Description
Continuing Education is currently seeking a Full-time Regular
Lead, Program Partnerships & Projects.
Reporting to the Manager, Administrative Operations, the Lead, Program Partnerships & Projects is a key member of the Office of the Associate Vice-President (Continuing Education) team and provides direct leadership and oversight for establishing priorities for market intelligence, opportunity assessment, and the identification and evaluation of RFPs, RFIs, EOIs, and other strategic partnership opportunities. Additionally, the role serves as the strategic relationship manager for an assigned portfolio of faculties, academic units, and institutional partners.
Summary of Key Responsibilities (job functions include but are not limited to):
Leadership & Continuous Improvement
- Leads the evaluation of client feedback, service performance measures, operational data, and market trends to identify opportunities for improvement and evolution of Professional & Continuing Education service models, frameworks, tools, and practices.
- Develops and advances recommendations addressing service strategy, scalability, capacity, financial sustainability, and the effectiveness of the partnership and service model.
- Establishes overarching service standards to promote consistency across partnerships and service offerings.
- Advises strategic planning and annual operational planning processes through environmental scanning, analysis, and recommendations.
- Provides day-to-day leadership, work direction, coaching, and performance oversight to the Program Opportunity and Research Specialist, ensuring research activities and deliverables align with ContEd priorities and strategic objectives.
- Oversees the identification, assessment, and prioritization of Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Requests for Information (RFIs), Expressions of Interest (EOIs), grants, and other partnership opportunities, and recommends appropriate courses of action.
- Leads and coordinates responses to priority RFPs and related competitive opportunities by establishing response strategies, engaging subject matter experts, managing timelines, and ensuring high-quality, compliant submissions.
Strategic Partnership & Portfolio Management
- Develops and maintains partnership engagement plans that align partner priorities with Continuing Education's strategic objectives.
- Leads consultation and discovery activities to identify opportunities for new programs, alternative credentials, products, services, and collaborative initiatives.
- Builds and maintains strong relationships with academic leaders, faculty members, administrators, clients, and partners.
- Acts as a trusted advisor by providing guidance on partnership opportunities, service delivery models, implementation approaches, and governance structures.
- Facilitates strategic discussions to assess needs, define priorities, identify opportunities, and establish shared objectives.
- Identifies opportunities to expand the use and adoption of Professional & Continuing Education services across the institution.
- Shapes Continuing Education's value proposition and capabilities of programs, services, and solutions to align client priorities with Continuing Education's program-development, partnership, and service capabilities.
Strategic Projects & Program Development
- Leads opportunity assessment activities to evaluate strategic alignment, business need, market demand, feasibility, resource requirements, and expected outcomes.
- Develops business cases, proposals, recommendations, and briefing materials for consideration by Continuing Education leadership and institutional partners.
- Establishes project governance structures, decision-making frameworks, roles, responsibilities, and success measures.
- Provides strategic oversight for program, product, service, and partnership development initiatives.
- Leads multi-disciplinary working groups and cross-functional teams to achieve project objectives.
- Monitors project progress, risks, interdependencies, and outcomes, making recommendations and adjustments as required.
- Oversees transition planning, operational readiness activities, implementation support, and post-project review processes.
- Ensures initiatives align with institutional priorities, partner expectations, policy requirements, accessibility standards, and financial objectives.
Contract, Service Governance & Operations
- Leads the development, negotiation, implementation, and administration of contracts, memoranda of understanding, service agreements, statements of work, letters of agreement, and other partnership arrangements.
- Establishes governance structures, performance expectations, escalation pathways, and accountability frameworks for strategic partnerships and service engagements.
- Defines service commitments, deliverables, timelines, financial arrangements, resource requirements, performance metrics, and reporting requirements.
- Conducts assessments of financial, operational, contractual, and reputational risk and develops mitigation strategies.
- Monitors partnership performance, service delivery outcomes, resourcing requirements, financial commitments, and compliance obligations.
- Leads agreement renewals, amendments, reviews, and closure activities.
- Develops recommendations regarding service models, cost-recovery approaches, pricing structures, resource allocations, and partnership frameworks.
