Senior Advisor, Executive Operations

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Posting Reason:

New Position

Job Type:

Employee

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

N/A

Job Family:

Business Operations

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service - Department:

Strategic Planning and Implementation

Campus:

Roger Guindon Hall

Union Affiliation:

SSUO

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/11/12

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

2026/11/23

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

SSUO Grade 11

Salary Range:

$95,594.00 - $120,750.00

About the Faculty of Medicine
Welcome to the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, the first and largest bilingual medical faculty in Canada. Our learners have access to state-of-the art facilities and specialized institutions as they learn alongside world-class physicians and scientists. Consistently ranked among the top 10 medical schools in Canada, our faculty is among the top faculties of medicine in the world for research impact in biomedical and health sciences.

Position Purpose:

Directs and coordinates the executive operations, administrative systems and priority-management functions of the Office of the Dean, Faculty of Medicine, to ensure the Dean is supported in carrying out institutional, Faculty, academic, research, clinical partnership and external leadership responsibilities. Establishes and maintains effective communication channels between the Dean, members of the Faculty’s executive and senior leadership teams, central administration, academic units, affiliated hospitals, research institutes, learners, external partners and other key interested parties. Provides advice and strategic counsel to the Dean on emerging issues, priorities, opportunities, risks and matters requiring action or decision.

Oversees coordination of the Dean’s agendas, commitments, projects and follow-up items in a way that supports effective execution and alignment across the Dean’s Office. Anticipates issues and developments that may affect the Dean’s responsibilities and the Faculty’s priorities, synthesizes relevant information and perspectives, and develops options, recommendations and proposed courses of action to support informed decision-making and effective leadership.

Develops, implements and monitors operational plans, business processes, briefing systems, executive tracking tools and project coordination frameworks that support the Dean’s day-to-day leadership role and ensure timely execution of decisions and commitments. Conducts analyses, prepares recommendations, coordinates decision-making processes, manages priority follow-up, and supports the responsible use of resources within the Dean’s Office.

 

Specific Accountabilities:

• Dean’s Office leadership and operations: Provides advice and strategic counsel to the Dean while leading and monitoring all operational activities of the Office of the Dean to ensure that the Dean’s priorities, activities, commitments and mandates are executed effectively, consistently and professionally. Anticipates emerging issues and opportunities, identifies matters requiring the Dean’s attention, and provides analysis, options and recommendations to support the Dean’s decision-making and leadership.  Coordinates workflows, deadlines, decision points and follow-up mechanisms to support the Dean’s leadership role across the Faculty of Medicine and within the broader University of Ottawa environment.
• Project Management: Develops and manages complex projects and initiatives that are both independently identified to meet business and strategic needs or are assigned by the Dean that require cross-functional follow-up, issue resolution, stakeholder coordination or executive tracking. Develops project proposals, workplans, timelines, briefing materials, risk logs, action trackers and implementation support for Dean-led operational priorities. Ensures alignment with applicable Faculty strategic plans and institutional priorities as defined by the Dean and the Director, Strategic Planning and Implementation.
• Governance & Committees: Oversees planning, coordination and follow-up for committees, working groups, retreats and executive meetings chaired or supported by the Dean, including senior leadership and Faculty governance bodies. Ensures agendas are strategically sequenced, materials are prepared, decisions are documented, action items are tracked, and related approvals or escalations are completed through the appropriate institutional channels.
• Continuous Improvement: Develops, implements and evaluates processes, procedures, templates, tracking tools and operational standards that strengthen the efficiency, reliability and professionalism of the Dean’s Office. Identifies operational gaps, recommends improvements and implements practical systems to reduce duplication, clarify accountabilities and improve service to the Dean, senior leadership and stakeholders.
• Issue management and risk coordination: Monitors emerging issues, deadlines, reputational risks and sensitive matters affecting the Dean’s Office and the Faculty of Medicine. Provides the Dean with timely intelligence, analysis and advice on emerging issues, stakeholder perspectives, opportunities, concerns and matters requiring attention or intervention.  Anticipates implications and recommends appropriate approaches or courses of action to support the Dean’s priorities, relationships and strategic initiatives. Exercises sound judgement and discretion to determine urgency, coordinate responses, escalate issues when required, and ensure that appropriate stakeholders are engaged in a timely and professional manner.
• Resource stewardship and office coordination: Supports the planning and management of the human, financial, physical and informational resources required for the Dean’s Office to operate effectively. Supervises administrative or project support staff, assign work, establish priorities, monitor deliverables, provide guidance and support performance management processes in collaboration with the appropriate manager or HR partner.
• Liaison and stakeholder coordination: Acts as a key liaison between the Dean and internal and external stakeholders, including Vice-Deans, Associate and Assistant Deans, department chairs, directors, Chief Administrative Officer functions, central services, the President’s and Provost’s offices, Vice-Presidents, other Deans, affiliated hospitals, research institutes, government representatives, donors, community partners and other organizations. Ensures timely information flow, effective follow-up and coordinated responses on matters under the Dean’s responsibility.
• Dean’s agenda and priority management: Oversees the management of the Dean’s executive agenda by proactively organizing, tracking and advancing priority commitments, meetings, decisions and follow-up items. Ensures that files requiring the Dean’s attention are appropriately sequenced, briefed and actioned.
• Team supervision: Responsible for the supervision of administrative staff including performance management, the establishment of team objectives, and the development of employee training and professional development plans. Ensure team members are accountable for the effective execution of their duties in order to achieve and maintain the highest standards of quality in the work produced by the Dean’s Office. Provides staff with the support and tools necessary to perform their responsibilities and achieve operational objectives, while overseeing the coordination, allocation, and review of work to ensure an equitable distribution of tasks and workload.
• Documentation and Reporting: Prepares briefing notes, agendas, background materials, decision documents, speaking points, presentations, reports and correspondence for the Dean. Conducts research and analysis, synthesizes complex information, identifies options, implications and risks, provides evidence-informed advice and recommendations to support the Dean’s decision-making, priority-setting and strategic leadership.

Essential Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, or an equivalent combination of education and work experience
• 7 years of experience in a similar role
• PMP certification an asset

Other Skills and Competencies:

• Demonstrated experience in creating business plans, planning documents as well as organizational performance scorecards (objectives, targets, strategies and performance indicators)
• Experience in managing organizational change
• In-depth knowledge of university culture and of how a university operates is an asset
• Inspirational leadership illustrating the ability to foster collaboration and motivate stakeholders and colleagues through innovation and excellence
• Builds constructive teams that work well together to achieve results and motivate others to exceed expectations
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically about complex issues, leading to thoughtful recommendations and action plans.
• Outstanding communication skills to present and explain a complex ideas and issues to various audiences, both inside and outside the University
• Excellent skill in writing reports for senior management and various decision-making bodies
• Ability to evaluate and address complex issues in a clear, thoughtful manner, in order to quickly resolve them without compromising events or relationships
• Fluency in English and French (spoken and written)

#LI-Hybrid

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 hrtalentmanagement@uottawa.ca 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.