Senior Business Officer

Important messages

📢 Are you ready to join one of the most engaged and committed workforces in the federal public service? Are you a professional with a passion for economic development? Have you always wanted to be a community leader, support community driven interests and make British Columbia a great place to live and work? If so, we want to hear from you.

Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) is the new federal regional development agency focused on British Columbia’s evolving economy. We are looking for dynamic senior business officers to increase our presence and service in Kelowna and Cranbrook.

These are new positions where you will play a key role in supporting PacifiCan’s renewed emphasis on community economic development. You will work with communities and partners to identify economic priorities and find ways to support economic development opportunities. You will find success in this role if you are curious, business growth-minded, innovative, creative, adaptive, and a conceptual and analytical thinker with excellent communication skills who has the ability to build and manage meaningful relationships within communities.

If you thrive in a challenging, self-directed, fast-paced environment, where your work requires you to manage numerous files simultaneously and you work equally well independently or as part of a team, this is the job for you.

Duties

About the role:
We anticipate hiring for two positions.

Position 1: As a Senior Business Officer for the Southern interior of British Columbia, you will live in the Kelowna area and serve the region.

Position 2: As a Senior Business Officer for the Southeast of British Columbia, you will live in the Cranbrook area and serve the region.

For both positions, you will be expected to understand the evolving economic environment of your region and build relationships that will help you to understand and advance community economic development opportunities. You will use your knowledge and networks to facilitate economic development in communities through the following roles:

💼 Convenor – a trusted federal partner that understands local and regional circumstances and can make linkages within and outside of government to drive strategic investments and joint economic ventures.

💼Pathfinder – connect entrepreneurs, economic development organizations and communities with federal programming and services to increase their participation in British Columbia's economy.

💼Advisor – provide insights into regional economic issues to inform national policy and program decisions, and contribute to the development of regional engagement strategies and advice to the federal government.

💼 Investor – guide clients to access PacifiCan’s funding programs to capitalize on strategic regional investment opportunities or identify other sources of funding to support economic growth, job creation, improved economic competitiveness and other related objectives.

Work environment

PacifiCan is an innovative workplace that makes a difference in British Columbia. We care about our accomplishments as a team and about each other. We consistently rank as a top federal department to work in, and we are driven to be the best at what we do. We hire top talent and provide an employment experience that brings out the best in people. We are motivated by achieving great results for British Columbians and Canadians.

Why should you consider a career with PacifiCan? If you join our team, you will:
✔️ Work with engaged people who support each other and love the work they do;
✔️ Contribute to meaningful work that strengthens the economy and makes a real difference in the lives of British Columbians and Canadians;
✔️ Enjoy a culture of continuous learning and support for your professional development;
✔️ Gain exposure to diverse economic sectors and issues of importance to the future economy;
✔️ Enjoy flexible work arrangements;
✔️ Work with modern tools and technology; and,
✔️ Work with an innovative leadership team who is passionate about hiring and developing talent, and achieving results.

Please note: as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are working remotely. If you are appointed to a position, PacifiCan will provide tools and/or equipment to support remote work. As public health restrictions ease, successful candidates will be expected to report to a PacifiCan future work location in Kelowna or Cranbrook, depending on the location of the position to be staffed.

PacifiCan offices are open environments with well-regulated air quality, ergonomic sit/stand workstations, and a combination of natural and fluorescent lighting. The physical demands of these positions include spending a significant amount of time working on a computer, and reading documents. This role will also involve meeting with stakeholders virtually by video and telephone, and in-person as COVID-19 public health measures allow.

Please note, we are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the process, please contact Carolyn Veitch by email at . All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.

Intent of the process

Anticipatory – We expect to fill two permanent full-time positions; one position will be located in Kelowna, BC and the second position will be located in Cranbrook, BC.

This process may be used to establish a pool of qualified candidates to staff similar positions with various tenures, work locations, language requirements and conditions of employment. The pool of qualified candidates may be shared with other federal government departments.

Positions to be filled: 2

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

A covering letter

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

When you apply you will be asked a series of screening questions based on the education and experience criteria below. When answering the screening questions, please provide:
► Concrete and detailed examples to demonstrate how you meet the qualifications;
► Where, when and how the experience was acquired.

Education:
✔️Graduation with a degree from a recognized post-secondary institution with acceptable specialization in a field relevant to the position OR a combination of education, training and professional experience.

Degree equivalency

Experience:
✔️ Significant* experience developing and sustaining collaborative working relationships with diverse stakeholders, including community leaders, businesses and/or economic organizations, to advance economic development projects or initiatives;
✔️ Significant* experience evaluating economic development project proposals, applications for funding, or business plans;
✔️ Recent** experience reviewing financial statements or other financial analyses to evaluate financial sustainability of businesses or not-for-profit organizations;
✔️ Recent** experience developing or negotiating agreements and monitoring progress throughout the life cycle of a project or initiative; and
✔️ Recent** experience analyzing complex*** economic development initiatives or issues, including preparing briefing materials and providing strategic advice to senior management.

