Red Cross Canada

Senior Manager, Public Policy & Strategic Initiatives

Reports to: Director, Government Relations & Health Promotion

Department: Mission

Location: Vancouver, BC

Status: Permanent; Full-time

Life. We don’t want you to miss it.™  That’s why Heart & Stroke leads the fight against heart disease and stroke. Powered by donors and volunteers, we fund life-saving research and help Canadians lead healthier lives.

Heart & Stroke is a health charity active in communities across the country. We are sustained by the commitment and generosity of more than 100,000 volunteers and more than 1.4 million donors.

The Opportunity

We are seeking a flexible, interpersonal, and organized professional for the position of Senior Manager, Public Policy & Strategic Initiatives in our BC Provincial Office. The Senior Manager provides leadership, advice, guidance, communications and implementation support to policy initiatives and strategic portfolios. The position provides direct support to senior management, contractors, project teams, and budgets. The role also involves representing Heart & Stroke at external forums, on coalitions, in government settings, and/or in community settings. Most of this position’s portfolio will involve advocacy, system change, and government relation projects pertaining to: a) women’s health b) nutrition policy and, c) indigenous health. Significant experience with and a passion for public policy, advocacy, health care and research system change, and addressing disease prevention “upstream” are necessary for the success of this role.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Advice and Initiative Development:

• Development, implementation, evaluation, and communications of a range of strategy, policy, partnerships, and disease prevention initiatives
• Provides strategic, expert advice to executive, senior management, and key stakeholders
• Provides advisory, development, communications and implementation support to advocacy, government relations, system change, and prevention initiatives
• Leads, coordinates, or participates in research initiatives designed to support Heart & Stroke’s policy, advocacy, government relations, system change, and prevention initiatives
• Coordinates activities, knowledge exchange, advice-sharing, and information with staff and partner organizations
• Identifies and monitors issues, analyzes developments, and researches various levels of government policies, processes, and promising practices

Public Policy and Government Relations:

• Undertakes and/or oversees the research and preparation of briefings, briefing notes, reports, publications, strategies, and presentations pertaining to healthy public policy
• Attends and summarizes and/or oversees the documentation of advocacy/government relations meetings, and provides follow-up
• Meets with Members of Parliament, Members of the BC Legislature, and/or other government officials, facilitates involvement of Heart & Stroke’s stakeholders in government relations meetings
• Supports the development, implementation and evaluation of government relations and policy advocacy strategic plans and tactical plans

External Relations:

• Leads the writing of: project plans, evaluation plans, funding proposals, reports, letters, and other strategic communication products to effectively engage stakeholders
• Supports local, regional, provincial, and national stakeholder engagement activities and processes to engage health system, research, and policy development/advocacy partners
• Prepares/oversees/participates the preparation and delivery of and presentations to diverse audiences
• Leads or participates on relevant external committees and working groups
• Builds and maintains effective working relationships within external partners (government agencies, peer NGOs, funders, community groups, etc.)
• Forges and cultivates strategic alliances to support optimal implementation of strategic plan and related ops plans

Management:

• Provides direction and work priorities, including holding regular meetings and providing input, to the Director in finalizing performance feedback to the team
• Provides direction to a team of contractors with diverse expertise, including selection, coaching, training and development, and providing feedback
• Develops policies, procedures, business processes, etc.
• Supports the implementation of quality standards and appropriate processes in the work of the team
• Develops, produces, tracks, and monitors work plans, project plans, budgets, forecasts, analysis, documentation, etc.
• Assesses and manages/minimizes risk
• Performs other related duties as assigned

Qualifications

• University Degree in a related field such as Public Health, Political or Social Science, Health or Public Administration or Management, or an equivalent combination of education and work experience
• At least 5 years of recent, related experience, including a previous leadership role
• Excellent writing and verbal communications/presentation skills
• Able to synthesize, assess, and analyzes large volumes of information
• Strategic and tactical thinking, ability to understand multiple perspectives
• Excellent sense of teamwork/collaboration; strong interpersonal skills,
• Adaptable/flexible to environments, priorities, unexpected changes, and diverse people
• Proactive, motivated, self-directed, organized, and responsible
• Demonstrated ability to problem solve, think outside the box, and find creative solutions
• Sound project-management and finance tracking skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Maintains confidentiality and adheres to organizational policies and procedures
• Cultural humility, self- awareness, and experience working in a diversity of settings would be an asset

Applying

If you have the qualifications and share our passion for our mission, we invite you to forward your resume, cover letter, and salary expectations to careers@hsf.ab.ca immediately. Please include the reference number SMPP2018BC and your name (first and last) in the subject line of your email. This posting will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.

We thank all applicants for their interest however, due to volume, we can only contact those selected for interviews.

Candidates from diverse groups are encouraged to apply. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, barrier-free and accessible environment. If you have been contacted for an interview and require an accommodation due to disability to participate in the recruitment and selection process, please advise and we will work with you to meet your needs.

Learn more and get involved with Heart and Stroke at www.heartandstroke.ca