Assistant City Manager

Confidential Executive Search | Progressive Municipality in British Columbia destinationone Consulting is pleased to partner with a progressive and growing municipality in British Columbia to recruit an accomplished and strategic Assistant City Manager.

This confidential executive search presents a rare opportunity for a senior municipal leader to play a pivotal role in supporting the City Manager and executive leadership team in advancing the municipality’s strategic priorities, operational excellence, and long-term community outcomes.

In this dynamic and high-impact role, the Assistant City Manager will serve as the City Manager’s primary internal second-in-command, helping drive corporate strategy execution, cross-departmental coordination, and enterprise-wide initiatives that support Council priorities and the organization’s long-term vision.

Working closely with the City Manager and senior leadership team, the successful candidate will help ensure alignment across departments, strengthen organizational leadership capacity, and support the effective delivery of municipal services to a growing and diverse community.

This role forms part of the municipality’s long-term leadership succession planning, offering the opportunity for the successful candidate to progressively expand responsibilities while contributing to the continuity of executive leadership within the organization.

The Opportunity

Reporting directly to the City Manager, the Assistant City Manager is a senior executive responsible for supporting enterprise-wide leadership and ensuring that Council-approved priorities, corporate objectives, and organizational initiatives are executed effectively.

The Assistant City Manager works across the organization to coordinate strategic initiatives, remove operational barriers, and ensure that departments are aligned with the municipality’s strategic plan, corporate priorities, and service delivery expectations.

The role also supports the City Manager in maintaining strong relationships with Mayor and Council through coordinated briefings, committee participation, and the delivery of high-quality information to support effective decision-making.

This position plays a critical role in strengthening organizational leadership, operational execution, and strategic coordination across the municipality.

Key Responsibilities

Executive Leadership and Corporate Coordination

• Support senior leadership across the municipality on behalf of the City Manager, supporting the coordination and advancement of corporate priorities and initiatives.
• Identify and advance key initiatives that require cross-departmental coordination and strategic alignment.
• Support the City Manager in providing leadership oversight, coaching, and direction to team members as assigned.
• Strengthen organizational leadership capacity through mentorship, leadership development, and succession planning initiatives.

Strategic Planning and Enterprise Performance

• Support the development and execution of the municipality’s Strategic Plan and corporate business planning processes.
• Support enterprise performance management and multi-year business planning, ensuring alignment between strategic priorities, departmental work plans, and measurable outcomes.
• Lead or sponsor enterprise-wide initiatives such as service reviews, organizational transformation projects, and process improvement efforts.
• Monitor progress of corporate initiatives and support corrective action where required to maintain alignment with Council priorities.

Council Relations and Governance Support

• Support the City Manager in maintaining effective communication with Mayor and Council on operational and strategic matters.
• Provide delegated Council briefings and support Council committees or commissions as required.
• Integrate information from multiple departments into clear briefing materials and recommendations to support informed Council decision-making.
• Attend Council meetings and committees as delegated to present staff reports, respond to questions, and coordinate follow-up.
• Coordinate corporate responses to Council direction by assigning actions across departments and monitoring progress.

Operational Leadership and Risk Management

• Through collaboration with senior leadership, ensure that municipal operations are implemented in accordance with Council policies and approved budgets.
• Identify emerging operational risks, strategic issues, and cross-departmental challenges and escalate appropriately.
• Lead/support corporate problem-solving on complex files with organizatio