PROJECT MANAGER

City of Toronto•Toronto, ON

8d•CA$103,431 - CA$141,247•Onsite

About The Position

Toronto Parks is part of the City of Toronto’s Parks & Recreation division, which oversees thousands of green spaces across the city. From tranquil parkettes to expansive urban forests, Toronto’s parks offer residents and visitors opportunities for recreation, relaxation, and community engagement. The city features hundreds of recreation facilities, ten swimming beaches, and an extensive network of trails, making it a vibrant and accessible outdoor environment for people of all ages and abilities. Toronto Parks manages over 1,500 parks and 8,000 hectares of land across the city. Its mission is to maintain safe, beautiful, and accessible green spaces that foster community engagement, recreation, environmental stewardship, and a dynamic visitor experience. We are seeking an individual to join the Client & Business Services Visitor Experience team who is passionate about Toronto’s parks and enhancing the visitor experience through special events programming, visitor engagement, and partnerships in Destination Parks, including Biidaasige Park. Biidaasige Park is envisioned to join the ranks of the world’s best city destination parks, emphasizing its unique setting facing Toronto Harbour along a one-kilometre-long new river mouth, and its remarkable story of urban regeneration, Indigenous place keeping and climate resilience. The Park will be known for offering a distinctive mix of local and international scale programs, activations, festivals, events and passive park uses; a diverse range of park amenities, delivering an exceptional visitor experience through a collaborative governance structure that carefully coordinate the actions of government, agencies, non-profit and Indigenous partners. Reporting to the Manager, Client & Business Services – Visitor Experience, The Project Manager (Visitor Experience) is responsible for planning, developing, implementing and continuously improving visitor experiences within Toronto's destination parks. Through visitor research, strategic partnerships, special events, activations and business development initiatives, the position contributes to creating vibrant, inclusive and memorable experiences for residents and visitors while supporting the City's destination park objectives.

Requirements

Post-secondary education in visitor experience, customer experience, tourism, destination management, event management, business, public administration, communications, recreation, urban planning, hospitality, marketing or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Extensive experience leading complex visitor experience, customer experience, destination management, tourism, public space activation, event management, partnership development or business development projects, including strategic planning, implementation, stakeholder engagement, evaluation and continuous improvement initiatives.
Extensive experience applying visitor experience, customer experience, service design or destination management principles to improve programs, services, public spaces or customer journeys.
Extensive experience using visitor feedback, customer insights, performance metrics, research and data analysis to evaluate outcomes, identify opportunities and support evidence-based decision making.
Extensive experience working within complex stakeholder environments and developing strategic relationships with government agencies, Indigenous communities and organizations, community groups, cultural institutions, tourism organizations, businesses, sponsors and industry stakeholders.
Knowledge of visitor experience, destination management, tourism, recreation, public space activation and emerging trends affecting destination parks, public spaces and visitor attractions.
Demonstrated ability to identify, develop and support partnerships, sponsorships, revenue-generating initiatives and other business opportunities that enhance visitor experiences and organizational objectives.
Demonstrated ability to establish performance measures, evaluate outcomes and implement continuous improvement strategies to enhance visitor satisfaction, operational effectiveness and organizational performance.
Excellent communication, presentation, facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to build relationships and effectively communicate with elected officials, senior management, community groups, partners, businesses and the public.
Demonstrated ability to think strategically, identify emerging opportunities and develop innovative solutions that enhance destination parks, public spaces and visitor experiences.
Strong project management, organizational and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, competing deadlines and complex projects in a dynamic environment.
Ability to lead, motivate and coordinate project teams, consultants, contractors and stakeholders in support of divisional objectives.
Highly developed computer skills, including proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).
Familiarity with relevant legislation, policies and practices related to municipal government, occupational health and safety, procurement, labour relations and collective agreements.
Ability to support the Toronto Public Service values and contribute to a workplace culture that champions equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and respect.

Nice To Haves

Flexibility to work variable hours, including evenings, weekends and holidays, as required.

Responsibilities

Identifies, develops and supports new business opportunities that enhance the visitor experience and contribute to the long-term sustainability of destination parks, including sponsorships, concessions, licensing initiatives, commercial activations, partnerships and revenue-generating programs.
Designs, plans, executes and evaluates complex projects, programs and activations from concept development through implementation and post-event evaluation, ensuring alignment with divisional priorities and visitor experience objectives.
Supports the planning, development, implementation and continuous improvement of visitor experience initiatives, activations, events and programs within Toronto’s destination parks, including Biidaasige Park and other signature public spaces.
Support the development and implementation of destination park strategies, visitor experience plans and service initiatives that enhance the attractiveness, accessibility and overall visitor experience within Toronto’s parks system.
Collects, analyzes and interprets visitor feedback, participation data and performance metrics to support evidence-based decision making and continuous improvement of programs, services and visitor experiences.
Oversees assigned projects within approved budget parameters, ensuring effective financial management, procurement, contract administration, revenue tracking and expenditure control.
Develops scopes of work, project plans, business cases, briefing materials, reports, policies and recommendations to support visitor experience, destination park and business development initiatives.
Establishes, develops and maintains effective working relationships with community organizations, Indigenous partners, cultural institutions, tourism organizations, government agencies, industry stakeholders, sponsors, businesses and other public and private sector partners.
Negotiates and administers agreements, contracts, memoranda of understanding and partnership arrangements with external organizations and stakeholders in support of visitor experience and destination park objectives.
Collaborates with internal and external partners to develop and deliver marketing, communications and promotional initiatives that increase awareness, participation and visitation to destination parks and visitor experience programs.
Researches emerging trends, visitor expectations, industry best practices and innovative approaches related to destination management, visitor experience, tourism, events, partnerships and public space activation.
Leads and coordinates multidisciplinary project teams and working groups, fostering collaboration across divisions, agencies, community organizations and external partners to achieve project objectives.
Represents the Division in meetings with senior staff, elected officials, community groups, partner organizations, sponsors and other stakeholders on matters related to visitor experience, destination parks and strategic initiatives.
Prepares reports, presentations, briefing notes and recommendations for senior management, Standing Committees, City Council and other decision-making bodies on matters related to visitor experience, destination parks, partnerships and business development initiatives.
Provides leadership, guidance and project direction to staff, consultants, contractors and project teams as assigned and supports the Manager, Visitor Experience in achieving divisional objectives.
Prepares reports and makes recommendations to Special Committees, Standing Committees and City Council on matters related to areas of responsibility.