Landscape Architect

Landscape Architect

Competition Number: 2025-007, 2025-008

Job Code: 0306

Posting Date: January 23, 2025

Closing Date: February 12, 2025 (at 6:00pm)

Job Status: Permanent Full-Time

The City of Kitchener is a vibrant and dynamic city of approximately 292,000, in the heart of southwestern Ontario. As the largest municipality in Waterloo Region, Kitchener continues to be poised for development and growth, enhancing its reputation as a leader in city-building and innovation, with nationally recognized strategies to build its neighbourhoods, its digital infrastructure and its diverse economy.

Position Overview:

In the City of Kitchener, our parks and open spaces are highly valued and much loved by residents and communities and play a key role in supporting a healthy lifestyle. We are looking for a Landscape Architect with a strong project management background to support a number of key corporate projects helping us respond to current and long-term needs in our communities.

In this position, you will:

• Project manage a variety of capital projects ranging from master planning and implementation of large community parks to redeveloping neighborhood level parks.
• Create and execute drawing and tender sets.
• Conduct onsite inspections and construction administration for capital projects.
• Coordinate with various departments and groups to represent Park’s interests on cross departmental projects such as the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Projects.
• Oversee the work of contractors in the field to ensure timeline, specification and scope compliance.

The Landscape Architect position is a fantastic opportunity for someone who is:

• Excited by delivering parks and open space capital projects.
• Interested in helping shape the strategic vision for Kitchener Parks and Open Spaces.
• A collaborative team player able to foster and sustain relationships needed to lead projects across diverse teams to deliver exceptional project results for parks spaces.
• A strategic thinker with a long-term vision for community spaces.

Responsibilities:

• Coordinating with internal and external stakeholders, create masterplans and visioning and guiding documents for large district level parks and oversee the implementations of such plans.
• Provide strategic vision for the managing and implementation of masterplans of large-scale community parks.
• Represent the division and section as principal project manager and project lead on a range of construction projects.
• Create site plans and detailed designs as well as tender-ready construction drawings and specifications for a broad range of municipal infrastructure projects within parks.
• Prepare landscape restoration strategies including soil remediation and detailed planting designs for natural areas, parks and streetscapes.
• Project manage contracts for tendered projects to be constructed by general contractors, providing technical direction, quality assurance inspections, issuing PO’s, payments, and ensuring adherence to contract schedules, specifications, and budgets.
• Communicate, negotiate, and coordinate projects with partners, agencies, and City staff in other divisions (e.g., Planning, Engineering, GRCA, School Boards).
• Oversee, prepare materials, and coordinate consultation processes for public meetings and consultation with user groups, organizations, and regulatory agencies.
• Represent the division/section as project manager, leading, directing, coordinating and facilitating the work of a team of consultants for a broad range of municipal infrastructure design and construction projects.
• Provide project management leadership across multiple projects with a range of scope and scale.
• Ensure that projects are designed and constructed in accordance with design guidelines and environmental standards, including interpreting and negotiating legislated provincial and federal permits.
• Oversee the work of contractors and trades to ensure compliance to project specification, budgets and timelines.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Requirements:

• 4-year Honours degree in landscape architecture, urban planning, environmental science, or other relevant discipline.
• Professional designation of Landscape Architect with full membership in the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects, with professional stamp.
• 2-4 years of related experience as a Landscape Architect managing projects, preparing design and working drawings, developing master plans and project managing the work of contractors and consultants.
• Valid MTO G class driver's license in good standing and ability to provide Drivers Abstract at your own expense as a condition of employment.
• Knowledge of fundamental landscape architectural theory, materials, landscape development and landscape ecology technologies relating to design and construction processes as well as knowledge of professional practice and ethics related to landscape architecture and planning.
• Design and problem-solving skills and ability to think “outside the box” in order to anticipate and meet a variety of customer expectations.
• Analytical skills to assess and analyze potential implications and issues of designs.
• Technical plan and detailed design preparation, graphic communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to mediate and resolve conflicting interests and foster and maintain positive relationships amongst project team members and stakeholders.
• Ability to write technical reports, project terms of reference and reports to Council.
• Excellent communication and engagement skills with a demonstrated ability to manage community engagement on potential controversial park development projects and initiatives with empathy and transparency to foster trust and relationship building with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Must have highly developed verbal and written communication skills with a customer service focus dealing with internal and external clients.
• Must have demonstrated ability to participate as an effective team member working on both independent and group-focused activities.
• Must have strong interpersonal and public relations skills.
• Must have well-developed promotion, presentation skills and media relations.
• Must have proven organizational skills and the ability to prioritize and multi-task with minimal supervision.
• Reliable with a good attitude and employment record.

The City of Kitchener is committed to an equity-driven, inclusive, accessible, and barrier-free recruitment and selection process, and to ensuring our workforce reflects the full diversity of the community we serve. We welcome applications from Indigenous, Black, racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ persons, as well as other equity deserving groups.

We will accommodate the needs of applicants under the Human Rights Code and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process. Please contact Human Resources at recruitment@kitchener.ca, or 519-783-8081 to make your needs known, so that we can support your full and equal participation throughout the hiring process.

We appreciate the interest of all applicants. Only candidates whose skills, experience and qualifications meet the requirements of the position will be contacted.

Please note that as per Human Resources Policy HUM-HIR-110, "Employment of Relatives of Staff Members and Elected Officials": "The immediate relatives of staff of the Human Resources Division, all Directors, General Managers, or the Chief Administrative Officer and Elected Officials shall not be employed by the City in any capacity."

The immediate relatives of all other Management personnel shall not be employed where such employment would be:

1. within the same Department in the case of permanent full-time, temporary full-time and part-time classifications.
2. within the same Division in the case of students.

Department: Infrastructure Services

Division: Parks and Cemeteries

Union Affiliation: CUPE 791

Number of Positions: 2

Hours of Work: 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday

Initial Location: Kitchener Operations Facility

City: Kitchener

Salary Range: $91,885 - $114,856 annually

Grade/Band: 10