Head Of Commercial Management - Toronto Transit Commission (Ttc)

A career-defining opportunity for a transformational leader who has established a Commercial Management function, practices and processes within a major public or private sector organization, and has the experience, expertise and confidence to successfully carry out such a complex mandate within the most visible and vital public transit system of Canada’s largest city.

About the TTC

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), North America’s 3rd largest transit system, has been recognized as one of the top places to work in the GTA. Guided by a forward-thinking strategic plan, the TTC vision is to be a transit system that makes Toronto proud. Its recruitment efforts are directly aligned to the mission of providing “a reliable, efficient, and integrated bus, streetcar and subway system that draws its high standards of customer care from our rich traditions of safety, service and courtesy”. The TTC is committed to the principles of diversity and inclusion. In December 2020, the TTC launched a 10-Point Action Plan to build greater diversity and inclusion, this includes attracting a more diverse workforce and positively impacting the diverse communities it serves.

About the Role

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer and leveraging your business acumen and experience implementing a brand-new practice, you will establish the TTC’s inaugural Commercial Management Services Department, honing its purpose, setting the vision and direction of the function, and creating commercial management as a discipline throughout the TTC, developing and establishing consistent management policies, practices and processes based on leading practice. This will include leading the design and implementation of the business model, the organizational structure, and associated roles and responsibilities, competencies and skillsets, recruitment, and the departmental culture for the new Commercial Management function to effectively deliver these services for the TTC.

In this newly created role, you will be key to establishing this function and practice as a trusted business partner that delivers the highest level of performance, quality and customer service, through relationship-building with senior management, leading through influence, and applying change management approaches and techniques to foster the internal partnerships needed to fulfill the Department’s vision.

As Head of Commercial Management, you will be instrumental in enabling the systematic and efficient commercial management considerations of contract creation, execution, analysis and monitoring to maximize the operational and financial performance of TTC’s third party agreements for goods and services and minimize risk. Your strong understanding, knowledge and adoption of leading practices will prove invaluable in maintaining the TTC’s standing as a reputable business partner with the supplier and vendor community, and ensuring that Commercial Management approaches, policies and practices are aligned with the marketplace.

A recognized relationship builder, you’ll facilitate collaboration between TTC subject matter experts and external third parties to maximize the end-to-end value derived from vendor relationships and resolve significant commercial issues. You will work in partnership with the Head, Materials Management and the Head, Procurement & Category Management, to ensure clarity of business needs, specifications and organizational expectations to deliver proactive Commercial Management services while building consistency and integration between the activities of your respective departments and supporting ongoing transformational initiatives within the Corporate Services Group.

With your extensive experience in leading, coaching and motivating diverse, management teams, effectively advising on priorities and deadlines, and operating as a fully accountable leader, you welcome the opportunity to build, mentor and lead a team of professionals that provide commercial management services across the organization to ensure that business-to-business transactions for services, supplies and agreements are consistently planned, designed, negotiated, awarded and managed by internal stakeholders in accordance with policies and standards set by Commercial Management.

About the Candidate

This mission-critical mandate would be an exceptional career move for an experienced senior manager with a degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Engineering, or Quantity Surveying, or an equivalent combination of experience and education. A Project Management Professional (PMP) designation would be considered an asset, as would a Certified Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP) designation, or a Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO) designation, or membership in the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (CIQS), or Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

To succeed in this vital role, you will bring experience at the VP level and extensive knowledge of commercial management, procurement principles, methods for large-scale programs and agreements, project management practices, frameworks and standards, preferably in the public sector.

You understand the intersection and relationships between contract, financial, project and commercial management. By leveraging this knowledge, you will be a key contributor to the successful delivery of complex, major capital projects that are valued as high as $1.5 billion, as well as critical goods and services provided by third parties that are essential to TTC’s core mandate.

Beyond administrative skills and expertise, you exhibit an understanding of, and ability to deftly handle, B2B relationships, working effectively and productively with vendors to deliver the needs of the organization.

Given the scope of the position, you must have, or rapidly acquire, a comprehensive knowledge of the TTC organizational structure, operations, policies and practices, and collective agreements applicable to the work being performed, as well as the Ontario Human Rights Code and Related Orders, including disability accommodation and accessibility requirements pertaining to passengers and employees.

To apply to this senior managerial role in public transit, submit your application to Phelps by clicking: https://bit.ly/3Kw4g7u

Application deadline: August 25th, 2023.

Diversity and Accessibility Statement

The TTC is committed to fostering a positive workplace culture with a workforce that is representative of the communities it serves. Committed to the principles of diversity and inclusion, the TTC encourages applications from all qualified applicants. Accommodation is available for applicants, including those with disabilities, throughout the recruitment process, please contact Human Resources - Employment Services at (416) 393-4570.

Please Note: We thank all applicants for their interest but advise that only those selected for an interview will be contacted.