Director, People and Effectiveness

The new role of Director, People and Effectiveness is a strategic business partner who works with the President, senior leadership and managers to strengthen EMC’s organizational culture, drive talent strategy and build the people practices and capabilities required to support organizational performance. They translate business objectives into people-centred strategies and initiatives that enable engagement, retention, accountability and performance. They bridge the gap between executive leadership and employees, translating business objectives into people centred initiatives that drive engagement, retention and performance.

The Director, People and Effectiveness must navigate complex challenges including remoted work policies, diversity and inclusion initiatives, evolving employment laws and the integration of AI and technology in HR processes.

The Director, People and Effectiveness will work to improve the employee experience, strengthen workforce development strategies, and build scalable systems across recruitment, onboarding, employee relations, training, performance management, and succession planning. This person should be comfortable moving between strategic planning and hands-on leadership.

EMC has grown rapidly over the past several years. While focusing on operations and our clients, it now needs to also build foundational pieces to mature HR practices and processes. The newly created Director will help shape company culture by reinforcing accountability, communication, inclusion, and employee engagement across teams. As EMC continues to grow, the Director, People and Effectiveness will build and mature the organization’s people practices and systems, while partnering with leaders and managers to foster a healthy, high-performing and accountable workplace. The Director will help create the conditions for a strong organizational culture by strengthening leadership and management practices, communication, inclusion, employee engagement and recognition.

Main duties and tasks:

Oversee all HR functions for EMC, with approximately 70 team members, including:

• Provide strategic leadership, advice and oversight of the team lifecycle, including recruitment, onboarding, renewal, engagement, and retention
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with leadership partners, stakeholders, consultants, and service providers
• Lead workforce strategy and resource planning
• Lead the development and implementation of strategic HR plan, ensuring consistent messaging across channels and alignment with organizational priorities
• Develop and implement a variety of scalable HR strategies and initiatives, to support EMC’s organizational strategic priorities and growth
• Ability to translate business needs into practical HR strategy

Strengthen Employee Engagement and Organizational Culture

• Partner with the President and senior leadership to drive initiatives that strengthen employee engagement, recognition, inclusion and well-being.
• Equip and support leaders and managers in fostering healthy, high-performing and accountable teams.
• Develop mechanisms to regularly understand employee experience and engagement and translate insights into practical actions.
• Develop and support meaningful employee recognition approaches aligned with EMC’s values and culture.
• Embed EMC’s values and desired culture throughout key people practices, including recruitment, onboarding, performance, development and recognition.

Create and manage performance management systems

• Lead the development and oversight of the performance management system, including performance differentiation and accountability
• Build management capability by providing leaders and managers with the tools, coaching and guidance needed to effectively lead people, provide meaningful feedback, manage performance and support employee development
• Assist leaders across the company resolve complex employee relations issues with a fair and consistent approach
• Set clear goals and priorities, manage performance, provide coaching, and support professional development. Align individual goals with: Mission outcomes; Program delivery; and financial sustainability

Manage HR Operations

• Work closely with leadership to deliver a wide range of HR Services including recruitment, onboarding, employee relations, performance management and benefits administration
• Devise and oversee a compensation strategy and plan. Ensure the compensation strategy is aligned to nonprofit constraints and market competitiveness. Examine job grading and salary structure design
• Create and manage a Benefits program and total rewards approach
• Develop, update and monitor internal company HR Policies
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team responsible for HR operations
• Establish and oversee service standards for internal processes
• Lead and design the implementation of employee development, leadership training and ongoing training programs – to enable a continuous learning culture.
• Identify organizational capability gaps, enable leadership/manager and career development, leverage knowledge transfer, and enhance succession/capability building.
• Assist Senior leadership with strategic guidance on organizational design, talent development and succession planning. Clarify role definition & salary grading structures
• Provide analytics to support workforce planning and organizational effectiveness decisions
• Ensure compliance with local and federal labour laws and regulations
• Identify opportunities and challenges/risks to modernize HR practices through emerging technologies, digital tools, and process improvements

Lead efforts to improve talent management

• Lead the development and implementation of a talent management strategy
• Assist Senior leadership with strategic guidance on organizational design, talent development and succession planning
• Create a recruiting strategy for specialized knowledge and facilitation roles

About EMC:

Founded on a commitment to collaboration, trust and innovative leadership, Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC) stands out today as an inclusive and diverse not-for-profit organization supporting the growth and success of more than 18,000 manufacturing companies representing over 700,000 of their employees across Canada. For more than a quarter-century, now as Canada’s largest and most active manufacturing consortium, EMC is responsible for contributing significant knowledge, expertise and resources towards advancing the Canadian manufacturing sector.

Now about you:

You are a compassionate yet decisive leader, with the ability to quickly take in diverse yet pertinent information, learn and create sustainable solutions to the challenges at hand. As a key member of the leadership team, you have a track record of organizational performance and success, aligning operational excellence with strategic priorities. A builder of trusted relationships, you engage by first listening and understanding. You embrace diversity, inclusion and well-being. You are resourceful and autonomous, seeking opportunities for continuous improvement and new ways of thinking. You are discreet, with excellent judgement skills. You measure success by what the organization achieves more than by what you achieve individually.

The successful candidate will have the following experience:

• 10 – 15 years of progressive responsibility in the HR field, with executive experience, across the full range of HR operations and management in a dynamic environment
• Post secondary education, notably in Human Resources. A combination of education and experience may be considered
• Leading programs, influencing business decisions, and managing people or major crossfunctional initiatives
• Track record of translating organizational strategy into actionable initiatives
• Advising senior leaders and working with high-profile stakeholders
• Managing budgets and resources
• Working with remote team management and distributed workforce policies

Competencies:

• Strategic thinking and planning
• Emotional intelligence and excellent communications skills
• Evidence driven decision making
• Business acumen and client focus
• Change management and transformation
• Ethical leadership and compliance
• Influencing and relationship management
• Adaptability and comfort with rapid change and ambiguity

Assets:

• Bilingual, French/English
• Master’s degree in HR or other related area
• Certifications – CHRL – Certified Human Resources Leader (intermediate/senior) and/or
• CHRE – Certified Human Resources Executive (executive-level)
• Experience within a not-for-profit, association, membership-based, public sector, or similarly complex stakeholder environment
• Facilitation/coaching

Location: Remote (in Canada – must be able to legally work); Ontario preferred. Potential travel.

Competitive compensation based on experience.

How to Apply:

Come build something great with us! If this interests you, submit a cover letter with resume outlining your experience and why you feel you are the best fit for this exciting new role at EMC – and send your application by 13 November 2026 to dvance@emccanada.org.