Director Workflow Optimization & Capacity Planning - 12 month contract with Benefits

Shoppers Drug Mart•Toronto, ON

7d•CA$128,000 - CA$176,000•Onsite

About The Position

Shoppers Drug Mart is seeking a business analytics leader to enhance the planning, measurement, and execution of pharmacy work across its national store network. This role involves leading a team with diverse skills in workflow analysis, capacity planning, labor modeling, and data analytics. The primary objective is to transform operational data into improved planning and forecasting tools, workflow insights, and actionable recommendations for Pharmacy Operations. The Director will collaborate with various departments including Pharmacy Operations, Finance, HR, Technology, and store-level teams. The ideal candidate will be adept at navigating ambiguous operational challenges, progressing from problem definition and hypothesis development to measurement design, validation, analysis, insight generation, recommendation, and implementation. While labor planning is a key component, the core competencies required are broader, encompassing business analytics, operational judgment, planning discipline, model validation, stakeholder engagement, and execution.

Requirements

Progressive experience in business analytics, operational transformation, management consulting, capacity planning, supply chain planning, process improvement, or a related field.
Post-secondary education in Business Analytics, Operations Research, Engineering, Data Science, Computer Science, Finance, Economics, Business, or another analytical or operational discipline.
Experience leading teams with a mix of technical and business-facing skill sets.
Strong business and analytical acumen.
Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems, develop hypotheses, design measurement approaches, validate data, generate insight, and make practical recommendations.
Experience building, improving, or owning models, forecasts, planning tools, decision-support tools, or operational measurement frameworks.
Strong understanding of how analytics supports operational planning and decision-making.
Comfort working with financial, operational, productivity, and performance data.
Ability to challenge model assumptions, analytical outputs, business logic, and recommendations.
Strong stakeholder management skills, including the ability to influence across functions and levels.
Clear communication skills, including the ability to explain complex analysis in simple business language.
Comfort spending time in operations to understand workflow, constraints, and execution realities.

Nice To Haves

Experience with capacity planning, workforce planning, labor planning, scheduling, productivity modeling, or operational forecasting.
Consulting experience or experience leading cross-functional transformation work.
Experience with process improvement, Lean, workflow analysis, time studies, process mining, or other operational diagnostics.
Specific pharmacy, healthcare, or retail experience.
Familiarity with SQL, Python, R, Power BI, Tableau, or similar analytics tools.
Experience supporting budgeting, annual planning, business cases, or productivity initiatives.

Responsibilities

Lead capacity planning, forecasting, and model improvement, including the ongoing development and enhancement of pharmacy labor planning and forecasting models.
Own the business logic, assumptions, validation approach, and practical application of planning models, ensuring they are accurate, explainable, operationally grounded, and useful for planning, budgeting, scheduling, and decision-making.
Assess model performance, identify deficiencies, test sensitivities, and recommend refinements or redesigns.
Support the deployment of planning models into new business areas, evaluating local operational differences, implementation risks, and change management needs.
Partner with Finance, Operations, HR, and Technology to align planning outputs with enterprise planning, budgeting, and operational processes.
Define and enhance the measurement approach for key pharmacy workflow, productivity, and capacity metrics.
Validate data sources, metric logic, assumptions, and model outputs prior to their use in business decisions.
Foster confidence in data by clearly communicating what is known, estimated, and uncertain.
Utilize workflow data to pinpoint bottlenecks, rework, queue time, wait time, hands-on time, dispensing time, and other process inefficiencies.
Segment stores and workflows to identify opportunities for standardization and areas requiring distinct operating approaches.
Employ methods such as operational diagnostics, process mapping, time studies, data mining, or process mining as appropriate.
Translate business questions into structured analyses and clear decision points.
Test hypotheses and leverage data to confirm, challenge, or refine proposed operational changes.
Develop recommendations that are practical, measurable, and aligned with store execution.
Create decision-support tools and business cases for workflow, capacity, and productivity initiatives.
Assist in pharmacy workflow redesign by identifying pain points, quantifying opportunities, and aiding in prioritization.
Drive initiatives from analysis through to implementation.
Lead and develop a team with diverse capabilities in workflow design, labor modeling, analytics, and decision support.
Establish clear priorities and standards for analytical quality, planning discipline, and validation.
Coach team members on problem framing, hypothesis testing, measurement, data validation, insight generation, and communication.
Provide sufficient analytical direction to challenge assumptions, pressure-test outputs, and elevate work quality.
Adapt leadership style to accommodate varying levels of experience and technical proficiency.
Establish a robust operating rhythm for the team, covering prioritization, stakeholder management, issue escalation, and delivery tracking.
Remove obstacles for the team by engaging relevant partners and escalating issues proactively.