Manager, Capital Infrastructure Planning

Role Responsibilities

Lead the Way: Plan Sustainable Infrastructure for Alberta Parks!

Your passion can help protect Alberta Parks - be part of the team that ensures their vitality and enjoyment for all who visit.

The Manager of Capital Infrastructure Planning is crucial in shaping Alberta’s parks and public lands for sustainable outdoor recreation while preserving natural landscapes. This role involves collaborating with diverse and passionate stakeholders to identify needs and plan appropriate infrastructure. The position must consider site-specific impacts, broader system effects, and long-term factors like operational costs, maintenance and staffing levels.

Leading a team, the Manager oversees the creation of detailed infrastructure proposals for campgrounds, day-use areas, trails, and other recreation sites that align with the ministry’s goals for outdoor, nature-based recreation, conservation and tourism. This involves navigating complex situations, managing significant budgets, and balancing conflicting interests to create comprehensive development plans.

Operating independently, the Manager visits parks across the province to meet with stakeholders, analyze options and provide recommendations for development of recreation amenities that meet the mandate of Alberta Parks.  Take the lead in making a lasting impact by helping to enrich Alberta Parks, where your work will create spaces for nature to thrive and visitors to connect.  

Role Continued

Responsibilities may include but are not limited to:

Infrastructure Planning:
•    Develop comprehensive plans to redevelop infrastructure, incorporating regional and provincial input, current status, future goals, strategic direction, regulatory requirements, operational realities, asset management, and stakeholder needs.
•    Perform field investigations in parks throughout the province to determine constraints and opportunities for various types of recreation amenities. 
•    Collaborate with experts on environmental, recreational and land management considerations.
•    Manage contracts for feasibility, planning, and engineering within budget.
•    Support the Project Management team during design and construction.

Stakeholder Engagement:
•    Develop engagement plans to notify, consult, or engage with Indigenous communities, stakeholders and public.
•    Secure necessary approvals and foster relationships across departments.
•    Lead external engagement activities, ensuring effective communication and advanced consensus-building and conflict resolution skills.

Team Leadership:
•    Supervise and guide Planners by assigning work, prioritizing tasks and working within deadlines.
•    Analyze infrastructure development plans to ensure recommended site-specific development is appropriate.
•    Develop tools and processes to enhance planning efficiency and effectiveness.
•    Review planning products for clarity, consistency, and alignment with goals.
•    Establish strong relationships with planning teams and adopt innovative approaches for planning synergies.

Program Support and Strategic Initiatives:
•    Translate strategic direction into actionable infrastructure development plans and phased implementation strategies.
•    Support the development and implementation of infrastructure standards to guide capital planning, ensuring clear direction for infrastructure investment decisions.
•    Participate in collaboration opportunities with divisional and other relevant staff.
•    Prepare reports, briefing packages, action requests, business cases, and feasibility studies.

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.

Systems Thinking - Considers inter-relationships and emerging trends to achieve goals, seeks insights on the implications of various options, analyzes long-term outcomes while focusing on goals and values, and identifies unintended consequences.

Creative Problem Solving - Engages the community and available resources to address issues by seeking root causes, improving complex systems, leveraging external resources, and encouraging debate and idea generation to solve problems while managing risks.

Develop Networks - Maintains close relations with stakeholders by identifying key relationships, engaging with a range of interested parties, incorporating the needs of a broader group, and influencing others through effective communication techniques.

Drive for Results - Strives to exceed goals by planning based on past experience, holding oneself and others accountable for results, partnering with groups to achieve outcomes, and aiming to surpass expectations.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

University graduation in a related field (such as planning, landscape architecture, civil engineering, natural resource, environmental, outdoor recreation) plus 4 years of progressively responsible related experience in planning, park development or recreation planning.  

Equivalency:
Directly related education or experience considered on the basis of: 
•    1 year of education for 1 year of experience
•    1 year of experience for 1 year of education

 
Requirements:    
•    Progressively responsible supervision experience managing and leading a team to success.
•    Demonstrated success in planning to manage a wide variety of issues, mobilize resources and find innovative solutions to complex issues and problems.
•    Experience in public, stakeholder, and Indigenous engagement.
•    Proficient communication and interpersonal skills.
•    Demonstrated strength in building consensus, mediating disputes, and resolving conflicting interests.

Assets: 
•    Registered Professional Planner (RPP)
•    Knowledge of Alberta's Provincial Parks Act and associated regulations.
•    Awareness of construction practices, park operations, outdoor recreation and environmental or natural resource policy.
•    Able to work and travel in a variety of remote and rugged terrain and degrees of isolation in all weather conditions, sometimes in the backcountry (i.e., hike, OHV, bike).

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.

Notes

Term of Employment: Full time, permanent
 

Hours of Work: 36.25 hours per week
 

Locations: This is a provincial position.  Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Edmonton, Calgary, Canmore, Cochrane and other locations across Alberta will be considered.

The position is located in an office setting with approximately 10% field work required.  Travel throughout the province will be required
 

Resume: 
Include date ranges (month and year) associated with all education and work experience.
Indicate whether your work experience was casual, part time (PT) or full time (FT).
Example: Assistant: Jan 2016 – June 2019 (PT 3 eight-hour shifts per week).

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.

What the GoA has to offer prospective employees:
•    Working for the Alberta Public Service - https://www.alberta.ca/advantages-working-for-alberta-public-service.aspx.
•    Management Employees Pension Plan (MEPP) - https://www.mepp.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/or modified work schedule agreement.
•    Leadership and mentorship programs.