring rigorous root cause analysis, appropriate corrective and preventive actions, and effective follow‑through to reduce recurrence and address systemic risks.


• Anticipate and respond to emerging risks, monitoring legislative and regulatory developments, industry trends, workforce trends, and changing operational environments to ensure organizational readiness and compliance.


• Champion continuous improvement and safety innovation, identifying opportunities to improve processes, leverage technology and data, enhance employee engagement, and increase the effectiveness and accessibility of safety programs.


• Lead strategic safety communications and engagement, ensuring employees and leaders understand the City’s safety priorities, their individual and collective responsibilities, and the purpose and benefits of organizational change.


• Strengthen organizational resilience and readiness by identifying systemic vulnerabilities, enhancing prevention and response capabilities, and ensuring the City can effectively adapt to emerging occupational health and safety challenges.


• Champion a proactive safety culture and employee well-being, moving the organization beyond compliance toward prevention, learning, accountability, and sustained safety excellence.

Essential Qualifications

The successful candidate will bring a minimum of ten years of progressive leadership experience in occupational health and safety, operations, public safety, human resources, or a related field, including significant experience leading organizational transformation, change management, continuous improvement, or enterprise-wide initiatives. Experience in a unionized and/or municipal environment would be considered an asset.

The Successful Candidate Will Demonstrate

• A university degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Human Resource Management, Occupational Health & Safety, or a related discipline, supplemented by post-secondary education in Occupational Health & Safety or a related field.


• A recognized professional certification in Occupational Health & Safety.


• Comprehensive knowledge of applicable occupational health and safety legislation, regulations, standards, and leading practices.


• Demonstrated success developing and executing enterprise-level strategies and transformational programs.


• Proven ability to lead and sustain organizational change, including the ability to build commitment, manage resistance, and translate strategy into practical and sustainable action.


• Exceptional ability to influence, build consensus, navigate competing interests, and create alignment among diverse stakeholders.


• Strong political acumen and the ability to operate effectively within a complex public-sector environment.


• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships and influence senior leaders, managers, employees, union representatives, and external partners.


• Experience using data, performance measures, and risk intelligence to inform strategic decisions and demonstrate measurable outcomes.


• Exceptional communication, presentation, negotiation, consultation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate complex issues clearly and persuasively to diverse audiences.


• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, develop, and engage high-performing professional teams.


• Strategic thinking combined with the ability to translate organizational priorities into practical implementation plans and measurable results.


• The ability to balance long-term strategic priorities with operational realities while maintaining focus on organizational outcomes.

An equivalent combination of education, training, and progressive leadership experience may be considered.

The successful applicant may be eligible to participate in a Flexible Time Options Program which includes the option of working a 4 or 5-day work week, subject to business requirements.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities in which we live and which we serve. We encourage and support applications from Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minority groups. Candidates who belong to such groups, who are qualified, will be given preference at the time of selection.