*Significant is defined as relevant experience normally acquired through the full time performance of duties for at least two years.
**Recent is defined as relevant experience demonstrated within the past three years.
***Complex issues are defined as economic issues that are ambiguous, poorly defined, and require input, experiences and analysis from multiple sectors, organizations or disciplines.

Note: depth, breadth and scope of experience in any one or combination of the experience factors may be used in screening.

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

Various language requirements
✔️ Most Senior Business Officer positions require proficiency in English as an essential qualification. Some positions may require the use of both official languages (French and English) with various proficiency levels such as BBB/BBB or CCC/CCC.

Information on language requirements

Knowledge:
✔️ Knowledge of how regional development agencies and other federal, Indigenous, provincial and regional/municipal organizations support economic development and diversification in British Columbia;
✔️ Knowledge of key factors influencing the Canadian economy and of the current economic and business trends, opportunities and challenges in British Columbia.

Competencies:
✔️ Strategic relationship building
✔️ Critical thinking and analysis
✔️ Collaboration for impact
✔️ Showing initiative and being action-oriented
✔️ Demonstrating integrity & respect
✔️ Communication (Oral and Written)
✔️ Business acumen
✔️ Adaptability

Abilities:
✔️ Ability to integrate local and regional economic considerations into strategic advice and recommendations.

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

The following criteria will be assessed using the online screening questions. However, they are assets, so you do not need to meet them to be selected, but preference could be given to those who have them.

Here are the assets we are looking for:

Education:
✔️ Graduation with a master’s degree from a recognized post-secondary institution with a specialization in Economics, Business, Finance, Public Administration or other field which may be relevant to the position being staffed.

Degree equivalency

Experience:
✔️ Engaging with and/or presenting to diverse stakeholder groups including businesses, not-for-profit organizations, municipalities and/or Indigenous communities;
✔️ Experience integrating qualitative and quantitiatve economic data to analyze the impacts of investment decisions;
✔️ Delivering or developing initiatives through Grants and Contributions programs;
✔️ Working with Indigenous, provincial, municipal or regional governments;
✔️ Working with stakeholders to advance economic development initiatives within Indigenous communities;
✔️ Providing pathfinding advice/guidance to companies and organizations seeking funding support;
✔️ Assessing applications for repayable funding/loans and/or monitoring a portfolio of repayable project/loans;
✔️ Working with companies and other stakeholders to leverage economic benefits under Canada’s Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) policy;
✔️ Using stakeholder management systems and software applications (e.g., Microsoft
Dynamic CRM, Adobe Writer, Project Gateway); and
✔️ Using advanced excel functions, or other reporting software applications, to create efficiencies in data analysis and reporting.

Note: depth, breadth and scope of experience in any one or combination of the experience factors may be used in screening.

Organizational Needs:
✔️ Pacific Economic Development Canada is committed to having an inclusive and diverse workforce representative of the population we serve. In support of our strategy to achieve our employment equity goals, consideration may be given to candidates who self-identify belonging to one of the following employment equity groups: Aboriginal peoples, persons with disability, visible minorities and women.

Operational Requirements:
✔️ Willingness to travel as required.
✔️ Willingness to work overtime on occasion as required.

Conditions of employment

✔️ Reliability or secret security clearance.
✔️ Mobility normally associated with a Driver’s License.
✔️ Fully vaccinated for COVID 19 unless being accommodated based on a certified medical contraindication or a prohibited ground for discrimination as defined under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Other information

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the Canadians we serve. We promote employment equity and encourage you to indicate if you belong to one of the designated groups when you apply.

Information on employment equity

Depending on the number of applicants, the needs and/or Human Resources plans, volume management strategies such as random selection, top-down approach, and/or establishing cut-off scores to determine who will continue in the staffing process will be used for the purpose of managing applications.

On October 6, 2021, the Government of Canada announced details of its plans to require vaccination across the federal public service.

As per the new Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination for the Core Public Administration Including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, federal public servants in the Core Public Administration and members of the RCMP must attest to their vaccination status. The requirement for employees to be fully vaccinated applies whether they are teleworking, working remotely or working on-site. This is a condition of employment and it applies to indeterminate (permanent), determinate (term), casual, and student hiring. Should you reach the point in the selection process where it is necessary to verify terms and conditions of employment then the hiring manager or a human resources representative will contact you in order to complete an attestation.

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans first and then to Canadian citizens and permanent residents, with the exception of a job located in Nunavut, where Nunavut Inuit will be appointed first.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.