- Maintains governance documentation, partnership records, decision logs, approval records, and related documentation.
- Identifies recurring operational, contractual, or service-delivery challenges and implements solutions that improve accountability, efficiency, consistency, and client satisfaction.
Qualifications / Requirements:
- Undergraduate degree in business administration, public administration, project management, adult or continuing education, communications, or a related field; graduate degree considered an asset.
- Current Project Management Professional (PMP) designation required.
- Minimum 5 years of progressively responsible experience in partnership management, business development, strategic projects, consulting, client/account management, program development, or a related field.
- Demonstrated experience providing leadership, coaching, and work direction to professional staff and cross-functional teams.
- Demonstrated experience managing a portfolio of strategic partnerships, client relationships, programs, services, or business initiatives.
- Experience developing business cases, partnership proposals, strategic recommendations, and executive briefing materials.
- Experience negotiating and administering contracts, memoranda of understanding, service agreements, or other complex partnership arrangements.
- Proven ability to provide strategic advice and influence decision-making with senior leaders, clients, and collaborators.
- Strong business acumen, including the ability to assess strategic alignment, operational feasibility, financial sustainability, resource requirements, and organizational risk.
- Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives involving multiple partnerships and competing priorities.
- Strong relationship management, consultation, facilitation, negotiation, and partnership engagement skills.
- Advanced analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities, with experience evaluating options and developing practical, evidence-informed recommendations.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing proposals, agreements, presentations, reports, and executive communications.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, manage ambiguity, and prioritize effectively in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience establishing performance measures, evaluating outcomes, and driving continuous improvement initiatives.
- Experience in a post-secondary environment is strongly preferred.
- Experience with service delivery models, alternative credentials, continuing education, or professional learning environments is considered an asset.
- Experience with enterprise business systems, reporting tools, and data-informed decision-making is considered an asset.
Application Deadline: November 11, 2026
We would like to thank all applicants in advance for submitting their resumes. Please note, only those candidates chosen to continue on through the selection process will be contacted.
This position is classified in the
Professional Career Band, Level 3 of the Management and Professional Staff Career Framework.
For a listing of all management and staff opportunities at the University of Calgary, view our
Management and Staff Careers website.
About The University Of Calgary
UCalgary is Canada's entrepreneurial university, located in Canada's most enterprising city. It is a top research university and one of the highest-ranked universities of its age. Founded in 1966, its 36,000 students experience an innovative learning environment, made rich by research, hands-on experiences and entrepreneurial thinking. It is Canada's leader in the creation of start-ups. Start something today at the University of Calgary. For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.
The University of Calgary has launched an institution-wide Indigenous Strategy
ii' taa'poh'to'p committing to creating a rich, vibrant, and culturally competent campus that welcomes and supports Indigenous Peoples, encourages Indigenous community partnerships, is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives in all that we do.
The university's commitment to the Indigenous Strategy is evident through the oversight of 18 Elders serving on the Circle of Advisors and the many unit-based circles working towards implementation of the strategy including the Faculty Advisory Circle and teams such as the Office of Indigenous Engagement, the Writing Symbols Lodge, and the Indigenous Research Support Team. Many Indigenous-based events and processes are impacting curriculum, programming and polices at the University of Calgary.
As an equitable and inclusive employer, the University of Calgary recognizes that a diverse staff/faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers that have been historically encountered by some people in our society. We strive to recruit individuals who will further enhance our diversity and will support their academic and professional success while they are here. In particular, we encourage members of the designated groups (women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible/racialized minorities, and diverse sexual orientation and gender identities) to apply. To ensure a fair and equitable assessment, we offer accommodation at any stage during the recruitment process to applicants with disabilities. Questions regarding [diversity] EDI at UCalgary can be sent to the Office of Institutional Commitments ([email protected]) and requests for accommodations can be sent to People & Culture ([email protected]).
Do you have most but not all the qualifications? Research show that women, racialized and visible minorities, and persons with disabilities are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At UCalgary we are committed to achieving equitable, diverse, inclusive and accessible employment practices and workplaces and encourage you to apply if you believe you are right for this role.
We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, however preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. 
