Director, Development Services
Saugeen Shores: Both city and town, wrapped in a village.
Choosing to work and live in Saugeen Shores gives you an unparalleled choice of easy-going lifestyles, economic opportunities and nature at every turn. You can truly create your own village in this growing, diverse community of neighbourhoods and amenities. You can replace long commutes with easy lakeshore rides. You can choose to be as active or relaxed as you want to be. You can make all these great choices without sacrificing family life, schools, and even access to the wide world. Nestled on the shores of Lake Huron with forests and farms all around, Saugeen Shores is the promise of both cities and towns, wrapped in a village.
The Team:
We take our team-first culture so seriously; we wrote a Team Saugeen Charter to celebrate and protect it. Our shared role is to keep Saugeen Shores safe, well-serviced, growing and vibrant in ways that respect the public and reflect our team. We develop careers from the inside first. We engage each other personally and professionally. We welcome change. we embrace new ideas. We do more than live with work processes; we seek to continuously improve them. And we have each other’s backs – because that is what great teams do.
The Position at a Glance:
As a key member of the Town Saugeen Shores’ Senior Leadership Team, the Director, Development Services plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of our growing community. Reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer, this dynamic position provides strategic leadership across Engineering, Planning, Asset Management, and Building Services—including By-law Enforcement.
In this role, you will guide a talented team responsible for managing development engineering, building permits, economic development, land use planning and major capital projects such as roads, bridges, water, and wastewater systems. With a focus on innovation, sustainability, and service excellence, you’ll champion long-term planning and infrastructure investment that supports both current needs and future growth.
This is your opportunity to make a lasting impact in one of Ontario’s most vibrant, fast-growing and forward-thinking municipalities.
What You’ll Do:
- Lead with purpose and vision as a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, advising the CAO and driving strategic initiatives aligned with Council’s goals.
- You will empower a multidisciplinary team across Planning & Economic Development, Engineering, Building & By-law Enforcement, and Asset Management to deliver sustainable growth, operational excellence, and community-focused service.
- Champion a culture of respect, trust, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Develop and implement departmental strategic and business plans.
- Oversee infrastructure planning, capital investment, and lifecycle maintenance.
- Guide planning policy, development review, and economic development initiatives.
- Ensure compliance with legislation and uphold health and safety standards.
- Lead performance management, coaching, and staff development.
- Manage departmental budgets, procurement, and contract performance.
- Contribute to the success of the Senior Leadership Team in implementing the Strategic Plan and developing the Business Plan
- Provide regular reporting to the CAO and Council on strategic and operational progress.
Core Leadership Areas:
- Planning: Provide expert guidance on land use, policy, community development and economic development.
- Engineering: Oversee capital planning and project delivery, infrastructure safety, asset management and infrastructure data integration.
- Building & By-law: Ensure code compliance and effective enforcement.
What You Bring to the Role:
- Education and Designations: Post-Secondary degree in Planning, Architecture, Engineering or Certified Engineering Technologist (CET) and ideally a Professional Planning, or Professional Engineer designation, and/or the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification.
- Municipal Management experience: 5 to 8 years of progressively responsible senior management experience in a municipal setting.
- Significant financial management experience: Experience with the preparation of large and complex multi-year operating and capital budgets, forecasting, expenditure management and the development and implementation of capacity building programs and strategy.
- Legislation: Demonstrated knowledge of Municipal and Provincial regulations, and guidelines including municipal government operations, principles, best practices, and processes.
- A record of driving change: Demonstrated strength in the creation of comprehensive big picture strategy, a strong ability to foster innovation, develop and communicate strategic direction, goals and objectives.
- Planning and Leadership: Forward thinking with a proven ability to lead a diverse department toward an advanced model of service delivery and respond to emerging trends.
- Communication: Effectively and confidently communicate with others and provide detailed reports that are professional, well researched and suited to the needs of the audience.
- Conflict Management: Identify steps to resolve negative conflicts sensibly, fairly and efficiently. Actively minimize negative outcomes of interpersonal conflict and promote positive outcomes of conflict to improve learning and effectiveness.
- Initiative: Demonstrated personal orientation toward action and accepting responsibility for the results. Challenge the status quo and work proactively to achieve organizational goals rather than waiting for others to lead.
- Problem Solving and Decision Making: Passionate about solving problems, uncovering root causes, and proactively finding solutions to achieve organizational and departmental goals. You exhibit a strong understanding of corporate governance issues and the political environment in which you make decisions.
- Strategic Thinking: Effectively balance short and long-term planning and actions. You understand, analyze, plan, implement, and assess organizational strategy.
What We Offer You:
- Salary: $147,653 to $167,787 per year (depending on qualifications and experience)
- Hours of work: 35 hours per week (Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm), with after-hour meetings required
- Flexible work options: The Town of Saugeen Shores supports employee work-life balance and recognizes the benefits of flexible work arrangements in achieving high levels of employee engagement.
- Vacation: A generous number of vacation days per year in addition to 10 paid personal days.
- Benefits: Comprehensive extended health and dental benefits, including an Employee and Family Assistance Plan and enrollment in the OMERS pension plan.
- Professional development: A passion for investing in our workforce through continuous learning and development.
Application Process:
This vacancy arises due to an upcoming retirement, offering a unique opportunity to build on a strong foundation while bringing fresh perspective to a growing municipality.
Interview Process: Interviews will be conducted in late September
Tentative Start Date: January 2026
If you’re ready to make a lasting impact in one of Ontario’s most vibrant and forward-thinking communities, we encourage you to apply.
