Executive Director

Location: Greater Ottawa Region

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a leading Canadian global development organization committed to building a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable world in which all young people, especially women and refugees, are empowered to secure a good quality of life for themselves, their families, and their communities. WUSC works with a unique and powerful network of post-secondary institutions, private-sector partners, and volunteers to provide education, employment, and empowerment opportunities that improve the lives of millions of disadvantaged youth around the world. WUSC has programming in over 15 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Americas and an annual budget of approximately $35 million. It is within this context that WUSC is seeking to recruit its next Executive Director (ED).

Reporting to a national Board of Directors, the ED provides strategic, financial, operational, risk management, and administrative oversight to the work of the organization. The ED represents WUSC externally, strengthens its profile as one of Canada’s leading non-profit organizations in international development, and steers the organization’s purpose-driven innovation, growth, and revenue diversification strategies. As the chief staff officer, the ED leads a global team of motivated and highly accomplished executives, fosters a collaborative culture that encourages innovative thinking, and shares WUSC’s commitment to advance gender equality and social inclusion for all. The ED understands ‘the big picture’, finding creative, strategic, and practical solutions to complex problems and ensures that WUSC is properly positioned to meet future challenges.

As the ideal candidate, you are an inspiring, respected, and trusted international development leader with the strategic foresight and entrepreneurial spirit to position WUSC for ongoing success and impact. You offer WUSC a bold vision and the energy it needs to achieve its mission, and you will constantly seek to maximize opportunities as WUSC expands and innovates. Your personal and professional credibility and domestic and global networks will serve you well as you fortify WUSC’s current partnerships and seek to develop new ones. You are a gifted communicator with exceptional interpersonal and networking skills, and you have a proven track record in fostering collaborations and strategic partnerships with private sector, all levels of government, development agencies, private foundations, and NGOs.

As a leader, you personify rigour, integrity, compassion, and objectivity. You are politically astute, a relationship builder with superior influencing abilities, and a strong people manager with excellent team building, mentoring, and coaching skills. You are known as a clear and inclusive leader who motivates teams to achieve ambitious results. Your experience in a comparable international organization would be an asset, as would your language proficiency in both English and French.

To apply for this position, please submit your application and related materials to Eric Lathrop and Alain Pescador at [email protected]. Please include “WUSC Executive Director” in the subject line of your e-mail.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however only those under consideration for the role will be contacted.

WUSC is committed to building diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible working environments and welcomes those who would contribute to the further diversification of staff including, but not limited to, women, racialized persons, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity to apply.