Director, CHILD Strategy & Operations

at  SickKids

ABOUT SICKKIDS

Dedicated exclusively to children and their families, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is one of the largest and most respected paediatric healthcare centres in the world. As innovators in child health, we lead and partner to improve the health of children through the integration of healthcare, leading-edge research and education. Our reputation would not have been built – nor could it be maintained – without the skills, knowledge and experience of the extraordinary people who come to work here every day. SickKids is committed to ongoing learning and development, and features a caring and supportive work environment that combines exceptionally high standards of practice.
When you join SickKids, you become part of our community. We share a commitment and determination to fulfill our vision of Healthier Children. A Better World.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to work alongside the world’s best in paediatric healthcare.

ABOUT THE CHILD COHORT STUDY:

The CHILD Cohort Study (www.childstudy.ca) is a national prospective longitudinal birth cohort study involving over 3,500 Canadian infants and their families. The CHILD cohort study explores how genetics, biology, social exposures and early childhood environmental exposures lead to the development of early chronic diseases such as asthma, allergies. The study has recruitment sites in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto, with the National Coordinating Centre (NCC) located at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Established in 2009, the CHILD cohort study has become an internationally recognized study of detailed physiology combined with comprehensive biologic, social and environmental assessments. All of the data has been compiled into a state of the art platform to support data science for innovation in understanding pediatric trajectories of health. It is a key resource to support our understanding of precision health by providing comprehensive normative data.
Reporting directly to the Director of Administration (DOA) of Medicine and dotted line to the CHILD Study Director, we are seeking an energetic, creative, forward thinking and methodologically trained individual to join the study as Director of Strategy & Operations of the CHILD National Coordinating Centre (NCC). They will be tasked with providing strategic operational oversight for this interdisciplinary and multisite research program. Please note this is a joint position with McMaster University and SickKids Hospital. The position is hybrid and is primarily based at McMaster University and will manage a dedicated team at McMaster. There will be occasional responsibilities at SickKids Hospital.

JOB SUMMARY:

The Director of Strategy & Operations reports directly to the DOA, Department of Medicine and dotted line to the CHILD Study Director and is responsible for driving the success of the cohort as Canada’s largest most deeply phenotype pediatric longitudinal cohort study. This requires strong science to business development acumen, experience and skills, strategic vision, a forward-thinking mindset and the ability to swiftly execute priority actions that will drive the success of the CHILD Cohort, expand its reach and influence. The director will provide management support to the CHILD Scientific Directors and CHILD Executive and will be required to drive a successful business model working with other site leaders, site coordinators and technical teams to build and maintain the database as well as support data sharing. With the aim to create a viable sustainable enterprise, the post holder will continuously assess needs, ensure the provision of quality services in line with demands, monitor the financial well- being of the CHILD Cohorts and adjust costing to ensure financial health while working to build a sustainability model.
The Director, Strategy & Operations is directly responsible for the ongoing human resource development and management of the NCC staff. In addition, the Director, Strategy & Operations will take on fulfilling all senior-level management functions while reporting to the Study Director & CHILD Executive and will directly manage a team of approximately four to six staff members.

EDUCATION:

• Masters in Public Health / Population Health or equivalent with working knowledge of observational cohorts with biological samples.

EXPERIENCE:

• A minimum of two of the years of research management experience, preferably in a research environment with national scope along with seven to ten years of clinical research experience.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills as well as interpersonal, presentation and facilitation skills and the ability to mobilize teams.
• Demonstrated excellence in creative problem solving, championing change, driving results, budget development, supervisory experience (preferably in a unionized environment) as well as developing teams and people, and proficiency in the use of electronic communications.
• Proven skill in relationship management and achieving results using a collaborative approach as well as experience with infrastructure development.
• Significant related experience in a senior setting with strategic planning, decision-making, and financial analysis responsibility is required.
• Required software proficiency MS Office (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), statistical analysis software (e.g., R, SPSS, Stata), citation management software (e.g., EndNote), web conferencing (e.g., Zoom).

• Oversee the data and sample access process and the design of data management systems.
• Evaluate new developments in analytical software; exchange technical information with internal and external colleagues.