Director, People & Culture

The role

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Director, People & Culture is an enterprise leader accountable for translating RECO's strategy into an integrated people, organization and culture agenda. The Director partners with the CEO, Executive Leadership Team and people leaders to ensure RECO has the leadership, capabilities, structure, culture and workforce capacity required to deliver its mandate and strategic priorities.

The role sets the strategic direction for the Human Resources function and leads enterprise priorities across workforce planning, organizational effectiveness, culture and engagement, leadership and talent, performance and succession, total rewards, employee relations, people governance, analytics and technology. The Director provides evidence-based advice on workforce risks and investments, leads organizational change, ensures disciplined execution through the HR team and specialist partners, and may support the Board and Board committees on people and governance matters as required.

Position responsibilities

Strategic People & Culture Leadership

• Develops and executes a multi-year People & Culture strategy aligned with RECO's corporate strategy, mandate and business priorities.
• Translates enterprise priorities into clear people, workforce and culture outcomes, roadmaps, measures and accountabilities.
• Acts as a trusted advisor to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team on organizational implications, people risks, leadership effectiveness and strategic workforce investments.
• Monitors external workforce, labour market and regulatory trends and recommends proactive actions to strengthen organizational readiness.

Workforce Planning & Organizational Effectiveness

• Leads enterprise workforce planning to identify critical roles, future capabilities, capacity requirements, succession risk and talent dependencies.
• Advises on organizational design, role clarity, spans and layers, operating models and workforce deployment to improve effectiveness and accountability.
• Uses scenario planning and workforce data to inform headcount, capability and resource decisions over the short and long term.
• Partners with leaders to identify and execute workforce actions including build, buy, borrow, redeploy, reskill and succession strategies.

Leadership, Culture & Capability

• Shapes and advances RECO's culture, values and leadership expectations, ensuring they are embedded in everyday behaviours, decisions and people practices.
• Establishes an enterprise leadership and capability strategy that strengthens current performance and builds future-ready skills.
• Sponsors leadership development, learning priorities and targeted capability-building based on organizational needs and evidence.
• Uses employee listening, engagement insights and organizational diagnostics to identify culture opportunities and guide action.

Talent Strategy & Acquisition

• Sets the enterprise talent strategy to attract, assess, select, onboard and retain talent aligned with RECO's current and future needs.
• Builds sustainable talent pipelines and internal mobility approaches for critical and hard-to-fill capabilities.
• Ensures recruitment practices support quality of hire, candidate experience, fairness, efficiency and organizational values.
• Uses talent market intelligence and recruitment analytics to inform workforce decisions and continuously improve outcomes.
• Builds relationships with other regulators and delegated administrative authorities to identify leading practices and opportunities for collaboration.
• Represents RECO in sector and regulatory forums relating to education, competency and professional standards.
• Sponsors or leads significant procurement, partnership and service-delivery decisions for the education portfolio in accordance with organizational authorities and governance requirements.

Performance, Succession & Talent Management

• Leads enterprise performance management and talent review processes that reinforce clear expectations, accountability, feedback and differentiated performance.
• Establishes succession and talent management frameworks for critical roles, leadership continuity and high-potential talent.
• Ensures development planning and career growth are connected to organizational capability needs and succession priorities.
• Provides executive-level insights on talent health, performance trends, succession depth and organizational capability gaps.

Employee Experience, Engagement & Employee Relations

• Sets the strategy for employee experience and engagement, using evidence and feedback to strengthen trust, effectiveness and retention.
• Provides strategic guidance to leaders on complex employee relations, performance, workplace issues and organizational change, escalating material risks as appropriate.
• Ensures employee relations practices are fair, consistent, timely and aligned with RECO's values, policies and legal obligations.
• Oversees sensitive investigations and workplace matters through the HR team, legal counsel or external specialists as appropriate.

Total Rewards & Workforce Sustainability

• Leads the strategic direction for compensation, benefits, recognition and related reward programs to support attraction, retention, performance and financial sustainability.
• Ensures compensation structures and variable pay approaches are market-informed, equitable, governed and aligned with organizational priorities.
• Advises executive leadership on reward strategy, workforce cost implications and material changes to compensation or benefit programs.
• Oversees the effective administration and governance of total rewards programs through internal and external partners.

People Technology, Analytics & Operational Excellence

• Sets the roadmap for people technology and HR digital modernization, including HRIS, talent systems, automation and employee or leader self-service.
• Establishes people metrics and analytics that provide meaningful insight into workforce health, talent outcomes, organizational risk and progress against strategy.
• Drives simplification, standardization and continuous improvement of HR processes, service models and controls.
• Ensures appropriate governance of people data, records, privacy, reporting and system integrity.

Governance, Risk & Employment Framework

• Maintains an effective people governance framework, including policies, delegated authorities, employment practices and risk controls.
• Ensures RECO meets applicable employment, human rights, accessibility, occupational health and safety, pay equity, privacy and related obligations, working with legal and specialist advisors as required.
• Identifies and escalates material people, culture and workforce risks and develops practical mitigation strategies.
• Supports executive and Board-level people governance matters, including succession and CEO performance processes, as required.

HR Function Leadership & Change Enablement

• Leads, develops and enables a high-performing HR team with clear accountabilities, strong business partnership and the capabilities required to deliver the People & Culture strategy.
• Establishes the HR operating plan, budget, service expectations, priorities and performance measures, and ensures disciplined delivery against commitments.
• Leads or sponsors enterprise change initiatives where workforce, leadership, culture or organizational effectiveness are critical to success.
• Selects and manages external partners and specialist resources where additional expertise or capacity is required.

Qualifications and experience

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and experience in business, management, organizational development, public administration, human resources or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience, including experience leading enterprise people, organizational, talent, transformation, corporate services or related strategic initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a trusted advisor to senior executives and translate organizational strategy into workforce, capability, culture and organizational actions.
• Strong strategic planning, organizational effectiveness, change leadership and stakeholder management capability, with experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives.
• Broad working knowledge of contemporary people practices, including workforce planning, talent, performance, succession, employee experience, total rewards and employee relations; depth may be developed through HR leadership or adjacent strategic leadership roles.
• Sound understanding of employment-related risk and governance, with the judgment to engage legal counsel or specialist expertise where required.
• Strong business and financial acumen, including the ability to assess workforce investments, trade-offs, organizational risk and return on people initiatives.
• Demonstrated use of data, analytics and technology to inform decisions, measure outcomes and improve organizational effectiveness.
• Exceptional executive communication, facilitation, influence and relationship-building skills, with the ability to navigate ambiguity and constructively challenge at senior levels.
• Experience leading, developing and enabling high-performing teams and building effective partnerships across functions and levels.
• A professional Human Resources designation such as CHRL or CHRE, formal HR education, or HR functional experience is considered an asset
• Knowledge of TRESA and Ontario’s real estate regulatory environment is considered an asset.
• Knowledge of Ontario Public Service (OPS) or Broader Public Sector (BPS) is considered an asset.

Core competencies

• Strategic Thinking & Business Acumen
• Change Leadership & Transformation
• Influence & Communication
• Leadership & Talent Development
• Accountability & Results Orientation

Pay Range 142000 - 177110 CAD