Senior Advisor, Program and Learner Support (PGME)

University of Ottawa; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 96,000 - 121,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Ottawa is seeking a Senior Advisor, Program and Learner Support in Ottawa to oversee complex trainee matters, including remediation, accommodations, and probation processes. You will coordinate communications across PGME, legal teams, and external partners to ensure defensible outcomes.

The role requires managing registrations during peak periods, and ensuring compliance with institutional, legal, and accreditation standards within a bilingual academic medical environment.

Qualifications

• Oversees highly complex, high-risk trainee cases including remediation and probation plans.
• Drafts clear, legally defensible communications to trainees and the team.
• Manages trainee registration during peak periods with compliance tasks.

Responsibilities

• Coordinates with CPSO, PARO, and other partners to ensure policy alignment.
• Acts as liaison between PGME and internal/external offices for complex decisions.
• Ensures timely, defensible outcomes in high-stakes trainee matters.

Job description

Posting Reason: New Position

Job Type: Employee

Anticipated Duration in Months (for contracts and temporary assignments): 24

Job Family: Academic Administration

# of Open Positions: 1

Faculty/Service - Department: Postgraduate Medical Education

Campus: Roger Guindon Hall

Union Affiliation: SSUO

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD): 2026/10/22

Hours per week: 35

Salary Grade: SSUO Grade 11

Salary Range: $95,594.00 - $120,750.00

About the Faculty of Medicine

Welcome to the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, the first and largest bilingual medical faculty in Canada. Our learners have access to state-of-the art facilities and specialized institutions as they learn alongside world-class physicians and scientists. Consistently ranked among the top 10 medical schools in Canada, our faculty is among the top faculties of medicine in the world for research impact in biomedical and health sciences.

Position Purpose

Reporting to the Director, PGME, the Senior Advisor, Program and Learner Support, is responsible for the oversight and management of highly complex, high-risk cases for trainees in difficulty. Their responsibilities include the administration of emails, letters and documents relating to remediations, accommodations, probations, suspensions, dismissals, appeals, behavioural contracts and professionalism concerns. They coordinate advice between various internal and external offices, and governing bodies supporting PGME and hold primary accountability for ensuring that complex academic and administrative decisions are defensible, compliant, and aligned with institutional, legal, and accreditation requirements. During peak operational periods, they also complete program registration for the residents, ensuring compliance with requirements from both the university and our clinical partners.

Specific Accountabilities

Management of trainees in difficulty

Oversees a portfolio of highly complex, high-risk cases involving trainees in significant difficulty, including monitoring remediation and probation plans, reassessments, extensions, reinsertions?, behavioural agreements, performance milestones, and critical deadlines to ensure timely, defensible, and policy-compliant outcomes. As a key decision-maker determines when appropriate team members should convene to ratify decisions based on case complexity, urgency, risk, and mandated timelines, applying and interpreting policies and procedures to guide the process. Ensures high-stakes decisions such as suspensions, dismissals, pay instructions, hospital privileges, removal from call schedules are clearly communicated and actioned as required. They enhance the quality of administrative tasks and processes in each of these unique cases, including writing and revising policies, procedures, guidelines and terms of reference documents when required.

Liaises with internal and external legal counsel to determine appropriate and risk-mitigated approaches for managing unique and precedent-setting cases. Drafts clear, precise, and legally defensible communications to trainees, programs, or legal team, including formal notices related to performance, professionalism, remediation, and outcomes, ensuring alignment with institutional policy and legal requirements.

Manages complex cases related to trainee wellness, collaborating with wellness, accommodation, and compensation experts to ensure accurate registration, documentation, and continuity of training. Works closely with accommodation specialists to ensure requirements are appropriately integrated into learning plans and operationalized, and communicated to hospitals, Program Directors and the Director of Academic Support. Coordinates with the Ontario Medical Association Physician Health Program (OMAPHP) to determine appropriate assessments and interventions as required.

Serves as a central strategic liaison and trusted advisor with internal and external partners including the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), Professional Association of Residents of Ontario (PARO), Faculty Affairs, Professional Affairs, Program Directors, Payroll, Wellness Services, Accommodations Specialists, Registration Team, clearly communicating policies, consequences, and outcomes, influencing consistent decision-making and policy application across programs.

Manages high stakes and sensitive professionalism cases, coordinating input and decisions from PGME leadership, legal counsel, and program directors. Synthesizes complex, sensitive information and competing considerations across legal, academic and operational domains to support timely, defensible outcomes and accountable for ensuring decisions are effectively communicated and operationalized.

Management of Trainee Registration

Conducts registration tasks as required during peak periods, including: Enrollment & Compliance; Record Management; Advisory & Certification; Academic