Operations Director

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR (Permanent, full-time)

PDF Links: 运营总监 – https://bit.ly/3szeI4c / English – https://bit.ly/3rPF579

This role is part of our shift to a new 3-director leadership team, and will lead our financial management, human resources, IT, and internal systems. We’re looking for someone who is deeply aligned with SWAN’s mission and loves building organizational culture and infrastructure in an advocacy and service provision context.

Schedule: 40 hours/week (Reduced work week and/or flexible hours to accommodate child, elder or other care responsibilities possible for the right candidate)

Location: Downtown Vancouver, with majority of time working onsite (subject to COVID-19 precautions)

Application Deadline: Saturday, March 12, 2022

About us: SWAN Vancouver is a non-profit organization situated on the stolen ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Through frontline services and systemic advocacy, SWAN promotes the rights, health, and safety of im/migrant women who are engaged in indoor sex work. Based on our core values of safety, rights-based, self-determination, anti-racism, equity, integrity, and intersectional feminism, SWAN’s work centers the voices and lived realities of the im/migrant women we serve. All of the women accessing SWAN’s services are racialized, and our service and work are strongly influenced by multiple and varied intersections they experience in their own lives, including race, class, age, socioeconomic status, language, and ability.

The Opportunity: SWAN is looking for an Operations Director who loves building organizational culture and infrastructure in an advocacy and service provision context. SWAN has recently gone through a period of significant growth; you, the ideal candidate, are excited to lead the evolution of our systems, policies, and practices to meet our growing needs. You are a collaborative and thoughtful leader who communicates clearly and honestly, engages people in planning and decision-making processes, and translates your commitment to intersectional feminism and anti-racism into operational reality.

The Operations Director is a new leadership position at SWAN, leading financial management, human resources, information technology, internal systems, and day-to-day operations within a small non-profit team (currently 8-10 staff). As our long-serving Executive Director prepares to exit the organization over the next year, SWAN is shifting to a collaborative 3-director leadership team model: Program Director, Operations Director, and Community Engagement Director, who will jointly report to the Board of Directors.

To succeed in this role, the Operations Director must be a strong manager and have a collaborative approach to leadership. SWAN seeks a team member with the ability to work effectively with people from various abilities, life situations and cultural backgrounds. Language skills in Cantonese, Mandarin, and/or other languages spoken by im/migrant women who are engaged in indoor sex work in Metro Vancouver are a strong asset.

SWAN recognizes that people from communities who experience marginalization (e.g., on the basis of gender, ethnicity, citizenship/immigration status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, involvement in sex work) may be less likely to apply for leadership positions. We strongly encourage you to apply if you have a passion for SWAN’s mission and meet the required qualifications and competencies.

We welcome applications from people for whom this would be their first director-level role. Applicants with lived experience in sex work, immigration and/or the migrant work sector will be given preference.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Organizational Leadership

• The successful candidate will serve as a passionate, visionary leader whose primary role is to build strong organizational and operational culture grounded in SWAN’s values and ensure that day-to-day systems, processes, and infrastructure are effectively meeting SWAN’s needs.
• Work collaboratively as part of the leadership team to ensure the health and effectiveness of the organization and its people.
• Work collaboratively as part of the leadership team and with the Board of Directors to develop and implement strategy, ensure that SWAN is effectively governed, and meet federal charity and provincial non-profit society compliance requirements.
• In partnership with the leadership team, foster effective, equitable, and inclusive internal communication and relationship-building; adjust team meeting structures and schedules accordingly.
• Provide supervision to staff as needed.

2. Financial Management

• Manage SWAN’s day-to-day finances.
• Build annual budgets that reflect the needs of the organization and facilitate financial management and reporting.
• Work with and act as SWAN’s primary staff point person for SWAN’s financial team (i.e., bookkeeper, auditor, treasurer) to ensure financial compliance and to develop and implement new financial policies and procedures.

3. Human Resources Management

• Lead the human resources portfolio, building on existing infrastructure to promote health and mental wellness among staff with the goal of preventing the overwork, burnout and vicarious traumatization which are regrettably common within non-profits.
• Take a strategic and comprehensive approach to providing sustainable physical, cultural, and psychological work conditions that maximize the health and well-being of staff.
• Oversee all Human Resources policies and procedures including hiring, contracting, conducting annual performance reviews and supporting consistent processes for supervision of staff.
• Analyze and update SWAN’s Human Resources policies.
• Train staff on organizational policy and Human Resources processes.
• Support other managers to implement HR policies and practices, including supporting employees through difficult periods.
• Manage organizational Human Resources programs and software.
• Ensure SWAN’s extended health benefits plan is meeting the organization’s needs.
• Lead by example in using consensus building as a tool to empower staff in making and enacting decisions and being accountable to each other, our supporters, SWAN’s community partners and most importantly the women we serve.
• Provide effective management, guidance, mentoring, and professional development opportunities to empower a dedicated team to perform well in their time with SWAN and support their career goals.

