Governance Coordinator

Secretariat - Governance Coordinator

SYSTRA Canada is part of the SYSTRA group, an international consulting and engineering group, a world leader in the design of transport infrastructures. SYSTRA Canada is an engineering and consulting firm who is dedicated to transportation solutions, whether for passengers or goods.

Imagining and implementing the safest, most efficient, and economical tailor-made transport solutions: this is what guides us daily. Thanks to the know-how of our 7500 experts, we are involved in all phases of transport projects: Preliminary and design studies, construction phases, test and commissioning, operation, and maintenance.

Our engineers work with passion to provide people around the world with the opportunity to move freely every day. They are men and women who put all their business expertise and human qualities to work to transform the world through innovative means of transport. Join them and let's invent tomorrow's public transport together.

SYSTRA's ambition is to be the benchmark for transport solutions and an opinion leader in mobility.

There is so much happening in the world of transit, right here in Toronto. We are looking for talented individuals to be part of a once in a generation transit expansion by working on Toronto’s Subways Extension Program.

The Subways Extension Program comprises of two subway extensions. The Scarborough Subway Extension will bring the Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) Line 2 subway service nearly eight kilometres farther into Scarborough, with three new stations. The Yonge North Subway Extension will extend the TTC’s Line 1 by nearly eight kilometres north from Finch Station to Richmond Hill, with five new stations.

Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities

The Governance team, a crucial part of the Subways Program Management Office, will lead on:

1. Design, implementation and continuous improvement of governance controls, contributing to   for program and project level decision-making, including reporting and escalation throughout the Subway Extensions projects, and interface management with Metrolinx’s broader corporate governance.

2. Design, implementation and continuous improvement of project and program level assurance to provide independent confidence to stakeholders, both internally within Metrolinx and to external bodies, on delivery progress of the Subways Extensions projects against, but not limited to, scope, schedule and cost

The Governance Coordinators will provide expert governance support for the program’s key governance meetings including 3 Levels of Control, ensuring that the governance regime and decision-making occur within authority and, as appropriate, decisions are escalated in line delegated authority thresholds , as set out in the Governance and Assurance Management Plan, associated Terms of Reference and Delegation of Authority. The Governance Coordinators will work closely with directors and senior colleagues across the Program to ensure key project and program governance meetings are operating effectively and efficiently. The Governance Coordinator will own, and ensure compliance with, processes that contribute to the quality of the information going to governance meetings. The Subways’ Governance and Assurance team is uniquely placed to add value to project delivery, contributing significantly to the speed of decision making, risk mitigation and successful delivery. You will play a key part in North America’s largest transit expansion.

Governance Coordinator Responsibilities

The Governance Coordinator will support the Chairs to run effective running meetings, including:

• Compliance and stage gate support, planning and coordination: owning and implementing the Integrated Assurance and Approval Plan for projects including scheduling stage gate meetings, sourcing and constructing the packs, briefing people on requirements and expectations, working with Sponsor’s office and VPs/EVP to ensure expectations are met, coordinating with Metrolinx Enterprise  and Capital Project Group to ensure continued alignment with existing processes (and supporting updates to existing processes/ sharing new tools/ templates as necessary), developing draft briefing memos as required and other ad hoc activities to ensure the smooth flow of projects through stage gate process (includes both assurance process and supporting teams through formal Stage Gate process as applicable).
• Forecast requirements – planning future requirements and briefings: forecasting requirements for future inputs, meetings, reviews and other supporting assurance activities in collaboration with the wider project team, and will own implementation the 3 lines of control, assurance and reporting requirements (i.e. inputs and workback plans for Festival, Treasury Board, Investment Panel, etc)
• Training and development - Project lead: Development and ownership of the Governance 101 module for project onboarding and training
• Owning and ensuring adherence to the integrated RACI: Implementing both the Governance and Assurance RACI on behalf of the project, ensuring the Integrated RACIs are implemented across their management areas Develop briefing on the Integrated RACIs as part of the Governance 101 training including why governance is fundamental to project success, meetings/ Terms of Reference, processes, best for project decision-making and escalation, single source of the truth, assurance, role of the partners, key dates, etc
• Overarching assurance: Ownership of the reporting and assurance calendar and workback plan, including briefing input owners on requirements and cadence to ensure meetings and assurance forums have access to high-quality trusted information to support robust decision-making

Meeting governance, management and facilitation

Some of the key types of forums the Governance Coordinator will support include , in   change control forums, ExCos, leadership meetings, operational boards, decision boards. Inputs and outputs for other Metrolinx meetings as required (may include preparation of materials for change forums when required for projects; CEO meetings, etc).

