Senior Manager, People Development & Labour Relations

WISH Drop-In Centre Society; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 93,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid vacation

Wellness hours

Health and dental benefits

Job summary

WISH Drop-In Centre Society in Vancouver, BC, seeks a Senior Manager, People Development & Labour Relations to coach five Program Managers and strengthen HR practices within a unionized, harm-reduction oriented non‑profit. You will steer coaching, handle collective agreements, and contribute to leadership decisions at the Senior Leadership Team level.

The role emphasizes transformative people development, labour relations leadership, and strategic HR work across operations, budgets, and incident

Qualifications

• Experience developing managers or supervisors, not just frontline staff.
• Strong understanding of foundational HR principles and labour relations.
• Comfortable coaching people through tough conversations.
• Ability to hold accountability while maintaining trust.
• Support for sex workers’ rights within an intersectional feminist, decolonial and anti-racist framework.

Responsibilities

• Provide structured 1:1 coaching to five Program Managers, building individualized development plans.
• Guide Program Managers through the Collective Agreement, discipline processes, and grievances, with support from the People and Culture team.
• Represent Management in labour relations matters related to direct services.
• Sit on the Senior Leadership Team, shaping organization-wide strategy and HR practices.
• Step in on operations, budgets, and critical incidents when needed.

Skills

Manager development

HR principles

Coaching conversations

Accountability with trust

Sex workers’ rights advocacy

Job description

See the linked job description for a full list of responsibilities and qualifications:

Staff Overseen: ~50 unionized frontline staff + ~30 volunteers

Employment: Full-time, permanent — excluded management position

Location: Vancouver, BC — Downtown Eastside

Shaping skilled practitioners into exceptional leaders

WISH Drop-In Centre Society is Canada’s largest sex worker support organization, working on the frontlines of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for over 40 years.

WISH’s programs are delivered by skilled unionized staff who are supported by five Program Managers. These Managers are experts in their programs and are seasoned practitioners in harm reduction, trauma-informed care, and emergency response. We are seeking a coach who can help them grow further as confident, capable people-leaders. That’s what the Senior Manager, People Development & Labour Relations (“Senior Manager”) will do.

The Senior Manager will have real autonomy in this role, building coaching frameworks, training approaches, and management practices that don’t yet exist.

What you’ll do

• Provide structured 1 : 1 coaching to five Program Managers, building individualized development plans
• Guide Program Managers through the Collective Agreement, discipline processes, and grievances, with support from the People and Culture team
• Represent Management in labour relations matters related to direct services
• Sit on the Senior Leadership Team, shaping organization-wide strategy and HR practices
• Step in on operations, budgets, and critical incidents when needed

What you bring

• A track record of developing managers or supervisors (not just managing front line staff directly)
• A strong grasp of foundational HR principles and labour relations
• Comfortable coaching people through tough conversations
• Confidence holding accountability while maintaining trust
• Support for sex workers’ rights within an intersectional feminist framework that is decolonial and anti-racist

A non-profit background isn’t required. Leadership and labour relations experience from corporate, government, healthcare, or elsewhere transfers well. What matters is your ability to develop people and lead fairly in a unionized environment.

Salary: $93,000 to $95,000 per year, commensurate with experience.

Benefits: 4 weeks paid vacation, 100 wellness hours, 100% employer-paid health and dental benefits, including life insurance, AD&D, and Long-Term Disability, available immediately.

Location: Vancouver, Downtown Eastside, on-site, with flexibility to work from home roughly 8 hours a week.

Hours: 8-hour days, M-F, typically between 10 am and 7 pm with some flexibility. Occasional late evening, overnight or weekend availability will be required to support operations or respond to emergencies.

Closing date: Open until filled.

WISH is committed to equitable hiring and to building a team that reflects the communities we serve. We especially encourage applications from Indigenous, Two Spirit, Black, and racialized women and gender diverse people, and those with experience in sex work.

WISH is mandated to require a criminal record check for employees. Records relating to sex work, substance use or poverty-related criminalized activity are not relevant to this position and will not be considered.