Executive Director, Operational Excellence & AI Incubation Hub - VP Digital

Description

The VP DIGITAL TT is currently seeking a Full-time Regular Executive Director- Operational Excellence & AI Incubation Hub.

The University of Calgary is one of Canada's top five comprehensive research universities, with over 37,000 students (8000 graduate students and 29,000 undergraduate students), over 1,800 academic staff and 2,900 non-academic staff, in 14 Faculties, across five campuses.

Our focus on impactful innovation and entrepreneurial thinking is giving our students the tools to succeed in our changing economy. The vibrant and research-intensive environment at UCalgary is home to 169 research chairs (75 Canada Research Chairs), and more than 50 research institutes and centres. UCalgary has the fastest growth rate in attracting research funding among the 10 largest universities in Canada. Completed in 2020, Energize: The Campaign for Eyes High, was the third-largest fundraising campaign in Canadian history, surpassing our goal of $1.3 Billion. And our new strategy, Ahead of Tomorrow, charts an exciting path forward for the University to 2030.

We strive to innovate and create societal impact. With a consolidated budget of more than $1.5 billion, which includes an annual operating budget of over $800 million and external research revenues of over $504 million, the University of Calgary is among Calgary's largest employers and contributes nearly $16.5 billion annually to Alberta's economy.

Reporting to the Vice President, Digital Transformation and Technology, the Executive Director, Operational Excellence & AI Incubation Hub is a senior, institution wide leadership role accountable for transforming how work gets done and for embedding intelligent automation and artificial intelligence into the design of core processes. This role leads the enterprise Operational Excellence mandate while concurrently establishing and operating an applied AI Incubation Hub focused on adoption, impact, and value realization.

This is an execution oriented leadership position, not a research role. The incumbent is accountable for simplifying and standardizing processes, improving service delivery, and ensuring that AI enabled solutions are deployed responsibly, adopted at scale, and measured for tangible operational and cultural outcomes. The role partners closely with academic and administrative leaders, central services, IT and frontline teams to deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, quality, speed, and experience across the institution.

Summary of Key Responsibilities (job functions include but are not limited to):

• Work collaboratively with internal partners to translates Ahead of Tomorrow and the underlying Operations Plan into clear and achievable goals and objectives for the Organization.
• Builds strong relationships across functional areas in order to prioritize and deliver on improvement projects across UCalgary, building continuous improvement competencies and culture.
• Lead the development and execution of an enterprise Operational Excellence strategy aligned to institutional priorities, simplifying and standardizing core processes and reducing unnecessary complexity across academic and administrative functions.
• Establish and steward an Enterprise Process Architecture, defining end to end process ownership, common standards, and clear handoffs across functions.
• Champion Lean and continuous improvement methodologies at UService as standard ways of working, building internal capability and embedding these practices into daily operations.
• Lead and evolve a Performance and Process Excellence Centre of Expertise that partners with Finance, IT, HR, Supply Chain, Facilities, and academic units to deliver prioritized, high value improvements.
• Design and govern integrated enterprise service models, including intake, triage, service tiers, and performance standards, to improve responsiveness, consistency, and user experience.
• Establish rigorous governance, metrics, and reporting practices, including KPIs, service levels, benefits realization, and ROI tracking for all major improvement initiatives.
• Lead complex, cross functional transformation initiatives end to end, including project management, change management, communications, and post implementation sustainment.
• Provide senior level advice on operational risk, service performance, and improvement opportunities, balancing innovation with public sector accountability, policy, and compliance requirements.

AI Incubation Hub Mandate

• Establish and lead an AI Incubation Hub with a clear dual mandate:
• Enable AI and automation by design within enterprise processes; and
• Build institutional capability and maturity in applied AI through hands on delivery.
• Operate a cross functional, co creation model using sprint based delivery, bringing together business owners, process experts, technologists, and change practitioners to rapidly move from problem definition to production.
• Own the end to end lifecycle of applied AI initiatives: opportunity identification, hypothesis definition, piloting, scaling, operational handoff, and continuous improvement.
• Define and track value across multiple dimensions, including adoption rates, operational impact (e.g., cycle time reduction, capacity released, error reduction), and overall AI maturity of the institution.
• Establish AI governance practices that assign clear accountability for each AI enabled workflow, embed ethical judgement, manage risk, and align incentives and performance management to realized outcomes.

