Manager, Operations

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Reporting to theChief Administrative Officer, the Manager, Operations, oversees and supports the Lead Officers, Administrative Support within the academic units of the Faculty of Arts, ensuring the efficient management of academic administration, and financial and HR operations. The role collaborates closely with department directors/chairs, and with all other branches of the faculty to align operations with faculty goals, standardize processes, and ensure compliance with institutional policies and regulations.

In this job, your responsibilities will include:

• Team supervision and leadership: Oversees and supports all Lead Officer, Administrative Support, and their administrative staff as required. Sets objectives, reviews performance with department directors/chairs, and fosters professional development to build a strong, cohesive team. Participates in recruitment, onboarding, disciplinary and performance-related matters as needed. Monitors workload distribution for fairness and efficiency, and ensures consistent training across units, including the development and delivery of a shared training program. Maintains effective communication between administrative staff, department leadership, and faculty support units to ensure alignment and service quality. Provides operational backup support when necessary.
• Obligations management: Oversees and monitors financial obligations to students across all academic units within the faculty. This includes ensuring that commitments are fulfilled in an accurate and timely manner and in accordance with collective agreements without creating unnecessary or unapproved obligations. To that end, maintains rigorous oversight of financial processes related to student Teaching Assistant contracts and, where appropriate, Research Assistant contracts. The Manager works closely with the Lead Officer, Administrative Support, and central administration to ensure alignment, consistency, and compliance with institutional policies, while fostering a coordinated and efficient approach to managing obligations to students.
• Financial management: In collaboration with the Manager, Finance, oversees the administration of internally funded budgets, as well as various departmental special project budgets, ensuring compliance with institutional policies. Develops and evaluates business practices and tools to improve financial controls and operational efficiency. Ensures alignment between expenditures and budgets. Monitors and addresses overages and inconsistencies, to ensure compliance with institutional guidelines.
• Process review and standardization: Leads the review and continuous improvement of administrative processes across academic units to ensure alignment, consistency, and operational efficiency. Develops and implements standardized practices that support equity, reduce duplication, and promote service excellence. Facilitates collaboration and resource sharing between units and ensures that all procedures comply with faculty and university policies, collective agreements, and applicable regulations.
• Human resources management: In collaboration with the Vice-Dean, Governance and the Faculty’s HR Department, serves as the primary point of contact for academic unit staff on operational matters related to APTPUO and CUPE. Oversees the hiring processes for Teaching Assistants and Part-Time Professors, ensuring alignment with collective agreements and university policies. Reviews and approves contracts as needed, and ensures consistent, timely payroll verification across all academic units. Works proactively with the Payroll Administration employees, to resolve payroll issues and uphold compliance with applicable agreements and legislation.
• Problem solving and advisement: Acts as a trusted resource and subject matter expert in resolving complex and sensitive operational issues within academic units. Works collaboratively with departmental staff, faculty leadership, and central university services to identify root causes and implement practical, sustainable solutions. Anticipates and addresses recurring challenges by refining systems, streamlining workflows, and embedding long-term improvements that support the academic and administrative mission of the faculty.
• Academic operations: Ensures the effective and consistent execution of academic administrative processes across all units, supporting course delivery, academic planning, and student services in alignment with faculty and institutional policies. Collaborates with academic leadership and administrative managers to identify and resolve operational challenges that may impact on the academic mission.
• Consolidation and reporting: Reviews and consolidates departmental reports for the managers of finance and HR as well as the CAO, ensuring accuracy and completeness. Monitors departmental budgets by analyzing historical performance and projecting future needs. Assess staffing levels and operational demands to optimize the use of financial, human and material resources. Follows-up on requests from faculty leadership, professors, students and other stakeholders. Ensures compliance with all administrative services (HR, finance, IT, marketing and facilities) by addressing inconsistencies and implementing corrective actions when required.
• Collaboration with directors and stakeholders: Works with department directors/chairs to align administrative operations with faculty and departmental goals. Facilitates communication and collaboration across departments, faculty and central university units, including finance, HR, IT marketing and facilities, and central services.

What you will bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration or a related field;

• Master’s degree is an asset is an asset

• Minimum of 7 years of administrative experience in an academic setting
• Minimum of 3 years of supervisory experience, preferably in a unionized environment
• Strong knowledge of academic processes and governance within post-secondary education
• Experience in interpreting and applying policies and collective agreements (including OSSTF, CUPE and APTPUO)
• Demonstrated expertise in administrative management (ex., finance, HR, IT, marketing and facilities)
• Skills in budget development and financial planning
• Experience in project management and/or change management, with proven ability to lead process improvement initiatives
• Strong decision-making and problem-solving skills
• Ability to streamline operations, improve efficiency and foster collaboration across departments
• Demonstrated ability to respect diversity and use inclusive behavior, responding with sensitivity and self-awareness to the unique needs of students and colleagues
• Strong leadership, organizational and planning abilities
• High emotional intelligence and the ability to manage conflict constructively
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills and collegiality
• Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written)

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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 contacthrtalentmanagement@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 clickhere 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.