Senior Specialist, Business Operations

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Posting Reason:

Replacement of a regular position

Job Type:

Employee

Anticipated Duration in Months (for contracts and temporary assignments):

N/A

Job Family:

Business Operations

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service - Department:

Business Operations

Campus:

Main Campus

Union Affiliation:

SSUO

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/07/16

Applications must be received BEFORE (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/07/27

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

SSUO Grade 11

Salary Range:

$90,987.00 - $114,932.00

About the Office of the Chief Risk Officer:
The Office of the Chief Risk Officer offers a rewarding journey where your skills and passion for risk management will play a key role in shaping the future of the University of Ottawa. Our Office oversees Operational and Enterprise Risk Management, Insurance, Internal Audit, Protection Services, Emergency Management, and Health, Safety and Environmental Management. Our team is dedicated to ensuring the resilience and continuity of our operations. With a commitment to excellence, you'll have the opportunity to contribute significantly to promoting risk culture within our institution. We strive to be a valued partner and key player in advising and supporting University leadership, faculties, and staff, helping to foster a culture of informed decision-making.
Join us in building a resilient future for the University of Ottawa and become part of our collaborative and forward-thinking team.

Position Purpose:

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Business Operations, the incumbent provides leadership and guidance on the Office of the Chief Risk Officer (OCRO) programs for continuous improvement and changes in business processes. Work with partners to identify and mitigate potential risks and act as a liaison officer with the relevant teams across the university. Play an important role in the design and testing of the solutions put forward that support various endeavors to improve the efficiency of the organization’s operations.

Working closely with clients and various levels of management to provide business expertise and support in the delivery of programs and business processes by proposing and developing solutions with a strategic approach to better decision-making to meet the expectations of each sector under the OCRO.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Project management: Plans and develops business intelligence projects, including scoping solutions, identifying data sources and business rules, evaluating the technical and operational feasibility of solutions proposed. For this purpose, the incumbent works in close collaboration with interdisciplinary teams consisting of business owners and stakeholders. Leads inter-disciplinary project according to the needs of each project and negotiates with client managers in other departments.

• Business Analysis: Contribute to the evaluation of the business and operational requirements of client needs, both explicit and implicit, and investigate improvements to the procedures, implementation and development as deemed necessary. Write business cases, communicate, and validate these with teammates, manager and others involved in the process in order to maximize the effectiveness and minimize the impact of obstacles.

• Business Requirements: Identify, design, and refine business processes and transactions.  Develop business requirements from the different components of the OCRO programs, processes and procedures and other tools to translate them into functional specifications to refine or develop new business processes.

• Impact Assessment: Anticipate risks and issues in plans and requirements and work in collaboration with professionals to take appropriate action to resolve them. Understand the inter-connectedness of internal and external systems, and the impact that changes will have on the business processes. Ensure that designs are integrated into a solution that is fully tested, functional, and accurate. Ensure the smooth transition of all enhancements into the daily operations of users. 

• Operational Services: Act as an expert to resolve complex requests or complaints from stakeholders and escalate to the next level if necessary. Implement operational processes and prioritize service requests to provide quality services. Work according to established operational and customer services norms and intervene quickly to correct data or system issues.

What you will bring:

• University Degree in Commerce, Administration, Computer Science, Information Technology, Management Information Systems (MIS), a related field, or/and an equivalent combination of education and experience

• Five (5) years of experience supporting business units and their operations.

• Lean Six Sigma green belt certification or working towards certification, or other process improvement methodology.

• Experience in Business Management in supporting front line operations with a vision of creating efficiencies, streamlining business processes with a focus on creating a seamless experience.   

• Thorough knowledge and experience of business processes, rules and management systems that are used by a university or a large-scale organization.

• Knowledge of project management methods and practices.

• Knowledge of various software and web applications, including external products and their interactions with systems.

• Analytical skills to convert business requirements into functional specifications, as well as the ability to conceptualize individual requirements and create links between different stakeholders’ needs.

• Demonstrated knowledge of handling confidential and sensitive information.

• Ability to manage and resolve unusual, contentious and/or sensitive legal matters in dealing with a wide variety of members while maintaining diplomacy and professionalism.

• Ability to interpret, explain and apply regulations, procedures, and methods of the university.

• Strong attention to detail for working closely within systems and across different environments.

• Ability to adapt to changing requirements and processes, challenge ideas, and accept new methods and procedures.

• Ability to be proactive in keeping abreast of new/emerging business processes.

• Bilingualism - French and English (written and spoken).

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Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 
Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.
The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact [email protected] to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.
If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.