4. Operations Management

• Oversee the internal, day-to-day functioning of the organization, including enhancing positive organizational culture.
• Assess, develop and manage organizational infrastructure (systems, processes, physical assets, etc) to achieve the goals outlined in SWAN’s Strategic Plan.
• Oversee purchasing and procurement, including vendor management.
• Oversee information technology systems, including assessing needs, researching and implementing new systems, IT capital planning, and digital security.
• Review Insurance policies to determine if they meet a growing organization’s needs.
• Oversee risk management strategies in the areas of insurance, workplace safety, financial safeguards, and digital security.

5. Fundraising

• Collaborate with the Program Director and Community Engagement Director on fundraising strategy and implementation, with a focus on budget development, restricted fund tracking, and fundraising infrastructure.
• Collaborate with SWAN’s Board and staff to implement fundraising strategy.

QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES:

We strongly encourage you to apply if you have a passion for SWAN’s mission and meet the below requirements:

• You share a strong passion and alignment in values with the work SWAN does and what SWAN stands for.
• You have strong people management abilities and human resources knowledge in a non-profit or community-serving environment.
• You have 2+ years of financial management experience and the ability to manage multiple restricted grant funding streams.
• You possess a strong professional aptitude for technology, including Microsoft Office Suite, small office technology, and Customer/Client/Constituent Relationship Management systems (e.g. SUMAC).
• You are highly organized and reliable.
• You are emotionally intelligent and bring a strong understanding of how power and marginalization function in organizations.
• You have the ability to communicate clearly and build relationships of trust, including with people with different identities and life experiences from you.
• You have the ability to lead and communicate with composure when faced with difficult interactions.
• You possess a highly collaborative approach as well as the ability to work independently.
• You are passionate about managing and leading organizational growth.
• You are a strategic thinker with the ability to identify and develop new approaches to organizational challenges.
• You have the ability to take responsibility for the position responsibilities identified above, including identifying where you will require additional training or external assistance in order to succeed.
• You have the ability to research and learn new skills and knowledge.

The following are considered additional assets (we do not expect any one candidate to have all of these!):

• SWAN is particularly interested in considering applications from Mandarin and Cantonese speakers to reflect and support the majority of im/migrant women served by SWAN.
• 5+ years of non-profit management or leadership experience (combined paid or volunteer).
• Experience being the coordinator or manager responsible for the full charitable financial cycle, from budgeting to audit,
• Experience managing IT/tech in an office or non-profit setting, knowledge of digital security best practices, and/or experience coaching others to use technology effectively.
• Experience working (particularly managing people) in a bilingual environment.
• Experience managing risk in an organizational context.
• Experience with organizational development and capacity building.
• Proven experience at integrating the principles of social justice, decolonizing practices, trauma-informed practice, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in both theory and practice.
• Experience with succession planning.
• Experience with non-profit governance and/or creating inclusive, welcoming spaces for volunteers and clients
• Policy knowledge, education, and/or frontline experience relevant to SWAN’s mission.
• Experience (paid or volunteer) in an organization that undertakes politically sensitive advocacy work.

COMPENSATION:

• Salary & Benefits: $70 000 – $80 000 commensurate with experience, plus extended health benefits upon commencement
• Paid time off: 3 weeks’ vacation plus paid leave over the winter holiday season; Lunar New Year, Easter Monday, Indigenous Peoples Day, all BC statutory holidays; an additional floating religious/cultural observance day; and up to thirteen annual paid leave (sick/mental health) days.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

The application deadline is Saturday, March 12 at 11:59pm. Interested individuals are encouraged to submit a cover letter and resume to jobs [at] swanvancouver [dot] ca. Please send PDFs with your last name and first name first in the file name, e.g. HuiJeewonResume, LeeAlexCoverLetter.

The hiring team may adapt the recruitment process as needed in order to understand candidates’ potential to succeed in this role. Currently, we anticipate that this selection process will include:

• Shortlisting, likely involving a short phone screening call
• A time-limited practical round (modest honorarium offered)
• An interview, which will be via videocall
• Reference checks (please be prepared to provide the names and contact info for three references who can speak to your experience and potential for this role)

We hope to make an offer to the successful candidate by the second week of April. We hope that the successful candidate will be available to start by early May, but can be flexible for the right person (for example, if the candidate would need to relocate from another community).

The hiring team intends to contact all candidates who submit a complete application with updates on their progress through our selection process. We ask that candidates do not call the office. We thank all candidates for their interest and time in applying to the position.

Reference ID: Operations Director Posting – 14 Feb 2022

Application deadline: 2022-03-12

Expected start date: 2022-05-02

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: $70,000.00-$80,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Extended health care
• Flexible schedule
• Paid time off

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

COVID-19 considerations:
SWAN is accurately informed & responds appropriately to COVID – 19 & all public health orders. Social distancing, sanitization, PPE-use & no-contact service provision (& when necessary, service reduction) remain in ongoing effect.

Education:

• Secondary School (preferred)

Experience:

• financial / grant funding management: 2 years (preferred)

Work remotely:

• No