We’re hiring an Operations Manager!

Application Deadline: Wednesday, July 17, 2024 at 12:00 PM (Noon) ET
Anticipated Start Date: Monday, August 19, 2024
Location: Hybrid position with minimum 2 days in Downtown Toronto office

Who are you?

• Are you the go-to person for getting things done? 
• Do your coworkers rely on you for your reliability and follow-through? 
• Do you thrive on solving complex problems? 
• Is streamlining processes your superpower? 
• Are you unafraid to ask for support to ensure success?

If your answers are “YES!”

We are seeking an energetic and organized problem solver with a passion for systems design and keeping things orderly. Our ideal candidate will thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic team. You have experience jumping in and putting processes in place that make an improvement on what has been built while being respectful of the work that has come before.

You relish making sense of things, anticipating problems, and fixing them. You’re good at keeping information confidential. You thrive on each day being different and presenting new opportunities and challenges.

If you are organized with a strong attention to detail, not easy to overwhelm, and you have a positive attitude that makes people want to be your teammate and you are ready to make a big impact on our operations, we look forward to meeting you!

The Operations Manager Opportunity

Expected outcomes

Identify, coordinate and implement operational solutions in support of strategic goals by developing and executing the annual operational plan, budget, and reporting processes, collaborating with the Board of Directors, improving operations through tools and standard procedures, fostering cross-team collaboration, creating long-term initiatives, developing procedures for administrative and facility operations, and analyzing trends to maximize efficiencies.

Ensure project and program efficiency and compliance by monitoring progress against timelines and budgets, developing automated project management templates, participating in project meetings, preparing client agreements, ensuring contractual compliance, producing status and impact reports, maintaining health and safety programs, providing training, participating in safety inspections, overseeing insurance coverage, and developing a trusted supplier network.

Monitor financial information for accurate forecasting and financial administration by supporting cash flow and management of approved organizational budgets, analyzing project and organizational budgets to minimize expenses and optimize profits, overseeing the proposal pipeline and maintaining revenue tracking, proposing budgets for employee development initiatives, and collaborating with the Finance Officer to maintain financial records and manage deposits.

Organize and enforce team accountability for revenue generation activities by monitoring and tracking revenue strategies, maintaining records of lead generation and pipeline progress, collaborating with management on workback plans and proposal submissions, assisting with fundraising activities, and analyzing communication patterns to advise on business opportunities.

Support and motivate the team for enhanced operations by providing positive encouragement, implementing incentives, identifying improvement opportunities, facilitating engagement activities, overseeing recruitment and onboarding, ensuring clear roles, inspiring procedural adoption, and supervising operational staff and contractors.

Contribute to a work environment that supports efficiency by ensuring staff and volunteers have the necessary space and tools, expanding the tech stack and training, overseeing office and program space functionality, managing access to equipment, and handling transportation logistics and maintenance.

Essential Competencies for this Role

• Project Management: Strong leadership and decision-making skills, including effective delegation as needed. Proven ability to manage successful and timely projects. Adept at managing teams to effectively manage projects and programs. 

• Strategic Thinking & Planning: Ability to understand the organization’s overarching goals and align operational strategies to support them. Skilled in developing and executing plans to achieve strategic objectives efficiently.

• Business Development: Experience in driving sustainable business growth through strategic thinking, market insight, and adept relationship-building, as well as managing proactive outreach and client engagement.

• Financial Acumen: Creating, managing, and optimizing budgets to ensure that resources are allocated efficiently. Tracking against targets, report reading, ability to make decisions based on budgetary and financial projections to estimate costs, and project revenue growth. 

• Compliance & Quality Assurance: Ability to establish and maintain standards of excellence in operations to ensure program effectiveness and stakeholder satisfaction. 

• Interpersonal: Great interpersonal skills, demonstrated by a commitment to diplomatically work on a collaborative team with colleagues, clients and partners who have fluctuating high-pressure needs, participating in open dialogue, and respectful feedback cycles.

• Problem Solving: Strong problem solving skills, critical thinking to understand underlying issues, including keeping a solutions-oriented approach, and exercising a high degree of creativity in proposing solutions in response to solving challenges. 

• Communication: Excellent and confident communication skills. Clear and confident verbal in-person and via phone/web conferencing communication skills. Strong writing skills to develop clear proposals, work plans, reports and stakeholder communication.

• Cultural Sensitivity: Demonstrated intersectional cross-cultural sensitivity when working with equity-deserving stakeholders and staff. An open-minded attitude that shines when working with equity-deserving communities.

• Self-Motivation: High level of professionalism — a punctual, quick-learning and service-oriented self-starter who is detail-oriented, able to prioritize, and self-manage responsibilities with the ability to work individually and in collaborative teams.

