Senior Policy Analyst

Role Responsibilities

Want to join the new and growing Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction?  We have two exciting Senior Policy Analyst positions with the Compassionate Intervention Legislation and Policy team. 

The primary responsibilities of these roles include:

• Leading and/or supporting policy and legislation implementation. 
• Conducting in-depth policy analysis and supporting the alignment of research, policy, program, and ministry initiatives. 
• Collaborating with key internal and external stakeholders to advance Minister’s priorities.  
• Drafting briefings or correspondence, conducting research, preparing reports, or other materials on specific policy topics.
• Designing, implementing, and managing projects. 
• Supporting program-related budget and forecast-related activities.
• Contributing to work related to the day-to-day functioning of the Branch and Ministry on behalf of the Legislation and Policy Unit.
• Dealing with issues which are diverse, complex, and often politically sensitive.
• Maintaining a broad view of the Ministry’s strategic priorities, while considering short and long-term impacts, stakeholder considerations, evidence gained through research as well as multiple social and economic factors when providing advice to senior management.

As the successful candidate, you will have:

• Excellent writing, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Strong analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills.
• The ability to understand government priorities, identify issues, develop appropriate solutions.
• Time management, organizational skills, and the ability to take on multiple projects and tasks and complete them in a timely manner.  
• Ability to prioritize work and produce quality results, often within short timelines. 
• Agility and the ability to work in an environment with changing priorities and short timelines.
• High level of self-management with strong results orientation.
• Political sensitivity and the ability to maintain a neutral and objective approach.
• Ability to effectively gather, synthesize, integrate, and interpret multi-faceted information from a wide range of sources and perspectives.
• Ability to create diverse recommendations based on robust analysis and strategic thinking.
• Strong presentation skills and ability to present results to different types of audiences.
• An understanding of research methods and the policy development cycle. 
• Creativity and flexibility.
• Ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with a variety of diverse internal and external stakeholders.

Please click on this link to view the job description for this position.

APS Competencies

Competencies are behaviors that are essential to reach our goals in serving Albertans. We encourage you to have an in depth understanding of the competencies that are required for this opportunity and to be prepared to demonstrate them during the recruitment process.

This link will assist you with understanding competencies: https://www.alberta.ca/system/files/custom_downloaded_images/psc-alberta-public-service-competency-model.pdf.

This work reflects all APS Competencies with a focus on the following:

Develop Networks

• Identifies key stakeholder contacts with who a relationship must be established
• Maintains contacts with a range of colleagues, clients and stakeholders

Creative Problem Solving 

• Asks questions to get a deeper understanding of present issues
• Contributing ideas for how work can be done differently to solve common problems

Agility

• Asks questions, seeks clarification and assess how things will be different when change is introduced or anticipated
• Takes advantage of opportunities to change how work is completed to better anticipate obstacles and improve service

Drive for Results

• Takes past experience into considerations when making plans and adjusts plans based on past learning
• Identifies and acts on opportunities to partner with other groups to achieve desired outcomes

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements: 

• University degree in a related field such as social sciences, public health, policy studies, humanities, public administration, etc. 
• Minimum of 4 years of progressive experience in policy development, project management and/or research. 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office. 

Minimum recruitment standards outline the minimum education and experience required for appointment to a job classification. 
Refer to https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-public-service-minimum-recruitment-standards

Assets:

• Experience supporting full cycle project management of complex projects including diverse stakeholders and multi-disciplinary teams. 
• Experience working with policy and legislation.
• Experience drafting briefings, presentations, or other documents for decision makers.
• Stakeholder engagement experience.
• Knowledge of policy development procedures, including policy trends and best practices 
• Experience with Microsoft Excel to support budgeting and/or forecasting requests. 
• Understanding of legislation development and cabinet approval processes
• Knowledge of current and emerging mental health and addiction issues, including concurrent disorders, complex needs, health promotion strategies and theories, addiction and mental illness prevention and integration of strategies and services across sectors  
• Knowledge of addiction and mental related legislation including Mental Health Act, the Mental Health Services Protection Act (along with its Regulation and Standards), and the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act.

Equivalencies maybe considered - directly related education or experience on the basis of:

• 1 year of education for 1 year of experience; or
• 1 year of experience for 1 year of education.

Notes

Hours of Work

• 7.25 daily hours
• 36.25 weekly hours
• 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (Monday to Friday)

Location

• Edmonton 

Please provide a cover letter that outlines how your experience and education relates to the role.

Any costs associated with obtaining the required documents/checks as noted or interview travel expenses, will be the responsibility of the candidate. Out-of-province applicants can obtain the required documents/checks from the province they currently reside in. 
 

• Working for the Alberta Public Service - https://www.alberta.ca/advantages-working-for-alberta-public-service.aspx
• Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) - https://www.pspp.ca
• Alberta Public Service Benefit Information - https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-public-service-benefits
• Professional learning and development - https://www.alberta.ca/professional-development-support-directive
• Research Alberta Public Service Careers tool – https://researchapscareers.alberta.ca
• Positive workplace culture and work-life balance.
• Opportunity to participate in flexible work arrangements such as working from home up to two days per week and modified work schedule agreement.
• Leadership and mentorship programs.