Opportunity Profile

Director of Strategic Initiatives

Executive Level - Regular Full Time

Opportunity Profile

Director of Strategic Initiatives

Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) is looking for a Director of Strategic Initiatives to oversee Tsawwassen First Nation’s (TFN) strategic relationships, talent development and communications capacities.  This important role provides the Tsawwassen Government with sound management and stewardship of critical strategic initiatives.

Reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), the Director of Strategic Initiatives is responsible for coordinating proactive, leading-edge initiatives, identifying emerging trends, enhancing existing areas of activity, and incubating new opportunities to improve TFN’s government profile on a local, national and international level. The Director of Strategic Initiatives will also look at opportunities to advance Tsawwassen First Nation’s opportunities as a self-governing First Nation. 

As an integral part of the Executive Leadership team, the Director of Strategic Initiatives will work collaboratively with other Tsawwassen Government departments and, at the direction of the CAO, the Chief and Executive Council, advance TFN’s strategic interests. 

The Director will be expected to leverage their advanced communication and interpersonal skills to build mutually beneficial working relationships with a view to achieving the Tsawwassen Government’s goals and objectives, including the long-term goals in TFN’s five-year strategic plan and other strategic priorities identified by TFN Executive Council. The Director will represent TFN in various capacities and lead negotiations with other governments and external partners.  The Manager will provide strategic advice to other departments, senior managers, and elected officials, and will oversee the advancement of treaty stewardship aspirations, including the policy basis for related new laws and regulations.

Responsibilities include:

• Reviews, collaboratively develops and maintains strategic policies and procedures to establish and enhance the TFN government’s presence as a Treaty Nation
• Develops, manages and delivers corporate communications and public relations strategies that advance Council’s priorities and TFN’s initiatives and programs
• Provides time-sensitive advice to elected officials and staff on high-profile issues
• Stays current with emerging issues affecting the government, Executive Council, the TFN Community and staff
• Helps with other corporate legislative functions, initiatives and projects.
• Works with governments, Indigenous partners, industries, and others to support ambitious policies, address barriers, and catalyze, accelerate, and scale innovation to strengthen an equitable and resilient community for current and future generations
• Develops strategies, policies and plans, including approach, objectives, delivery models, resourcing and revenue plans
• Performs internal control and risk assessments on new or existing strategic projects or initiatives and provides recommendations for mitigating risk
• Leads employer branding initiatives and proactively plans for improving TFN’s public profile.
• Oversees talent attraction, development and retention strategies with a goal to becoming an employer of choice
• Develop leading strategies around education and skill development for TFN members
• Aligns the government’s service needs with its strategic plan and both short- and long-term vision to help the Nation grow relationships through social media
• Leads managers in ensuring day-to-day functions are completed efficiently including the oversight of targeted programs and payments, reporting analysis and budgeting
• Plans, develops and implements organization wide internal business software systems and leads the coordination of the implementation of new organizational processes
• Participates in and/or leads ongoing system sustainability initiatives
• Maintains documentation for the maintenance, implementation and communication of business processes and training materials for any updates in business processes 

• Prepares reports, analyses, business cases, briefing notes and other ad-hoc presentations pertaining to short- and long-term strategic plans
• Supports development of strategic plans, models of care and frameworks and evaluation strategies to support the advancement of key TFN priorities
• Manages high priority projects and interventions through all stages including initiation, planning, execution and monitoring, transition and maintenance

Required Experience & Knowledge

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Management or a related field of study with a minimum of seven (7) to ten (10) years of post-designation experience ideally with a combination of public practice and industry experience, or an equivalent combination of education and/or training
• Good business sense and solid understanding of best practices as well as familiarity with transactional, reporting and budgeting best practices
• Experience in business or government administration policy writing, business process documentation and analysis are assets
• Thorough knowledge of communications policies and practices within a public administration environment
• Keen awareness of social media trends and their potential applicability to local government.
• Knowledge of federal, provincial and local government legislation and legislative processes

Working Relationships 

The Director of Strategic Initiatives reports directly to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) with projected direct reports of three Managers who oversee their respective teams and an administrator to provide executive assistance. The number of reports and distribution of tasks may vary to reflect business needs within a rapidly growing government and community.

Wages:  $176,553 to $197,330 per annum commensurate with qualifications with excellent benefits including enrolment in the BC Municipal Pension Plan.

We wish to thank all applicants for their interest; however, only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interview. 

Pursuant to the Tsawwassen First Nation Government Employees Act, first priority in hiring among qualified applicants will be given to Tsawwassen Members, second priority to spouses (as defined in s. 3 (1) of the BC Family Law Act) of Tsawwassen Members, and third priority to members of other First Nations. If you fall within one of these categories and you wish to have this voluntary information considered as part of your application, please indicate the applicable category in your cover letter.