Job Title: Manager, Research (Paternity Leave Replacement)
Reports To: Head of Marketing
Term: Four- to five-month contract, exact timing to be confirmed
Anticipated Start Date: Mid-February 2020
Job Purpose and Function
The Manager, Research supports Vancouver Economic Commission’s (VEC) research team in the provision of data, intelligence and analysis to inform VEC’s activities; uphold VEC’s core principle of “Research as an Engine”; and ensure VEC communications are accurate, defensible and evidence based.
Duties and Responsibilities
Research
- Collaborate with the Head of Marketing and management team, as well as across all VEC departments, to carry out appropriate research and marketing projects that support increased brand awareness of VEC and Vancouver as a place to successfully conduct business.
- Lead and conduct economic research for VEC by monitoring trends, keeping updated on economic and political developments, and forecasting major economic indicators.
- Assess and develop relevant data sources that support VEC’s research/strategic initiatives.
- Develop publication products that communicate the results of VEC analyses and establish VEC as a thought leader on issues of economic impact and development, particularly for priority sectors.
- Support the development of publication products that communicate the results of ETL analyses and establish ETL as a valued source for relevant data on issues related to economic impact and development (ie. projects specifically held within the ETL construct).
- Identify best practices, emerging trends and opportunities for VEC to assume a leadership role in economic development research, marketing and the communications.
- Liaise and build relationships with key internal and external informants on research project development and implementation, as well as related data sources.
- Liaise and collaborate with regional, provincial, national and international agencies on economic development research and marketing best practices, as well as emerging trends.
Strategy and Planning
- Provide recommendations to the CEO and directors on strategic matters as needed.
- Support the development of a successful operational model for ETL.
- Provide recommendations and leadership to the City through an economic lens with respect to the Vancouver Plan and Employment Lands and Economy Review (as required).
- Act in key strategic and leadership roles, both internally within VEC and externally with senior-level stakeholders across the private, public, philanthropic and academic sectors (nationally and internationally).
Project Management
- Gather research and conduct analyses of Vancouver’s business community to determine trends in environmental action, social issues and collaborative potential between businesses.
- Develop project visions, concept plans, objectives, metrics for success and budgets.
- Manage projects within scope, budget and timelines.
- Collaborate with the internal workforce, the research team and external contractors to ensure deliverables adhere to schedule and objectives.
- Report project updates and progress to all internal and external stakeholders.
Media
- Collaborate with VEC’s Communications Specialist to prepare speaking notes for the CEO, other VEC staff and external parties such as the Mayor’s Office, City Manager, etc.
- Provide verbal and written briefings on strategic issues to VEC and external stakeholders, with emphasis on translating technical/quantitative information for non-technical audiences.
- Provide support as needed on communications initiatives that relate to content creation promoting local success stories, Vancouver rankings, blogs, etc.
- Represent VEC as sector subject matter expert at various speaking engagements, participating in key industry events, networking, education and advocacy.
Sponsorship & Funding
- Collaborate with VEC’s Marketing & Research team on design and content specifications for VEC response to funding proposals, FDI packages and sponsorship efforts.
- Support sponsorship efforts by providing research points, statistics and data to VEC staff.
- Plan and execute the deliverables of successful funding applications and partnership proposals.
Administration
- Perform routine data entry to maintain up-to-date record of opportunities, leads, project status and data collection using VEC’s CRM platform.
- Other activities and duties as assigned by the Head of Marketing.
Qualifications
- Post-secondary education, ideally in a relevant field (economics, analytics, data science etc.)
- 7+ years of experience working in research or related field.
- Ability to distil complex ideas and communicate easily digestible messaging.
- Experience building relationships with, and servicing, c-level suite stakeholders.
- Strong experience in stakeholder negotiations and client management.
- Highly organized with the ability to handle multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience modeling economic impact of policy interventions.
- Experience in policy development and analysis.
- Project management experience specifically related to economic development and data analytics.
- Ability to foresee economic and business challenges, troubleshoot and problem solve.
- Expert ability to analyse and interpret macro and micro datasets.
- Ability to analyse data and pull insights that can be used to prepare reports and presentations.
- Experience preparing brief notes for senior-level staff/government.
- Experienced in advocacy at senior levels of government and working with/within corporations.
- High level of computer and digital literacy skills (Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office Suite, Internet/Web etc.).
- Expert attention to detail alongside organizational, interpersonal and verbal/written skills.
- Expert presentation skills; comfortable leading workshops and industry meetings/events.
How to Apply
At the Vancouver Economic Commission, we are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce that represents the community we so proudly serve. We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds, including Indigenous applicants, all genders, nationalities and persons with disabilities.
Applications are now closed.
