Manager, Economic Development

The Corporation of the City of Markham • Markham, ON

1d • CA$129,511 - CA$174,066 • Onsite

About The Position

The City of Markham is consistently ranked among Canada’s top municipal employers. In 2026, the City received its sixth consecutive Canada’s Best Employers recognition from Forbes and Statista Inc., placing third among municipalities and 15th overall in Government Services. An award-winning municipality, Markham is recognized for its leadership in sustainability, innovative urban planning, and strong fiscal management. Serving a diverse and growing community of more than 370,000 residents, Markham combines rich heritage with a vibrant local economy and offers employees the opportunity to contribute to meaningful, impactful work that helps strengthen the community we serve.

Join us and make a lasting difference!

Reporting to the Director of Economic Growth, Culture and Entrepreneurship, the Manager, Economic Development is key member of the Development Services team. Responsible for setting strategic objectives and developing realistic and challenging plans to initiate and implement a strategic economic development program.

Requirements

• Must possess at least a university undergraduate degree in the field of business, planning, or economic development plus a minimum of at least 3 years’ experience in a leadership/ management role and 7 to 10 years’ experience in business planning and/or economic development, preferably in the public sector.
• Must possess a certification in economic development (EcD or CEcD) and membership in relevant industry / technology groups, professional associations, etc.
• Must possess a valid “G” class driver’s license and a clean driver’s abstract.
• Requires access to a reliable personal vehicle to be used for business purposes.
• Focuses organizational resources on understanding and responding effectively and efficiently to customer needs.
• Encourages innovation and effectively leads, implements, assesses and sustains change initiatives.
• Develops collaborative and high performing teams as well as effective relationships with colleagues and partners.
• Adapts communication approach to needs of audience and situation, and develops staff in this area.
• Ensures work group behaves ethically and complies with expectations, policies and legislation; focuses work group efforts to work plan.
• Builds an engaging environment that supports learning, career development and regular feedback, and that attracts and retains high performing staff.
• Understands and assesses complex concepts, trends and relationships; participates in business planning; makes decisions that align with the City’s strategic direction.
• The consistent delivery of high-quality efficient and customer-centric service that exceeds expectations.
• Our obligation to be responsible and accountable for our actions, decisions and performance.
• Putting people first.
• The confidence we place in each other to act with integrity and fairness.
• Investing in each other and the way we deliver our programs and services.

Nice To Haves

• preferably in the public sector.

Responsibilities

• Operationalizes economic development programming to deliver on the goals of the City’s Economic Development and Culture Strategy to align with the Corporate vision and mission.
• Initiates and directs investment growth opportunities to Markham to contribute to local economic growth.
• Cultivates, manages, and leverages strategic relationships with targeted networks (e.g., business community, academic institutions, real estate development and site selection communities, consular corps and trade commissioner service, business and industry associations, provincial and federal levels of government, etc.) to support business retention and expansion (BR+E) and business attraction to foster new investments into the City.
• Positions and promotes Markham as a leading Canadian municipality and destination for businesses, residents, and visitors through developing and leveraging marketing initiatives and collaterals.
• Fosters a supportive ecosystem for business innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization activities through partnership collaborations with local industries, innovation partners, business associations, academic networks, and regional economic development stakeholders.
• Directs Markham’s foreign direct investment (FDI) portfolio and acts as staff lead on international business missions involving government, the development community, businesses, innovation networks, and academic partners.
• Leverages data, trends, and critical thinking skills to understand and navigate agendas and stakeholder relationships (ie. understand issues and identify solutions/new course of actions).
• Represents the City at business meetings and events and identifies opportunities to bring strategic business events, speakers, and partnerships to promote Markham’s innovation and global brand.
• Represents the City on the industry boards and serves main contact between the City and strategic groups (e.g., TechCONNEX, MBT, ventureLAB, YSpace, Seneca HELIX, York Region, Toronto Global, etc.).
• Provides strategic input/advice by leveraging economic development knowledge and relevant subject matter expertise to support corporate and planning/development projects (ie. Markham Centre, Yonge Street Corridor, Markham Transportation Masterplan, Employment Land Study, Smart City, etc..).
• Provides support and respond to internal stakeholder requests (ie. Mayor and Council and City Departments) with economic data and analysis, marketing collaterals, briefings, memos and council reports.
• Provides leadership, supervision, and mentorship to the team.
• Guides staff in the implementation of the strategic vision and creates a shared vision by soliciting and valuing diverse input obtained from each team member on their work and that of the team.
• Oversees staff collaboration on City-building initiatives including working with planning on the development, promotion and ongoing investment attraction of Markham Centre.
• Succeeds in promptly managing multiple, complex and concurrent projects with political acuity, tact, discretion and initiative.
• Defines, develops, and implements annual business planning and budgeting processes and monitors status throughout the year.
• Oversees the development of strategic plans and monitors their performance.
• Prepares and delivers reports to City Council and senior leadership team.

Benefits

• The City of Markham is committed to inclusive, accessible and barrier free employment practices and to creating a workplace that reflects and supports the diversity of the community we serve. Please let us know if you require accommodation and we will work with you to ensure a barrier free hiring process.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager