About the Organization
Our client is one of British Columbia’s largest and most diverse public-sector organizations.
The organization serves a large and diverse community across a substantial network of sites and programs and is supported by a workforce of several thousand employees.
The organization serves a highly diverse urban community and is committed to equity, inclusion, accountability, continuous improvement, and creating environments where people can succeed and experience a strong sense of belonging.
Its work recognizes the importance of Indigenous ways of knowing and learning and takes place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples.
As a large public-sector employer operating within a highly unionized and publicly accountable environment, the organization requires sophisticated labour relations leadership capable of balancing organizational responsibilities, employee and union relationships, legislative obligations, operational realities, and broader public-sector considerations.
The Leadership Opportunity
Reporting to the Executive Director, Employee Services, the Director, Labour Relations will provide strategic leadership and expert advice across the organization’s labour relations portfolio.
The role spans:
– Collective bargaining
– Collective agreement administration and interpretation
– Grievances
– Mediation and arbitration
– Workplace investigations
– Employee discipline
– Human rights matters
– Legislative compliance
– Labour-management relationships
– Leadership development
– Labour relations strategy
The organization operates within a particularly complex labour relations environment involving numerous collective agreements.
The incoming Director will be expected to develop a strong understanding of the major terms, operating implications, and recurring issues across these agreements while ensuring that labour relations advice remains consistent, credible, practical, and aligned with the broader needs of the organization.
This is both a strategic and hands-on leadership role.
The Director will be expected to shape the direction of the portfolio while remaining sufficiently connected to significant matters to exercise judgement, provide confident advice, and support the team through complex files.
The Leadership Mandate
Strategic Labour Relations Leadership
The Director will:
– Establish and advance the strategic direction of the organization’s Labour Relations function.
– Provide trusted advice to the Executive Director, Employee Services and senior organizational leadership.
– Bring an enterprise perspective to significant labour relations matters.
– Assess legal, operational, organizational, reputational, and stakeholder implications when advising on complex issues.
– Strengthen consistency and quality across labour relations practices.
– Develop longer-term priorities and operating plans for the function.
Collective Bargaining and Agreement Administration
The Director will:
– Provide leadership across collective bargaining strategy and negotiations.
– Support effective administration and interpretation of the organization’s collective agreements.
– Guide the organization through complex bargaining, grievance, mediation, and arbitration matters.
– Maintain credible and constructive working relationships with union partners.
– Ensure the employer position is represented confidently, professionally, and consistently.
Executive Advice and Judgement
The successful candidate will be expected to:
– Translate complex labour relations issues into concise and decision-ready executive advice.
– Provide clear recommendations where legal, labour, operational, and reputational considerations intersect.
– Anticipate emerging risks and identify appropriate courses of action.
– Exercise sound judgement in highly sensitive and visible matters.
– Keep senior leadership appropriately informed without over-escalating routine issues.
Team Leadership and Capability Building
A significant part of the mandate is strengthening the capability of the Labour Relations team.
The Director will:
– Coach and mentor labour relations professionals.
– Create meaningful developmental opportunities.
– Expose team members to increasingly complex files, bargaining, mediation, and arbitration.
– Strengthen succession capability within the function.
– Promote accountability, professional standards, and sound judgement.
– Build confidence and capacity throughout the team.
Labour-Management Relationships
The organization places significant importance on respectful and constructive relationships with its union partners.
The successful candidate will:
– Represent the employer with confidence and credibility.
– Maintain professionalism through disagreement and high-pressure situations.
– Build trusted relationships while maintaining clear employer accountability.
– Navigate grievances, bargaining, investigations, and other difficult matters constructively.
– Recognize the broader organizational impact of labour relations decisions.
Continuous Improvement and Accountability
The incoming Director will be expected to:
– Examine existing practices, processes, and metrics.
– Identify opportunities to improve consistency and responsiveness.
– Strengthen documentation, advice, communication, and execution standards.
– Develop a longer-term vision for the Labour Relations portfolio.
– Support a culture of continuous improvement and professional accountability.
What Success Will Look Like
In the First 90 Days
The successful candidate will:
– Build a strong working relationship with the Executive Director, Employee Services.
– Develop credibility with the organization’s senior leadership team.
– Establish productive relationships with union partners and key stakeholders.
– Gain a strong understanding of the organization’s collective agreements and major labour relations issues.
– Assess the capability, workload, practices, and priorities of the Labour Relations function.
– Identify immediate risks, recurring issues, and opportunities for improvement.
– Demonstrate calm judgement and credibility in complex matters.
Within the First Year
The Director will:
– Be recognized as a trusted senior labour relations advisor.
– Strengthen consistency and quality across the Labour Relations function.
– Improve team capability and succession readiness.
– Build constructive and credible labour-management relationships.
– Establish clear priorities and a longer-term strategic direction for the portfolio.
– Strengthen labour relations processes, documentation, and accountability.
– Provide confident leadership through bargaining, grievances, investigations, and other complex matters.
– Increase organizational confidence in the Labour Relations function.
The Leader We Are Seeking
Our client is seeking more than a technically accomplished labour relations practitioner.
The organization requires a leader with the judgement and credibility to operate effectively within a complex, highly visible, and highly unionized public-sector environment.
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
– Deep labour relations expertise
– Strong collective bargaining leadership
– Executive judgement
– Political and organizational awareness
– Credibility with unions and senior leaders
– Confidence without ego
– Strong relationship-building capability
– Calm and constructive conflict management
– Excellent communication and briefing skills
– Resilience and optimism
– Strategic perspective
– Coaching and developmental leadership
– Precision and professional standards
– Accountability and follow-through
The successful candidate will understand that technically correct advice is only one part of effective labour relations leadership.
Context, trust, timing, communication, judgement, and organizational awareness will be equally important.
Requirements
Experience & Qualifications
The successful candidate is expected to bring:
– Seven to ten or more years of progressive labour relations experience.
– Significant experience leading collective bargaining and grievance arbitration processes.
– Demonstrated experience within complex, multi-union and highly regulated environments.
– Strong expertise in collective agreement administration and interpretation.
– Experience with grievances, mediation, arbitration, workplace investigations, employee discipline, and human rights matters.
– Strong relationship-building, conflict-resolution, communication, and leadership capability.
– A degree in Human Resources, Labour Relations, Law, or a related field.
– CPHR designation.
– A graduate degree is considered an asset.
– Experience within public education, broader public sector, healthcare, municipal government, post-secondary education, or another sophisticated unionized environment will be highly relevant.
Location and Working Environment
The Director, Labour Relations is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The role is fundamentally an in-person leadership appointment where accessibility, visibility, and connection with colleagues, the Labour Relations team, and organizational stakeholders are important.
The organization has indicated that there may be reasonable situational flexibility at the Director level where operationally appropriate. Candidates should nevertheless approach the opportunity with the expectation that this is primarily an onsite leadership role.
Soluzone is open to engaging qualified candidates nationally where relocation to Vancouver is realistic.
Compensation and Benefits
The anticipated salary range for the Director, Labour Relations is:
$177,959 to $197,732 annually
The position also includes competitive benefits and paid time off.
Final compensation will reflect the successful candidate’s experience, qualifications, and overall alignment with the mandate.
Why Consider This Opportunity?
For an accomplished labour relations executive, this opportunity offers the chance to:
– Lead labour relations within one of British Columbia’s largest public-sector organizations.
– Advise senior executive leadership on high-impact labour matters.
– Shape employer strategy across a complex multi-union environment.
– Lead significant collective bargaining and grievance matters.
– Strengthen the capability and succession readiness of an established Labour Relations team.
– Build trusted relationships with union and organizational stakeholders.
– Help improve consistency, accountability, and professional standards across the function.
– Influence the longer-term direction of labour relations within an organization serving a large and diverse public community and supported by a workforce of several thousand employees.
This is an opportunity for a leader who wants both meaningful strategic influence and continued connection to the substance of labour relations work.
Pay: $177,959.00-$199,732.00 per year
Work Location: In person
