Manager, Career Education

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Job Requisition ID:

2026-02526

Time Type:

Full time

Employee Group:

Staff

Job Category:

Academic Advising

Employment Type:

Temporary

Department:

Co-operative and Experiential Education - Career Education

Hiring Range:

$95,538.29 - $119,422.87

Posting Information:
This posting is for an existing vacancy.

Faculty pairings will include Engineering and Math.

Job Description:

Primary Purpose

The Centre for Career Development strives to support all students in acquiring the capabilities to be purposeful in steering their career. Career development education helps learners make connections between classroom learning and the labour market, supporting their career readiness.The CCD supports students in building self- and labour market awareness, and practicing being purposeful to seek work and learning opportunities and engage resiliently with the changing world of work. The CCD is a thought leader in defining what quality career development learning looks like and enabling its ongoing evolution within the mature and ever-evolving ecosystem of Cooperative and Experiential Education at the University of Waterloo.

The Manager, Career Education oversees the design and delivery of career development education and services for undergraduate students, graduate students and postdocs connected primarily to two of the six faculties. Together with their team, the Manager, Career Education successfully integrates career education into the student experience (academic and co-curricular) of the University of Waterloo.

Alongside career education integration at the faculty level, the Manager, Career Education contributes to the leadership of CCD through activities such as strategic planning, communications, staff management, training and development, collaboration, and project management. Collectively, the CCD leadership oversees the design and implementation of inclusive career education services and programming for all learners.

Key Accountabilities

Lead career services

• Support the Director, CCD to provide overall unit leadership across the department and to continually assess strategies to heighten its impact and sustainability

• Design and execute strategic career development plans to support learner career readiness within areas of oversight

• Contribute to the development of CCD wide strategic plans; ensures areas of oversight complement CCD strategic plan, CEE strategic plan, faculty-specific strategic plans and overall UW strategic plan

• Function as a member of the CCD leadership team; chair meetings and represent department on CEE and campus wide committees as required

• Collaborate with CCD leadership including other managers to ensure complementary service delivery and accessible programming across all populations

• Act as the subject matter expert on both career development and the two faculties overseen; consult across CCD to ensure career development needs across populations are met effectively

• Champion high quality service delivery that meets needs of all learners, including equity-deserving populations

• Stay current on labour market trends, career development theories, work-integrated learning, and relevant research and best practices. Decisions are evidence-based drawing on a combination of relevant literature, service trends/data and learner feedback where applicable

• Work closely with the Director, Centre for Career Development and Manager, Operations to establish and evaluate programmatic outcomes

• Set direction and optimize resourcing across team to meet objectives

• Create and maintain positive working environment for CCD staff in connection with the wider CEE

• Identify and implement continuous improvement measures to enhance unit operations and service delivery

Staff management

• Lead the Career Advisingsteam aligned with areas of oversight, set clear and reasonable expectations, provide ongoing feedback, and establish a solid foundation for performance through comprehensive training

• Contribute to and help team maintain effective work team dynamics

• Manage performance through both formal and informal methods, such as through regular feedback, strengths-based coaching, one-to-ones and the appraisal process

• Responsible for hiring, onboarding, training, offboarding

• Support the motivation of staff to do their best work, ensuring staff have the necessary tools, resources and information

• Tailor approach to meet individualized staff needs, support staff growth trajectory

• Ensure a comprehensive and quality career development learning experience for students that is both tailored to diverse lived experiences and contextually relevant to labour market trends and emerging employer needs

Build and maintain strategic relationships

• Develop productive, collaborative working relationships across CCD, across the CEE portfolio, and across UW

• Build trust with key stakeholders including staff in Co-operative Education, Centre for Work-Integrated Learning, Strategic Enablement Team, Work-Learn Institute; Student Success Office, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, Alumni Relations, Writing & Communications Centre, Registrar’s Office, AccessAbility Services, Library, Centre for Extended Learning, Centre for Teaching Excellence, Organizational & Human Development, Campus Housing, Counselling Services, EDI-R Office, Office of Indigenous Relations, WUSA, SVPRO, Affiliated and Federated Institutions and across the faculties.

• Support the Director to identify and develop strategic partnerships that build the university’s career readiness ecosystem

• Facilitate stakeholder understanding of CCD’s Purposeful Career Readiness strategy and demystify what career development learning includes

• Influence and support the adoption of career education interventions in course, program and faculty curriculum collaborations

• Negotiate career service delivery with stakeholders to ensure an effective, integrative plan and effective service navigation

• Connect nationally with post-secondary career educators to surface opportunities and new approaches

Administration and Project Management

• Lead the identification, development and implementation of projects to advance the career readiness of students across campus

• Contribute to ensuring effective CCD and CEE communications

• Coach staff on content development that aligns with CCD priorities and CEE frameworks (e.g., Purposeful Career Learning Objectives; Future Ready Talent Framework)

• Co-lead initiatives advancing career education and work-integrated learning programming alongside CEE colleagues

• Contribute to the development and revision of departmental processes and procedures

• Chair CCD working groups; set direction, monitor progress and evaluate outcomes of deliverables

Required Qualifications

Education

• University degree required; Master’s degree required (relevant discipline such as leadership, education or counselling preferred)

• Equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered

Experience

• Management experience in a human services setting, preferably in career development

• Experience leading, managing and coaching teams

• Experience developing and implementing effective strategic initiatives in collaboration with others

• Experience building relationships with a variety of stakeholders within a complex environment

• Experience measuring and reporting on program effectiveness

• 5+ years’ experience advising populations in a human services setting; advising clients in a career development role strongly preferred

• Experience designing/delivering programming that is inclusive, accessible and needs-driven; developing career education activities linked to curriculum preferred

• Experience managing and delivering on strategic projects

• Experience operating in an employment counselling, career advising or career counselling setting preferred

• Experience operating within a post-secondary co-operative education and/or experiential education system is an asset

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Knowledge of career development, student development and experiential learning theories

• Knowledge of best practices in advising

• Ability to build trusting relationships with others across complex organizational lines

• Ability to think critically, problem solve and make well-reasoned decisions

• Demonstrated ability to take initiative, function effectively both independently and collaboratively, and be flexible

• Ability to make recommendations to senior leadership on a variety of topics including budget allocation

• Skills in leadership, team development and individual coaching

• Advanced skills in program development

• Excellent active listening, facilitation, writing and oral communication skills

• Strong organizational, prioritization and time management skills

• Awareness of own social location and how it affects power dynamics across reporting relationships

• Highly attuned to trends and directions within labour market, post-secondary education, and business, with a demonstrated globally minded, innovative orientation

• High degree of organizational citizenship and political acumen

Equity Statement

The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is coordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations.

The University values the diverse and intersectional identities of its students, faculty, and staff. The University regards equity and diversity as an integral part of academic excellence and is committed to accessibility for all employees. The University of Waterloo seeks applicants who embrace our values of equity, anti-racism and inclusion.  As such, we encourage applications from candidates who have been historically disadvantaged and marginalized, including applicants who identify as First Nations, Métis and/or Inuk (Inuit), Black, racialized, a person with a disability, women and/or 2SLGBTQ+.

Positions are open to qualified candidates who are legally entitled to work in Canada.

The University of Waterloo is committed to accessibility for persons with disabilities. If you have any application, interview, or workplace accommodation requests, please contact Human Resources at [email protected] or 519-888-4567, ext. 45935.