AI Leadership Behaviours (Explicit Outcomes)

• The Executive Director is accountable for modelling and institutionalizing the following behaviours through the AI Incubation Hub:
• Hands on, AI fluent leadership that visibly models responsible AI use and decision making.
• Continuous growth and learning, embedding upskilling, curiosity, and experimentation into how teams work.
• Ethical judgement, including transparent communication about value, risk, workforce impact, and safeguards.
• Clear outcome accountability, with a single owner for each AI enabled workflow and metrics tied to adoption and impact.
• Experimentation at every level, treating each AI initiative as a test with clear hypotheses and decision gates.
• Reimagining beyond the status quo, using first principles thinking rather than incremental optimization of legacy processes.
• Ensure all operational and AI enabled changes align with institutional values, ethical standards, privacy and security requirements, and legislative.

Qualifications / Requirements:

• Minimum of 15 years of progressive leadership experience in complex operational environments, with significant experience at the senior director or equivalent level in preferably Information Technology (IT) . Experience in public sector, broader public sector, or highly regulated environments is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise scale operational excellence or technology transformation initiatives, with clear evidence of measurable outcomes and sustained adoption.
• Deep expertise in process improvement, service model design, and continuous improvement methodologies, applied in practical, results oriented contexts.
• Proven experience enabling digital, automation, or AI driven change in production environments, with accountability for value realization rather than experimentation alone.
• Strong change leadership capability, including stakeholder engagement, communications, training, and reinforcement in unionized and non unionized environments.
• Minimum Education Requirements:
• Master's degree preferred or equivalent expertise.
• Formal training in Lean or Six Sigma Methodology.
• Prosci change management certification is preferred.

Application Deadline: July 30, 2026

We would like to thank all applicants in advance for submitting their resumes. Please note, only those candidates chosen to continue on through the selection process will be contacted.

This position is classified in the Management Career Band, Level M4 of the Management and Professional Staff Career Framework.

For a listing of all management and staff opportunities at the University of Calgary, view our Management and Staff Careers website.

About the University of Calgary

UCalgary is Canada's entrepreneurial university, located in Canada's most enterprising city. It is a top research university and one of the highest-ranked universities of its age. Founded in 1966, its 36,000 students experience an innovative learning environment, made rich by research, hands-on experiences and entrepreneurial thinking. It is Canada's leader in the creation of start-ups. Start something today at the University of Calgary. For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.

The University of Calgary has launched an institution-wide Indigenous Strategy ii' taa'poh'to'p committing to creating a rich, vibrant, and culturally competent campus that welcomes and supports Indigenous Peoples, encourages Indigenous community partnerships, is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives in all that we do.

The university's commitment to the Indigenous Strategy is evident through the oversight of 18 Elders serving on the Circle of Advisors and the many unit-based circles working towards implementation of the strategy including the Faculty Advisory Circle and teams such as the Office of Indigenous Engagement, the Writing Symbols Lodge, and the Indigenous Research Support Team. Many Indigenous-based events and processes are impacting curriculum, programming and polices at the University of Calgary.

As an equitable and inclusive employer, the University of Calgary recognizes that a diverse staff/faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers that have been historically encountered by some people in our society. We strive to recruit individuals who will further enhance our diversity and will support their academic and professional success while they are here. In particular, we encourage members of the designated groups (women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible/racialized minorities, and diverse sexual orientation and gender identities) to apply. To ensure a fair and equitable assessment, we offer accommodation at any stage during the recruitment process to applicants with disabilities. Questions regarding [diversity] EDI at UCalgary can be sent to the Office of Institutional Commitments (oic@ucalgary.ca) and requests for accommodations can be sent to People & Culture (hrhire@ucalgary.ca).

Do you have most but not all the qualifications? Research show that women, racialized and visible minorities, and persons with disabilities are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At UCalgary we are committed to achieving equitable, diverse, inclusive and accessible employment practices and workplaces and encourage you to apply if you believe you are right for this role.

We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, however preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada.