Director of Regulatory Innovation & Integration (Remote)

Who We Are:

World Education Services (WES) is a non-profit social enterprise that supports the educational economic and social inclusion of immigrants refugees and international students. For 50 years WES has set the standard for international academic credential evaluation supporting millions of people as they seek to achieve their academic and professional goals. Through decades of experience as a leader in global education WES has developed a wide range of tools to pursue social impact at scale. From evaluating academic credentials to shaping policy designing programs and providing philanthropic funding we partner with a diverse set of organizations leaders and networks to uplift individuals and drive systems change. Together with its partners WES enables people to learn work and thrive in new places. For more information about WES please visit our website at .

About the Opportunity:

The Director Regulatory Innovation and Integration is a leadership role responsible for overseeing a portfolio that advances innovative and best-practice approaches to regulatory reforms licensure and regional labour market integration. The Director will utilize a whole-of-sector systems level approach to advance and scale licensing reform innovations across provincial and territorial jurisdictions and engage with ecosystem partners to champion Pan-Canadian harmonization efforts.

This Director role is for a senior leader that understands the continuum of regulatory licensure immigration policy and regional realities of labour market integration. The Director brings deep expertise in Canadas regulatory and licensing system leads convening and advocacy efforts and proactively engages a broad group of stakeholders. Working closely with internal teams and external leaders the Director ensures that the portfolio is grounded in real-world applications that drive measurable outcomes.

What Youll Do:

The Director leads WES Canadas strategic agenda focused on occupational licensure reform and sector engagement. Responsibilities include:

• Set the strategic direction for advancing Pan Canadian harmonization efforts with regards to registration / licensure best-practices and labour market integration.
• Work closely with key regulatory bodies and national assessment institutions to catalyze best-practices champion licensing and regulatory reforms identify and scale promising practices in bridging initiatives and alternative occupational registration.
• Advance WESs long-standing recommendation that Canada streamline competency-based credential recognition through innovative and fair registration processes.
• Provide strategic oversight of initiatives ensuring alignment across policy advocacy and organizational priorities to influence government policy and regulatory change.
• Lead WESs engagement with Fairness Commissioners (e.g. Ontarios Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act (FARPACTA)) and equivalent fair registration frameworks in other provinces.
• Lead research on licensing reform best-practices and convene key stakeholders for local and regional input (e.g. provinces post-secondary institutions national bodies municipalities civil society organizations etc.).
• Oversee implementation of strategies and sector partnerships that advance joint federal provincial municipal and/or sectoral advocacy efforts with a range of stakeholders including: regulatory bodies business and industry regional and local chambers of commerce post-secondary institutions settlement labour market think tanks and workforce development organizations.
• Ensure integration of regulatory and labour market intelligence to inform policy strategy and identify emerging opportunities.
• Leverage WESs position as a visible thought leader across regulatory policy and industry conversations and represent WES at conferences consultations and in media.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration and external contributors to maximize impact across teams to achieve WES impact goals
• Shape in partnership with WES Canada leadership and the Strategy Planning and Learning team robust and multi-year learning monitoring and evaluation plans that help advance the work of the Strategy Policy and Research team.
• Build lead and mentor a high-performing multidisciplinary team responsible for knowledge mobilization research advocacy and engagement and foster an inclusive collaborative and supportive team culture focused on innovation results-orientation accountability and prioritization.

Your Experience:

Required

• 10 years of experience at the intersection of occupational licensing regulation and labour market integration in with demonstrable impact at the intersection of these fields.
• Graduate degree / certification in occupational regulation public administration / policy law social sciences or a related fieldor an equivalent combination of education and professional or lived experience.
• Strong familiarity with jurisdictional Fair Registration practices the Regulated Health Professions Act and regulatory modernization debates across professions and compulsory trades.
• Experience building and leading multi-stakeholder coalitions across government regulators employers and business / industry associations.
• 5 years of experience in leading or managing a team with a preference to those oriented to meet system change goals.
• Proven track record of successfully leading system change work and engaging key stakeholders toward a desired goal or outcome.
• Senior people leadership experience including managing policy teams budgets and complex external partnerships.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication with the ability to translate technical regulatory and licensing content for various audiences.
• Strong analytical and research skills with the ability to assess situations synthesize complex information and translate insights into actionable recommendations.
• Demonstrated strategic thinking and systems thinking skills with the ability to navigate ambiguity and contribute to defining clear paths forward .
• Excellent relationship-building skills and interpersonal skills with experience working across stakeholders and cultures.
• Strong ownership and ability to work within ambiguous dynamic and entrepreneurial environments and see each new challenge as an opportunity for change; be comfortable with risk and failure as a natural part of long-term success.
• Demonstrated ability to mobilize knowledge and proactively share relevant insights with internal stakeholders.
• Experience representing an organization externally or supporting public-facing engagements with institutions employers and community organizations.
• Strong program management skills organizational awareness and sound judgment with the ability to align external engagement with internal capacity and priorities.
• Be excited about WES mission impact goals and advancing equity inclusion and diversity.
• Intellectual curiosity adaptability and a proactive can-do mindset with willingness to take on evolving responsibilities.

Desired:

• Fluency in both French and English is an asset with strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to convey information clearly through presentations and reports.

Required Experience:

Director