Chief Administrative Officer

• Closing Date: March 23, 2026

Job Description

Lead a Region at the Heart of Atlantic Canada’s Growth and Innovation

Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) is a vibrant, diverse, and forward-looking municipality that serves as the economic, cultural, and educational hub of Atlantic Canada. Home to over half a million residents across more than 200 communities, the Halifax Region blends the character of urban, suburban and rural living with the beauty of over 400 km of coastline. Home to CFB Halifax, the 5th Canadian Division, and major new defence investments, including a $188M naval training facility, the municipality is emerging as a national hub for defence innovation.

Recognized as one of Atlantic Canada’s Top Employers and Canada’s Top Employers for Young People, the municipality continues to experience growth and is focused on creating connected communities, economic opportunity, and a resilient, sustainable region.

HRM is now seeking its next Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), a visionary and strategic leader who will work closely with Regional Council to shape the future of this dynamic region.

Key Responsibilities

Reporting to Regional Council, the CAO provides strategic leadership and oversight of all municipal operations, services, and projects. The CAO serves as the principal advisor to Council, ensuring Council’s priorities are operationalized effectively and transparently. This role includes:

• Leading a workforce of over 5,000 employees in a unionized environment while fostering a culture of collaboration, strategic risk taking, accountability and service excellence.
• Driving modernization of services and processes and organizational change to improve resident experience and ensure efficient, responsive service delivery.
• Stewarding the municipality’s billion-dollar budget with strong financial acumen and long-term fiscal management and sustainability in mind.
• Breaking down silos internally and building cohesion across business units while effectively navigating the Staff–Regional Council relationship.
• Partnering closely with the Mayor to shape and advance Council’s strategic agenda and support opportunities to address key challenges.
• Advancing strategic priorities in housing, planning, infrastructure, transit, and climate action.
• Serving as a credible and diplomatic representative of the municipality, fostering constructive community engagement and strong, collaborative relationships with the provincial government.
• Embedding equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and reconciliation into all aspects of municipal governance and service delivery.

Ideal Candidate Profile

As the ideal candidate, you are a transformational leader with deep experience in senior executive roles within complex, multi-partner environments. You bring:

• Proven success managing large organizations and significant budgets, with strong fiscal management expertise.
• Expertise in governance, strategic planning, and modernizing service delivery in a growth context.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cultural transformation and organizational change.
• Exceptional political acumen and communication skills, with the ability to navigate nuanced relationships and build consensus.
• Courage, resilience, and decisiveness to lead through ambiguity, fiscal pressures, and competing priorities.
• A demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and reconciliation.

Above all, you inspire confidence and collaboration, uniting people around a shared vision and translating strategy into action.

This is a rare opportunity to lead at a defining moment, guiding HRM through continued growth, fiscal challenges, and transformative change that will shape the region for generations.

Halifax Regional Municipality is committed to reflecting the community it serves and recognizes Diversity and Inclusion as one of the Municipality’s core values. We have an Employment Equity Policy and welcome applications from African Nova Scotians and Other Racially Visible Persons, Women in occupations or positions where they are underrepresented in the workforce, Indigenous/Aboriginal People, Persons with Disabilities and 2SLGBTQ+ Persons. Applicants are encouraged to self-identify through this online self identification questionnaire .

KBRS will provide support in its recruitment processes to applicants with disabilities, including accommodation that considers an applicant’s accessibility needs. If you require accommodation to participate as a candidate in the recruitment process, please contact accommodate@kbrs.ca or communicate your needs to our team.