Deputy City Manager, Corporate Services

City of Edmonton

Status: Open Location: Edmonton, AB

The Organization

Edmonton is one of Canada’s fastest-growing major cities and the centre of a diverse, dynamic metropolitan region. As Alberta’s capital, Edmonton is home to more than one million residents and plays a central role in the province’s economic, cultural, public-sector, and community life.

The City of Edmonton serves the people who live here today while planning for the city Edmonton is becoming. Guided by The City Plan, the City is working to become a healthy, urban, and climate-resilient city of two million people that supports a prosperous region and a high quality of life for all.

Every day, the City connects Edmontonians to their communities, to essential services, and to what matters to them. This work requires a talented, inclusive, and respectful workforce; strong public trust; disciplined stewardship of public resources; and the ability to adapt as Edmonton grows and changes. The City’s employees deliver the services, infrastructure, systems, programs, and public spaces that shape daily life for residents, businesses, visitors, and future generations.

For more information about the City of Edmonton, please visit their website.

The Opportunity

Reports to:	City Manager
Direct Reports:	(4) Branch Manager, Employee Services Branch Manager, Open City and Technology (OCT) Branch Manager, Workforce Safety, Security and Employee Health Branch Manager, Corporate Communications and Business Intelligence
Location:	In office – hybrid, Edmonton, AB

Mandate

Reporting to the City Manager and serving as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, the Deputy City Manager, Corporate Services provides enterprise leadership for the corporate functions that enable the City of Edmonton to serve Edmontonians effectively. This portfolio brings together Employee Services; Open City and Technology; Workforce Safety, Security and Employee Health; and Communications and Business Intelligence, including functions such as service design, 311 and customer access, business intelligence and analytics, corporate communications, cybersecurity, workforce systems, employee experience, occupational health and safety, and corporate security.

This is a significant leadership opportunity at an important moment for the City. Created as part of the 2026 organizational restructuring, the Corporate Services portfolio is intended to strengthen integration, clarify accountabilities, improve internal service delivery, and ensure that the City’s enabling functions operate as strategic partners to the whole organization. The Deputy City Manager will build a cohesive, high-performing department that supports employees, advances digital and data-informed service delivery, protects key assets and information, strengthens safety and wellbeing, and helps the City communicate clearly and effectively with Edmontonians.

The successful candidate will be an enterprise-minded executive who understands that strong internal systems are essential to excellent public service. They will bring the judgment, credibility, political acumen, and people leadership required to work effectively with City Council, the City Manager, the Executive Leadership Team, employees, union partners, community partners, and other orders of government. Above all, this leader will help ensure that Corporate Services is trusted, responsive, strategic, and focused on enabling a better life for Edmontonians.

Key Accountabilities

• Strategic Leadership & Corporate Direction: Provide executive leadership as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, setting direction for Corporate Services and ensuring alignment with Council priorities, the City’s strategic planning framework, the Corporate Business Plan, and long-term organizational outcomes.
• Enterprise Integration and Service Excellence: Lead the integration and performance of core enabling functions across people, technology, data, communications, customer access, safety, security, and employee health. Ensure Corporate Services is responsive, easy to work with, and focused on helping City departments deliver high-quality services to Edmontonians.
• Organizational Culture and Workforce Leadership: Champion a people-centred, inclusive, and accountable culture that reflects the City’s Cultural Commitments of Safe, Helpful, Accountable, Integrated, and Excellent. Strengthen leadership capability, employee experience, workforce planning, labour relations, and the systems that support a safe, healthy, and high-performing workforce.
• Digital, Data and Risk Leadership: Advance technology governance, cybersecurity, business intelligence, service design, data-informed decision-making, automation, and responsible innovation. Ensure technology and information investments are prioritized, governed, and used to create value for residents and the organization.
• Executive Advisory, Public Trust and Stewardship: Serve as a trusted advisor to the City Manager and Council on complex enterprise matters, including workforce strategy, digital transformation, labour relations, risk, public communication, service performance, and organizational change. Steward significant public resources, protect the City’s reputation, and build trust with internal and external partners.

First-Year Deliverables / Measures of Success

Success in the first year will be determined by the candidate’s ability to:

• Establish and operationalize the newly formed Corporate Services portfolio, creating clear governance, accountabilities, decision-making processes, and service delivery expectations across all branches.
• Build trust and alignment across the Executive Leadership Team, Corporate Services leadership, internal client departments, City Council, employees, union partners, and external interest holders.
• Position Corporate Services as a strategic enterprise partner that enables departments to deliver effective, efficient, inclusive, and resident-centred services.
• Strengthen Employee Services by improving leadership capacity, service responsiveness, workforce planning, employee experience, labour relations support, and confidence in the function across the organization.
• Advance workplace safety, security, and employee wellbeing by improving accountability, reducing organizational risk, and supporting both physical and psychological safety.
• Accelerate digital modernization by strengthening technology governance, cybersecurity, business intelligence, service design, 311 and customer access, and the responsible use of automation and artificial intelligence.
• Develop a multi-year Corporate Services roadmap that identifies priorities, performance measures, investment needs, service improvements, and key milestones aligned with the City’s strategic direction.
• Drive corporate-wide efficiency and process improvement by identifying, piloting, and scaling artificial intelligence (AI) and automation solutions across City departments, establishing clear frameworks for measurable productivity gains.
• Strengthen the City’s communications, public trust, and reputation by ensuring corporate communications, engagement, business intelligence, service design, and customer access functions are coordinated, credible, and responsive to the needs of Edmontonians.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will have the following:

Education:

• Minimum requirement of a diploma or university degree in Business, Finance, Administration, Engineering, Information Technology, Human Resources, Health and Safety and/or related fields.
• A master’s degree is considered an asset.

Experience:

• Ten to 15 years of progressive leadership experience, including 10 years in senior executive roles, within large, complex, and multi-interest holder organizations.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-wide corporate services functions, such as human resources, technology, communications, safety and wellness, business intelligence, or shared services.
• Proven success leading large-scale organizational transformation, culture change, and service modernization initiatives.
• Experience advising senior executives, boards, and/or elected officials on strategic, operational, and organizational matters.
• Demonstrated experience leading through complexity, managing significant operating and capital budgets, and balancing competing interest holder priorities.
• Experience within a municipal government, public sector, or similarly complex organization is strongly preferred.

Competencies and Attributes:

• Provides visionary, enterprise-wide leadership that aligns corporate services functions with Council priorities and organizational goals.
• Acts as a trusted executive advisor, demonstrating strong political acumen, strategic judgment, and the confidence to influence decisions in complex interest holder environments.
• Leads organizational transformation, service modernization, and cross-functional integration, fostering innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Builds high-performing teams and cultures through servant leadership, promoting trust, accountability, transparency, and employee engagement.
• Balances strategic thinking with operational excellence while stewarding public resources, enterprise risk, and organizational reputation responsibly and effectively.

Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

The City of Edmonton is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and recognizes that a diverse team benefits and is essential to service excellence. In accordance with provincial legislation, accommodation will be provided by Mullen and the City of Edmonton throughout the recruitment, selection and/or assessment process, upon request, to applicants with disabilities. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply.

Application Instructions

If this opportunity excites you, please send an application package, including your resume and cover letter, to connect@mullenleadership.com. In the subject line of your email, please include the organization’s name and the position title.