Assistant program director Jobs in Toronto, ON

We are seeking a highly experienced, execution-focused Program Lead who thrives in complex environments and is accountable for delivering strategic outcomes. This is a hands-on functional leadership role requiring active coordination of multiple high-priority workstreams, executive stakeholders, and external partners to successfully deliver critical real estate transformation initiatives.


A minimum of three in‑office days per week is required
Total standard hours per week are 37.5 hours
Location : Winnipeg, or Toronto

Advantages
- Well known and reputable company
- Work in a highly interesting and impactful position within the global security sector.
- This role offers the possibility of extension and transitioning into a full-time role.
- 12 month contract

Responsibilities
The role provides day-to-day mentorship, point of escalation, coordination, prioritization, and workflow direction to assigned project managers; however, it has no people leadership, performance management, hiring, compensation, or talent management responsibilities.

Program Orchestration & Multi-Workstream Management

Concurrently manage three strategic real estate programs, including Toronto Consolidation, Mackenzie Investments and IGWM Distribution initiatives, across varying phases of execution – approximately 40 in-flight projects for 2027, with an annual spend of $45M; and, 25 in 2028 with a $33M spend. Maintain a single source of truth — tracking milestones, dependencies, owners, and blockers in real time. Proactively surface misalignments before they become issues, and keep all moving parts visible and accountable.

Project Planning and Execution

Collaborate with stakeholders to define project objectives, scope, deliverables, and success criteria aligned with business goals. Take an active, hands-on role in execution — directly contributing to problem-solving, solution development, and driving progress, not just overseeing it.

Support executive governance forums, steering committees, and decision-making processes through the preparation of executive-ready reporting, recommendations, and briefing materials. Attend IGWM Distribution Governance Committee and Toronto Project Leadership Committee.

Analytical Decision-Making

Leverage data, dashboards, and KPIs to inform decision-making, track program performance, and demonstrate measurable impact. Build and maintain reporting frameworks that translate operational data into clear, executive-ready insights. Identify trends, anomalies, and risks before they surface in outcomes. Partner closely with Strategy, Planning & Execution as a consumer of their analytic & reporting services.

Prioritization Under Pressure

Rapidly re-prioritize workloads as business needs shift. Make transparent trade-off decisions, communicate changes proactively to stakeholders, and ensure the team stays focused on the highest-impact work at all times.

Initiation and Ownership

Proactively identify gaps, risks, and opportunities. Take personal accountability for following through on action items and driving resolution — even in the face of ambiguity. Champion a culture of high-quality outcomes across yourself and the team.

Risk & Issue Management

Identify, assess, and anticipate risks as projects evolve in a dynamic environment. Develop robust mitigation and contingency plans. Take ownership of driving resolution, not just escalation.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Build strong partnerships across functions. Navigate complex organizational structures, foster open communication, and align diverse stakeholders to deliver cohesive outcomes. Lead updates and collaborate with the business leads for IGWM Distribution Real Estate.

Communication & Reporting

Communicate project status, risks, and solutions clearly and concisely (written & verbally) — both upward to senior executives and across teams. Tailor communication style to audience needs. Provide accurate, timely updates that enable confident decision-making at all levels.

Quality & Change Management

Ensure all deliverables meet quality standards through hands-on involvement and thorough review. Proactively manage changes to scope, schedule, and resources through structured change control processes. Lead Project Managers to execute against the Delivery Framework; as a consumer of the framework, collaborate with Practise Management on opportunities to refine and improve processes.

Process Improvement & Lessons Learned

Lead post-project reviews to capture insights and best practices. Continuously seek and implement improvements to how the team operates.

Qualifications
Qualifications & Experience

Education
University degree or college diploma in Business, Project Management, Real Estate, Construction Management, or a related discipline. PMP, PgMP, PRINCE2, Lean, or equivalent project/program management certification preferred.

Experience
Progressive experience in corporate real estate, workplace transformation, capital projects, portfolio optimization, or related disciplines, including at least 10 years leading complex cross-functional projects or programs.

Personal Attributes
Exceptional program and project management capabilities.
Strong strategic thinking and execution orientation.
Advanced stakeholder management and influencing skills.
Superior organizational and prioritization abilities.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous and rapidly changing environments.
Advanced executive communication and presentation skills.
Strong financial, risk management, and governance acumen.
Demonstrated ability to drive accountability and results without direct authority.
High degree of personal ownership, initiative, and accountability.

Summary
Interested in the role in Toronto or Winnipeg? Apply online today!
Candidates moving towards the next step of the recruitment process will be contacted.

Randstad Canada is committed to fostering a workforce reflective of all peoples of Canada. As a result, we are committed to developing and implementing strategies to increase the equity, diversity and inclusion within the workplace by examining our internal policies, practices, and systems throughout the entire lifecycle of our workforce, including its recruitment, retention and advancement for all employees. In addition to our deep commitment to respecting human rights, we are dedicated to positive actions to affect change to ensure everyone has full participation in the workforce free from any barriers, systemic or otherwise, especially equity-seeking groups who are usually underrepresented in Canada's workforce, including those who identify as women or non-binary/gender non-conforming; Indigenous or Aboriginal Peoples; persons with disabilities (visible or invisible) and; members of visible minorities, racialized groups and the LGBTQ2+ community.

Randstad Canada is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible workplace for all its candidates and employees by supporting their accessibility and accommodation needs throughout the employment lifecycle. We ask that all job applications please identify any accommodation requirements by sending an email to accessibility@randstad.ca to ensure their ability to fully participate in the interview process.