Senior Planner/Project Manager

The Opportunity:

WSP is currently seeking a Senior Planner or Project Manager with experience or interest in project management to join our Planning, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design department. The position is located in our Kitchener office. Reporting to the Manager, the successful candidate will be responsible for contributing to our community planning projects involving all aspects of land use planning, with a specific focus on work being undertaken for municipal clients. The successful candidate will be critical to supporting Project Management teams and leading effective delivery of a range of municipal land use planning studies. The successful candidate can expect to be challenged in a variety of tasks undertaken in a fast-paced and dynamic business environment.

What you can expect to do here:

• Authors or coordinates authorship of planning reports, planning studies, zoning by-laws, official plans, secondary plans, community improvement plans, and other projects;
• Manages or is moving towards managing small to medium-sized municipal planning projects;
• Supports Project Managers on larger, more complex municipal planning projects as Deputy Project Manager or in a Senior Planner role;
• Provides planning advice and works within a wide variety of municipalities, including large urban, small towns, and rural communities;
• Contributes to WSP’s Centre of Excellence in municipal planning, where a national group of WSP’s professionals gather to share innovative approaches and strategize about business development;
• Prepares or contributes to work plans and proposals to respond to municipal requests for proposals for a variety of municipal planning projects;
• Ensures the prioritization of high-quality work that is representative of WSP’s strong commitment to quality;
• Stays current with planning trends, best practices, and legislative changes;
• Nurtures relationships with municipal clients and internal relationships with other WSP staff and fosters new relationships through business development and strategic pursuits;
• Monitors or supports monitoring of project budgets and schedules, and identifies risks and issues early on so that they can be managed more effectively;
• Supports mentorship and motivates early career professionals and project teams;
• Delivers engaging presentations to the public, stakeholders, and municipal councils, in virtual and in-person settings;
• Exercises tact, diplomacy, and professionalism when interacting with external stakeholders, clients, the public, politicians, and colleagues;
• Manages or is involved in a variety of different projects, sometimes taking on different defined roles and with conflicting priorities, and as such exercises superior time management skills and nimbleness;
• Identifies challenges, risks, opportunities, and identifies creative solutions to overcome problems;
• Coordinates, liaises, and/or leads multi-disciplinary teams on land use planning projects, such as urban design, landscape architecture, engineering, and others.

What you’ll bring to WSP:

• University degree in Planning, Environmental Studies, or Communications, Public Policy, Geography, or a similar degree;
• At least 5 years of progressive experience in a municipal or consulting environment;
• Excellent written and oral communication and time management skills;
• A strong interest in municipal planning, public policy, and/or land use regulation;
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience of provincial land use planning legislation and policy, and application of that knowledge to municipal land use planning projects.
• Demonstrated public consultation experience, including experience facilitating stakeholder and public meetings;
• Demonstrated experience with delegating tasks to staff or managing projects;
• Experience with SketchUp, Adobe Creative Suite or similar tools or demonstrated knowledge in urban design principles and practices is an asset;
• Highly motivated, organized, flexible, and enthusiastic team player committed to upholding our reputation for delivering high quality service;
• Strong Project Management experience with complex municipal or land development planning projects comprised of multi-disciplinary teams;
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to collect, organize, query, analyze, and effectively communicate information;
• Full Membership, or eligibility for Full Membership, in the Ontario Professional Planners Institute and the Canadian Institute of Planners;
• Membership in the International Association for Public Participation and/or Project Management Institute is an asset;
• Valid Ontario Driver’s License.

Please Note: Health and Safety is a core paramount value of WSP. Given the importance of keeping one another safe it is expected that you comply with our Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) policy at all times as well as client HSE policies when working at client locations.

WSP welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

WSP is committed to the principles of employment equity. Only the candidates selected will be contacted.

WSP does not accept unsolicited resumes from agencies.