Director of Planning And Development

Town of Diamond Valley, Alberta

Tired of planning processes that make simple projects feel hard? The Town of Diamond Valley - Alberta’s newest town, formed by amalgamation in 2023 - wants a Director of Planning & Development who can make the rules easy to understand, keep good development moving, and build a team that delivers.

You report straight to the CAO. A new Municipal Development Plan is in place. A brand-new Land Use Bylaw is already in motion with a consultant, and it needs an owner. You will bring that bylaw home, then put a plain process behind it so applicants, Council, and staff are working from the same page. You will also hire the team, including a supervisor who holds an RPP (or equivalent) to lead the technical approvals work.

What you’ll do

• Run Planning & Development, with routine time at Council Meetings on major land-use files, policy, and the decisions that should not wait.
• Hire and shape the team, including a supervisor who is an RPP or holds equivalent professional planning credentials and will own the technical side of approvals.
• Land the brand-new Land Use Bylaw currently under development through a consultant and turn it into checklists, timelines, and a path an applicant can actually follow.
• Cut the clutter. Keep the standards that matter and make approvals easier to understand.
• Work with people who want to build here. Move a good file. Say early when a file is struggling - and why - in language everyone can follow.
• Keep planning tied to Corporate Services, Operations, and the capital program so a ‘yes on paper’ can be built on the ground.
• Brief Council and prepare the reports the role requires, in plain language that supports a decision.

Who we want

You are entrepreneurial, steady, and able to take complex planning matters and make them simple for Council, applicants, and residents. An RPP is an asset, not a requirement. We will consider candidates from land development, real estate, construction, or related fields who understand how projects get built and can get up to speed on municipal approvals. You have led people or projects and would rather see a file lead to construction than polish a procedure. Technical depth will sit with the RPP supervisor you hire. Clear communication and practical judgment sit with you.

What we offer

• True 4-day work week (Mon–Thu, 36.5 hours) - long weekends every week.
• $134,462–$146,880 + strong benefits, including a 9.3% employer / 3% employee RRSP contribution.
• 5 weeks vacation, plus 1 flex day per month in lieu of evening Council Meetings.
• A brand-new Land Use Bylaw to finish, a team to hire (including the technical lead), and a direct line to the CAO, in a post-amalgamation town still writing its next chapter. The work will show.
• Easy, beautiful 30-minute drive to Calgary and only 15 minutes down the road to Okotoks.

If you want to make development easier to do well here - and you like the idea of long weekends every week - send your resume and a short cover letter to HR@diamondvalley.town. Tell us about a project you moved and how you explained a hard constraint to someone who was not a planner. Posting closes November 6, 2026.