• Meeting preparation:
  • Creation of meeting cycles in accordance with forum requirements
  • Coordinate senior colleague’s diaries, travel arrangements, meeting room bookings or event spaces for awaydays, conferences and more
  • Commission agenda items and ensure papers are submitted by strict deadlines
  • Creating, coordinating and signing off agendas with Chairs 
  • Quality assurance of meeting packs: including as content presentation (checking format, typos); content sense checking (is the paper suitable for the intended audience, is it sponsored by appropriate people, does it conflict with any other papers coming to this or another forum)
  • Managing the meeting governance, meeting calendar and control of creation of new meetings working closely with the contractor and client leads
  • Forward agenda planning, preparing and writing papers, creation and management of action and decision trackers
• Meeting facilitation:
  • Expertly record high-level commercially sensitive minutes of meetings and actions and subsequently issuing and chasing of meeting actions, ensuring clear ownership and due dates, making use of appropriate collaborative online tools
• Post-Meeting management:
  • Perform quality reviews on minutes taken, progress minutes through appropriate approval process dependent on forum, issue minutes within the appropriate timescales, log and store minutes and associated meeting packs in appropriate locations
  • Follow up and report on actions and decisions

Ensure that forum Terms of References are kept up to date on a regular basis, ownership of the Terms of Reference templates, content and process:

• • Liaising and working across the project/program and its many forums to drive consistency in meeting operations
  • Ensure papers and decisions are routed to next level governance for escalation and/or decision-making, whether within projects own governance or broader governance

Other tasks

• Communicating important time sensitive messages to all levels of management from support staff to Partner Leads, Program Directors, VPs, EVPs as appropriate – including support on briefing execs ahead of key meetings

• Advise and support the Chairs as appropriate d in carrying out their functions and meeting their objectives, including preparing briefings and arranging briefing meetings 
• Develop and maintain excellent relationships with internal stakeholders on governance and secretariat issues to improve information exchange 
• Participate in information and best practices sharing forums for governance with other Metrolinx major projects
• Promoting adherence to and making changes to governance processes, through working with Internal Comms and other project functions
• Participate in and/or manage corporate projects as & when required to support business objectives 

Support to Governance and Assurance Lead

• Support in deploying Metrolinx Governance & Delegation procedures to ensure compliance with the approved Delegation of Authority for the projects
• Support in updating the governance framework as required and briefing out changes to relevant teams’ members
• Support to complete ad hoc tasks to strict deadlines
• Support additional meetings / forums within Metrolinx as required
• Support the Sponsors’ Office with the Governance Manager on ad hoc governance items which may include Folio Submissions, stage gate updates, inputs/outputs for Municipal Sponsors Office, etc 
• Support to facilitate the Checkpoints and a robust stage gate approvals process that meets the all partner conditions of satisfaction

Technical Competencies

1. Ability to work with C-Suite and other stakeholders with diplomacy and care
2. Experience in a fast-paced project delivery environment. 
3. Ability to prioritize and work as part of a team, lead by example and demonstrate the key importance of governance to successful major infrastructure projects
4. Collaborative approach and initiative
5. Strong understanding of requirements for successful meeting governance and management
6. Ability to prepare briefing notes with support and oversight from others
7. Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite including formatting and use of styles
8. Excellent verbal and written communication skills
9. Excellent interpersonal and customer service skills
10. Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail

Education and Qualifications

1. Experience in a secretariat role, or in Private Office and/or as an Executive Assistant,  including preparing papers for C-Suite forums and meetings in confidential or commercially sensitive settings
2. Experience in working in Canadian or similar transport government/public sector setting
3. Familiar with requirements of public sector reporting and requirements