Competition # : 50345
Department: Natural Resources
Location: Flexible
Type of Employment: Permanent
Union Status: NSGEU - NSPG
Closing Date: 18-Nov-26 (Applications are accepted until 11:59 PM Atlantic Time)
About Us
Nova Scotia is rich in natural resources – including biodiversity, forests, provincial parks and the land we manage. Natural Resources is responsible for the development, management, conservation and protection of forests, parks and wildlife resources and the administration of the province’s Crown land. Together we are working with Nova Scotians to build a better future through sustainable natural resource management.
About Our Opportunity
The Program Lead is responsible for providing advanced specialized program administrative or management work for programs with province-wide impacts. Responsibilities include overall program administration and coordination of programs. The incumbent will be responsible for identifying and designing future programs as well as developing, reviewing and evaluating proposals requiring government support.
Specifically, the incumbent of this position will provide leadership and coordination for GIS, integrated resource planning, and spatial analysis activities that are currently dispersed across multiple groups.
Primary Accountabilities
- Supervises GIS staff.
- Manages and delivers required outcomes for one or more programs.
- Administers Act(s) and/or its regulations in the province, and may perform and exercise any of the powers, privileges, duties, and functions of the Minister as specified in the legislation and the designation.
- Identifies and designs programs to assist with the evaluation and planning for future direction of programs and policies for municipal and provincial organizations. Activities include program(s) development, business analysis, providing advice and policy recommendations, and may include the resource and capacity management of direct and indirect program resources.
- Acts as a consultant within government and with provincial and national organizations through the development of training programs and developing, reviewing and evaluating proposals requiring government support.
- Develops and/or delivers a plan for significant aspects of internal and external communications with guidance from senior colleagues. This includes ongoing monitoring and reporting of programs and providing processes and tools to provide the required information for inclusion on reports.
- Identifies shortcomings and suggests improvements to existing processes, systems and procedures, then delivers a plan for a small element of a change management program in collaboration with senior colleagues and project team.
- Delivers a prescribed budget for the program and conducts complex analyses on budget progress while working within established procedures. Allocates resources to appropriate places and develops strategies to ensure program management capacity meets the requirements.
- Delivers prescribed outcomes for a designated area of financial control. Develops action plans to address budget and/or operational business plan deviations as they occur throughout the fiscal year.
- Delivers on the established outcomes by managing day-to-day relationships with clients, contract service providers, and team while working within an established contract management plan.
Qualifications and Experience
This may be the right opportunity for you if you have a bachelor's degree, along with six years of related experience or an equivalent combination of training and experience. Relevant experience would include: experience supervising or providing technical leadership to GIS, geospatial, modelling, or other technical professionals; and/or experience applying geospatial information to natural resource management.
As the successful candidate, you also have previous experience managing projects and/or programs within the desired cost, time, and quality parameters. You are focused on continuous improvement as you focus on assessing, measuring, and improving performance. You have strong analytical skills which allow you to synthesize data from multiple sources to draw appropriate conclusions and make suitable recommendations.
You also have strong relationship building and interpersonal skills which allow you to develop extensive contacts and working relationships with various internal and external stakeholders. Your expertise will assist in facilitating the integration of analysis into program development, legislation, policy, and planning. You work with a high degree of independent judgement and initiative, with the ability to develop concepts and communicate effectively (written and verbally) with industry, government, and the community.
You thrive on engaging with others, getting buy-in to deliver results, and skillfully influencing to build results.
*Assets would include: experience with advanced geospatial analysis and spatial modelling, experience supervising or providing technical leadership to GIS, geospatial, modelling, or other technical professionals; and experience applying geospatial information to integrated resource planning, land-use planning, or environmental decision-making. Experience with remote sensing, LiDAR, geospatial data management, automation or scripting, and the development or implementation of enterprise GIS tools and solutions would also be considered assets.
We will assess the above qualifications and competencies using one or more of the following tools: written examination, standardized tests, oral presentations, interview(s), and reference checks.
Equivalency
An equivalent combination of training, education, and experience will be considered. Equivalencies may include, but are not limited to:
- A completed master's degree and 4 years of related experience.
Applicants relying on education and experience equivalencies must demonstrate such equivalencies in their application.
Benefits
Based on the employment status and union agreement, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as a Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Health, Dental, Life Insurance, General illness, Short and Long Term Disability, Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs. For information on all our Benefit program offerings, click here: Benefits for government employees.
Additional Information
This competition is being leveraged to fill a permanent, full-time position. The location of the position is flexible and work may be conducted at one of the Department of Natural Resources offices across the province of Nova Scotia.
What We Offer
- Career Development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career.
- Engaging workplace. Our Employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in. We have forward-thinking policies and strategies.
- Countless Career Paths.
- A Dynamic, client-focused office environment where service excellence and teamwork are our focus.
Pay Grade: PR 17
Salary Range: $3,410.48 - $4,005.58 Bi-Weekly
Employment Equity Statement: Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve. The Government of Nova Scotia has an Employment Equity Policy, and we welcome applications from Indigenous People, African Nova Scotians, Persons of African Descent, Racialized Persons, Persons with Disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ Persons and Women in occupations or positions where they are under-represented. If you are a member of one of these equity groups, you are encouraged to self-identify on your electronic application.
Accommodation Statement: We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Candidates may request accommodations based on any grounds protected by the Human Rights Act. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process, please contact us at competitions@novascotia.ca.
This is a bargaining unit position initially restricted to current civil service employees represented by the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union (NSGEU). If applying from outside a government office, employees must apply correctly via this link:
Failure to apply correctly means that your application will not be given first consideration as a bargaining unit applicant, and will only be included if external applications are pursued.
External applicants and current casual employees will only be considered if there are no qualified civil service bargaining unit candidates. PLEASE NOTE: Candidates will not be considered for an interview if applications are incomplete or are missing information.
If you are receiving a pension from the Nova Scotia Public Service Superannuation Plan (PSSP) or any related plans, you cannot receive pension payments while contributing to the same plan. If you accept a position that requires PSSP contributions, your pension payments must be stopped. Please contact the Nova Scotia Pension Services Corporation for more information.
Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer. Where required, candidates must provide proof that they are legally entitled to work in Canada. We thank all applicants for the interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. All questions and concerns may be directed to Competitions@novascotia.ca.