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary Range: $50,000 – $55,000, commensurate with experience
• Supplemental health, dental, optical, and limited life insurance benefits (including travel assist coverage) following a probationary period 
• Bonus plan
• Maternity/paternity leave policy with supplemental benefits

• Extensive time-off, such as 
  • Civic Holiday and National Day for Truth & Reconciliation
  • Float days for culturally significant days, illness, caregiving or personal emergencies
  • End of year wind-down period
  • Birthdays 
  • Lieu time policy
• Staff are supported in their professional development through a combination of all staff and targeted individual development opportunities including but not limited to training, mentorship and external conference/event participation 
• Flexible working arrangement policies provide staff with remote working as well as alternative scheduling options
• Travel reimbursement and car-share program

Qualifications and Skills

Must-Haves

• Postsecondary education in arts management, business, human resources or a relevant field 
• 2+ years of successful operations coordination experience in a fast-paced nonprofit, agency or start-up environment 
• A high degree of creativity and resourcefulness in response to diverse problem solving challenges
• Passionate about refining organizational systems and procedures for increased efficiency, in service of equity and sustainability goals
• Desire to improve our services and partnerships to take them to the next level
• Strong organizational skills, including attention to detail, setting priorities, tracking and juggling competing deadlines
• Great interpersonal skills, including meaningful collaboration with external groups on joint projects, as well as openly and respectfully communicating with colleagues
• Strong leadership and decision-making skills, including effective delegation as needed
• Comfortable with numbers, including reviewing financial reports, quotes, invoices and contracts
• High level of professionalism — you are a punctual, quick-learning and customer service-oriented self-starter
• Independent, self-motivated and achievement-oriented worker able to self-manage tasks and responsibilities 
• Able to work in collaborative teams 
• An open-minded attitude that shines when working with equity-deserving communities
• Commitment to organizational development through respectful feedback cycles
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Zoom, and Google Workspace
• Capacity to diplomatically work with partners who have fluctuating high-pressure needs
• Commitment to working within an equity framework with strong cross-cultural sensitivity
• At least 2 days per week in the office
• Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends

Nice-to-have

• Full valid Ontario driver’s license or willingness to obtain one within one year
• Experience leading operational projects or initiatives
• Experience with Salesforce or other Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms considered an asset
• Comfortable working within an open office environment and via video conferencing technology

Physical Demands

• Regular office work
• Occasional movement of materials within the office or to project sites
• Occasional driving of the organizational vehicle
• Occasional lifting of objects (up to 40 lbs)

Our Organizational Culture

STEPS envisions a world where artists and communities co-create meaningful, welcoming and safe public spaces. We’re a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) registered charity that engages and empowers artists and communities to transform public spaces into vibrant places. Our team is composed of high-performing, highly ethical creative entrepreneurial innovators who truly care about their communities.

Art is creative and fun. That’s why it’s important that our team can do our best work in a creative and fun environment.

At STEPS, we value:

• Equity: We believe in equity, diversity, and inclusion. Our goal is to ensure that everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute to our shared success.
• Commitment: We strive to be the industry leader in public art and cultural planning. We approach our work with a positive and open mindset, flexibility, and dedication.
• Collaboration: By working together, we can achieve more. We celebrate collective and individual achievements, and building long-lasting relationships is central to our mission.
• Inspiration: We value art and culture as a source of information and enrichment for our employees, clients, and the communities we serve. We approach challenges with creativity, passion, public art expertise, and artistic excellence. 
• Community Impact: We put people at the centre of our community-engaged approach. Our focus is on creating positive energy by leveraging our resources and expertise to benefit the communities we serve.

STEPS is committed to cultivating safe spaces for Indigenous voices to be heard. We invest in ongoing staff and Board learning related to equity, inclusion and accessibility topics; supports such as staff-led equity groups, among which include a BIPOC group, as well as a Disability and Chronic Illness group to help foster an accessible and accommodating work environment for our team and stakeholders.

Visit Careers for more information about our workplace culture and benefits.

Our main office is based in T’karonto, the Ancestral Wendat territory and the shared territory of the Anishinaabeg and the Haudenosaunee, covered by The Dish With One Spoon treaty, and later, Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands.

Application Process

STEPS is dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We believe that diversity enriches our company culture, enhances our creativity, and drives innovation.

STEPS encourages applications from all qualified candidates legally able to work in Canada that represent the full diversity of communities, including complexities of intersecting identities such as ability, age, class, gender, race, and sexual orientation. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from equity-deserving communities, including those who identify as: Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), Black, person of colour, newcomer, Disabled, and/or LGBTQQIP2SAA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, asexual, allies, along with additional sexual orientations and gender identities).

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities or special needs throughout the recruitment process. If you require accommodations to apply for this opportunity, please provide additional information via the application portal.

We invite qualified applicants to apply via the online portal by no later than Wednesday, July 17, 2024 at 12:00 PM (Noon) Eastern Time.

Thank you for your interest in this position. Applications will not be accepted by email. Due to the high volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview via video-conferencing. While we appreciate the interest of all applicants, we can only communicate with those shortlisted for an interview.

Interviews are anticipated to take place the week of July 22, 2024 making use of video conferencing. It is anticipated that any second round interviews will take place the following week (and may be in-person). The anticipated start date is Monday, August 19, 2024.

Photo credit: Jae Yang
Artist credit: Crossroads by Kseniya Tsoy