Lead Project Manager

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Posting Reason:

New Position

Job Type:

Employee

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

24

Job Family:

Project Management

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service - Department:

Project Management

Campus:

Main Campus

Union Affiliation:

N/A

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/10/30

Applications must be received BEFORE (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/11/23

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

Non-Union Grade NM1

Salary Range:

$107,503.00 - $134,379.00About the faculty/service: Facilities

Facilities services are characterized by a dynamic and creative growing team where the winds of change are blowing, offering people like you opportunities to use your leadership and innovation skills to contribute to the achievement of their inspiring mission: to deliver best in class research infrastructure, reshape campus life and student experience, and provide a sustainable environment for students, researchers, teachers and community.

uOttawa’s facilities encompass three main sites that are comprised of over 600,000 square meters of building space (over 6.4 million square feet), 42.5 hectares of grounds, 125 buildings and 4,500 beds in 11 residences. There are over 150 employees in Facilities, including Project Managers, Energy and Commissioning Specialists, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, Architects, and space Planners. The facilities capital and operating expenditures are in the range of $100M for the University’s $2.0 billion assets under management. The 20-year Capital spending plan envisions $4.0 billion of new investment highlighted by uOttawa launch of project Top Shelf, a $300 million capital investment to build a new facility for the Faculty of Health Sciences at uOttawa’s River Campus, as well as a tower at the Roger Guidon campus to house uOttawa’s new Advanced Medical Research Center (AMRC).

Position purpose:
The Lead Project Manager, Project Management is responsible and accountable for the successful delivery of assigned projects within budget, on schedule, and in accordance with the approved scope, applicable government codes and regulations, and established project management methodologies. The position also contributes to the successful advancement of the overall program by working collaboratively with counterparts in Facilities services planning and operations departments and by leading defined components and workstreams within assigned projects.

Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary project teams within a matrix organizational structure, providing direction and accountability for project deliverables while working collaboratively with functional managers and clients. Build effective team relationships, align resources and priorities with project requirements, and facilitate collaboration across functional areas to achieve project objectives.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Project Management: Manage and coordinate the delivery of assigned projects throughout all stages of the project life cycle, from initiation through planning, design, procurement, construction, commissioning and close-out. Ensure project objectives, scope, schedule, budget, quality and performance requirements are achieved. Establish and maintain project plans, schedules, deliverables and controls, and proactively identify, assess, and manage project risks, issues, dependencies and opportunities. Resolve issues within delegated authority and escalate complex or material matters to the Senior Manager, Project Management, with recommendations for resolution.
• Project Development: Lead the development and planning of assigned projects to establish a clear and achievable basis for delivery. Direct and coordinate the preparation of business cases, studies, designs, plans, specifications, schedules and cost estimates, as appropriate to the project stage. Work with clients and stakeholders to establish project objectives, priorities, scope, deliverables and success criteria, and translate these requirements into integrated project work plans and schedules.  In addition, prepare comprehensive project charters used to formulate the basis of agreement on project objectives, goals, and desired outcomes.  
• Stakeholder Relationship: Establish and maintain effective working relationships with clients, project sponsors, vendors, internal stakeholders and project team members. Proactively communicate project status, risks, issues, decisions and emerging requirements to ensure stakeholders are appropriately informed and engaged. Facilitate the resolution of competing priorities and requirements, and develop, evaluate and negotiate options and alternative solutions to support successful project outcomes. Foster effective collaboration between project delivery teams and operational stakeholders to facilitate a coordinated transition into operations.
• Contract and Performance Management: Monitor project progress according to contract requirements and ensure proper follow-up is made with vendors. Manage within key performance indicators and other tools to closely monitor and reinforce contract requirements with the support of professional consultants. Monitor the performance of vendors and reinforce contract requirements to ensure the terms of contracts are fulfilled. Complete and submit vendor evaluation as recommended by Procurement. With the support of the Senior Manager, Project Management, protect the University’s interests and execute mitigation plans with non-compliant service providers and approve invoices in accordance with project requirements and terms of contracts.
• Scope, Change, Risk and Issue Management:  Establish and maintain effective processes for managing project scope, changes, risks and issues. Assess proposed changes for their impact on scope, cost, schedule, quality, risk and project objectives, and ensure changes are appropriately documented, approved and incorporated into project plans and controls. Maintain current risk and issue registers and implement mitigation and contingency measures to minimize impacts on project outcomes. Escalate significant changes, risks and issues in accordance with established governance and delegated authorities
• Financial Management and Procurement: Develop and maintain project budgets, cost plans and financial forecasts appropriate to the project stage. Accountable for integrity of the budget allocated to the project, to this end responsible to monitor project expenditures, commitments, cash flow and forecasts to ensure projects remain within approved funding and financial parameters. Lead the preparation and updating of cost estimates and budgets, provide regular financial reporting, and identify and address emerging cost pressures. Initiate and manage requests for proposals, tenders and other competitive procurement processes in accordance with University policies and applicable procurement requirements and oversee the procurement process through contract award.

• Governance, Compliance, and Quality: Ensure projects are delivered in accordance with project management methodologies, University policies, applicable legislation, codes, standards and regulatory requirements. Ensure appropriate project documentation, approvals, reporting and decision records are maintained in the uOttawa file management system throughout the project life cycle. Monitor compliance with applicable occupational health and safety, hazardous materials and other regulatory requirements, and ensure appropriate corrective action is taken where deficiencies are identified.
• Project Reporting and Controls: Establish and maintain appropriate project controls to monitor and report project performance against approved scope, schedule, budget, quality, risk and key milestones. Prepare regular project status reports, forecasts and decision materials for project sponsors, governance committees and senior management. Provide timely and accurate information to support informed decision-making and ensure emerging risks, issues, variances and required decisions are clearly identified and communicated.
• Project Close-Out and Handover: Lead project close-out activities to ensure that all project deliverables have been completed and accepted, contractual and financial obligations have been satisfied, deficiencies and outstanding issues have been resolved, and required documentation has been completed. Coordinate the orderly handover of completed facilities, systems and documentation to the Facilities Service operations department and the client. Ensure lessons learned, warranties, as-built documentation, commissioning records and other close-out requirements are captured and appropriately transferred to operations department and uOttawa file management system.

What you will bring:

• Post-secondary certification or technology diploma in Engineering, Architecture, or Project Management or a relevant combination of education and experience
• Minimum 7 years of relevant experience in construction project management
• PMP designation or equivalent accreditation, considered an asset
• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary project teams without necessarily having direct supervisory authority, effectively coordinating resources, resolving competing priorities and maintaining accountability for project outcomes.
• Strong ability to develop and manage integrated project plans, schedules, budgets and controls, and to identify and address variances, risks, issues and emerging project impacts.
• Knowledge and experience in contract administration.
• Ability to assess complex issues, evaluate alternatives, anticipate project impacts, and escalate matters appropriately.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgement, accountability for outcomes, manage competing priorities, maintain integrity and transparency, and consistently deliver projects in accordance with organizational objectives, governance requirements and applicable standards.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills, with a proven ability to understand client needs, manage expectations, resolve issues effectively, and deliver high-quality service.
• Self-motivated, self-starter, proactive with ability to multi-task;
• Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written)

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Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact [email protected] to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.