People & Culture Specialist

Ombudsman; Toronto; On-site; CAD 77,000 - 93,000; Full time

Job summary

Office of the Ontario Ombudsman is seeking a People and Culture Specialist to own recruitment end-to-end and contribute to broader talent initiatives. You will manage multiple competitions, build pipelines, advise managers, coordinate onboarding, and support performance and development processes.

You will report to the Manager, People & Culture Relationship. This role requires collaboration with senior leaders and a strong understanding of HR best practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in HR Management, Business Administration or related field.
• 4–6 years of progressive HR experience with full-cycle recruitment.
• Experience with onboarding, performance management, and talent development.
• Strong stakeholder-management, organization, and judgement.
• Knowledge of recruitment best practices, privacy, and employment legislation.
• Proficient in Microsoft 365, esp. Excel for tracking and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Lead full-cycle recruitment, including intake, posting, sourcing, screening, interviewing, assessments, references, offers and candidate communications.
• Advise managers on recruitment strategy, candidate markets and hiring timelines.
• Build candidate pipelines using LinkedIn Recruiter and networks.
• Coordinate preboarding and onboarding processes.
• Support performance management and talent development initiatives.
• Administer ADP Workforce Now for recruitment and onboarding.
• Track recruitment metrics and improve candidate experience and data quality.
• Contribute to inclusive recruitment and People and Culture priorities.

Skills

Full-cycle recruitment

Onboarding & talent management

Stakeholder management

MS 365 / Excel

Bilingual English/French preferred

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR Management / related field

Tools

ADP Workforce Now

LinkedIn Recruiter

Microsoft 365 / Excel

Job description

Salary Range: $77,128.00 To $92,553.00 Annually

Union Affiliation: Excluded

Hiring Range:$77,128 - $ 92,553

Vacancy Status: This posting is for an existing vacancy in our office.

The Ombudsman is an independent, non-partisan Officer of the Ontario Legislature whose role is to ensure that the provincial government and broader public sector serve people fairly, transparently, and respectfully.

The Office of the Ontario Ombudsman reviews and resolves complaints about the administrative decisions and actions of more than 1,000 public sector and government bodies, in addition to French language services and the child protection sector.

About the role

We are looking for a People and Culture Specialist who can own recruitment from beginning to end while also contributing to the broader talent lifecycle. This role is well suited to an experienced recruiter who has moved beyond transactional hiring and is comfortable working with managers and senior leaders on onboarding, performance, development and talent initiatives.

You will manage multiple competitions, build candidate pipelines, advise hiring managers, coordinate onboarding, support performance and talent-management processes, administer related systems and vendors, and help improve how the Office attracts, develops and retains talent.

This position will report directly to the Manager, People & Culture Relationship.

Key responsibilities

• Lead full-cycle recruitment, including intake meetings, posting, sourcing, screening, interviewing, assessments, references, offers and candidate communications.
• Advise hiring managers and senior leaders on recruitment strategy, selection methods, candidate markets and hiring timelines.
• Build and maintain candidate pipelines using LinkedIn Recruiter, professional networks, outreach and other sourcing channels.
• Coordinate preboarding and onboarding, including documentation, system set-up, orientation, mandatory training and hiring‑manager communications.
• Support performance‑management, talent‑review, employee‑development, learning and organizational‑development initiatives.
• Administer ADP Workforce Now processes relevant to the role and maintain accurate recruitment, onboarding and employee information.
• Administer recruitment and talent tools, including assessment, reference‑checking and learning platforms, and manage related vendor contacts.
• Track recruitment and talent activity, prepare reports and identify opportunities to improve candidate experience, process efficiency and data quality.
• Contribute to inclusive recruitment, employee experience and other People and Culture priorities.

What you bring

Required skills and competencies

• A bachelor's degree in Human Resources Management, Business Administration or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Approximately 4-6 years of progressive HR experience, with substantial hands‑on responsibility for full‑cycle recruitment and talent acquisition.
• Experience supporting broader talent‑management work such as onboarding, performance management, employee development, learning or organizational development.
• Strong judgement, organization and stakeholder‑management skills, with the ability to manage multiple competitions and projects at the same time.
• Sound knowledge of recruitment best practices, equitable selection, employment legislation and privacy requirements.
• Strong Microsoft 365 skills, including Excel for tracking, reporting and analysis.

Bilingual English/French is strongly preferred. The ability to communicate effectively with candidates and stakeholders and to support recruitment activity in both languages will be given significant consideration.

Preferred qualifications

• Hands‑on ADP Workforce Now experience, especially with Recruitment, Onboarding, Performance, Reporting and/or Time and Attendance/Labour functionality.
• Experience with LinkedIn Recruiter and other applicant tracking, assessment, automated reference‑checking or learning platforms.
• Experience in the public sector, broader public sector, an agency, regulator or another complex environment; unionized‑environment experience is also an asset.
• CHRP/CHRL designation or progress toward a recognized Human Resources designation.
• Experience recruiting professional, specialized and management‑level positions.

Why consider this opportunity?

This is an opportunity to work as part of a small, experienced People and Culture team where the recruitment function is closely connected to onboarding, employee development and organizational priorities. The role has meaningful ownership, direct access to hiring leaders and the opportunity to improve both day‑to‑day recruitment and broader talent practices.

Internal mobility is an important part of how we build capability across the Office. Your experience, institutional knowledge, and commitment to our mandate are valued and make a difference.

We are committed to reconciliation, equality, diversity and inclusion, and accessibility, and to fostering an environment where everyone feels they belong.