Associate Director, Strategic Communications

Please note this role will work in a hybrid environment.

The successful candidate will be working at our Ottawa (1800 Alta Visa Drive) or Toronto (67 College Street) site office

with a mixture of on-site and off-site work to meet the needs of our organization. Currently, employees are expected to have an in-person presence for at least 40% of their work time.

Job posting ID:

8626

Employment status:

Temporary full-time

Position's anticipated start date:

2026-05-11

Position's anticipated end date:

2028-03-30

Salary/Rate of pay:

$132,300 - $155,600

Application deadline:

2026-05-06

• This external job posting may close earlier than the advertised deadline. We recommend applying as soon as possible.

Application requirements:

• Your up-to-date resume.
• Job specific cover letter.
• We recommend you save a copy of the job posting for reference throughout the recruitment process.

Do you currently work for Canadian Blood Services? All employees must apply via the internal career page.

Together, the work we do connects people and changes lives — including your own.

Be part of a dynamic, collaborative and caring organization committed to saving and improving lives. Thousands of patients depend on us every day for reliable access to safe blood, plasma, stem cells and organs and tissues.

About The Role

Canadian Blood Services is looking for a

Temporary full-time Associate Director, Strategic Communications

to join our dynamic

Communications team

in our

Donor Engagement and Corporate Reputation division.

The

Communications team

empowers and motivates individuals to join

Canada’s Lifeline

by creating engaging content, building brand affinity, and preserving confidence in Canadian Blood Services.

In this role, you will lead a team of communicators responsible for communications activities that serve the organization’s objectives and its work in delivering on its mission. With a focus on preserving and enhancing the organization’s reputation, you will oversee external facing communications activities. This includes monitoring (measuring) and reporting on media activity, and identifying gaps, successes, and opportunities to amplify Canadian Blood Services role in meeting patient needs.

You will work collaboratively with colleagues throughout the Donor Engagement and Corporate Reputation division and provide leadership in analyzing issues and delivering strategic directions to manage emerging and ongoing issues.

Formula for success

• Utilizing your ability to lead and work collaboratively across a diverse team, you will proactively lead and manage a strategic communications team and its resources to meet the business objectives of Canadian Blood Services and its Donor Engagement and Corporate Reputation division.
• You will oversee and execute external media and public relations communication plans over the short and long-term, including identifying targeted stakeholders, key messages, timing and distribution. You will work with internal subject matter experts to ensure the plans are aligned to support corporate objectives.
• Focusing on your continuous growth mindset, you will identify, examine, and advise on a variety of public relations opportunities and activities that will be executed both through your team and external agency resources.
• Harnessing your strong interpersonal and collaboration skills, you will lead your team in developing and fostering positive relationships with media contacts in print, television, radio and other industry and community influencers important to Canadian Blood Services’ brand.
• Drawing on your expertise in media relations, you will brief senior spokespeople, as required, and support team in preparing and briefing all other spokespeople.
• Using your ability to develop and manage effective working relationships, you will work closely with executive and corporate communications on strategic communications around Open Board Meetings, Annual Reports, and strategic and corporate planning.
• Utilizing your exceptional communication skills and ability to adhere to tight timelines, you will lead emerging issues and crisis communications and ensure collaboration with internal stakeholders, both within the department and across the organization.
• Applying your expectational attention to detail, you will oversee media monitoring to ensure accuracy of information, identify developing issues of interest, or trends in reporting.
• Performs other duties as required.

Desired Education And Skills

• Post-seco