Vice President, Customer Operations – EAST OR WEST

Employer: Metrolinx 

Position: Vice President, Customer Operations – EAST OR WEST 

Terms of Employment: Full-time / Permanent

Location: Toronto, Ontario

Employment Address:

• 3500 Wolfedale Road, Mississauga, ON L5C 2V6
• 81 Middlefield Road, Scarborough, ON M1S 5A9
• 97 Front Street West, Toronto, ON M5J 1E6
• 20 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M6J 2N8
• Work from home permitted within the Greater Toronto Area

Hours of Work: 36.25 hours/week

Language: English

Benefits: Eligible for salary increases in accordance with company policy. Eligible for paid vacation; Full health, vision, dental, and disability benefits; pension plan; wellness health account.

Salary: $ 193,950- $247,850 CAD / year 

Contact: Please send resumes to sasha.dullabh@metrolinx.com and include “Vice President, Customer Operations” in the email subject line.

Metrolinx is connecting communities across the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Metrolinx operates GO Transit and UP Express, as well as the PRESTO fare payment system. We are also building new and improved rapid transit, including GO Expansion, Light Rail Transit routes, and major expansions to Toronto’s subway system, to get people where they need to go, better, faster and easier. Metrolinx is an agency of the Government of Ontario. 

At Metrolinx, equity, diversity and inclusion are essential to living our values of serving with passion, thinking forward and playing as a team. 

Our Customer & Transit Operations Division is looking for 2 (two) Vice Presidents, Customer Operations to oversee and provide strategic leadership of day-to-day customer operations within the assigned region (East or West) of the GO network, including UP Express. 

The 2 (two) Vice Presidents will plan, direct, coordinate and oversee all customer operational activities, including customer service, experience and safety; employees and assets; cleanliness, maintenance and standards of physical assets; and effective incident management when degraded operations occur across the regional network. Both roles will deliver a safe and efficient operation of passenger rail service and station operations to achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction while maintaining effective and cost-efficient workflows. Working closely with their Vice President, Customer Operations counterpart (EAST OR WEST), they will have a unified strategic vision to continuously improve operational performance in their region to enhance the end-to-end customer experience across the GO/UP network. As Metrolinx grows and expands to a regional transportation model, and moves through the phases of design, construction, transition and operationalization, both Vice Presidents will be accountable for collaborating with and supporting project teams to achieve successful Station, Rail and Asset Transformation while also looking to maximize customer satisfaction. 

As an integral part of our organization, your role will involve a commitment to support a 24/7 operational environment. This entails being available for on-call and onsite responsibilities beyond the standard work week. Your flexibility will be essential to this position as your schedule may require you to work on weekends, evenings, nights, holidays to support major track closures (MTCs), critical incidents and special events. It’s important to note that this schedule is subject to change based on Metrolinx’s operational needs and the evolving demands of our industry. 

What will I be doing? 

• Meet current and future customer needs by maintaining and contributing to CSAT and OTP KPIs during day-to-day service, planned and unplanned service disruptions, and during asset modifications/improvements (e.g., station construction, digital upgrades, etc.).
• Provide senior leadership, expertise, and strategic oversight in all aspects of customer operations within assigned region, including rail operations, customer service, and safety and security.
• Develop, implement, and cascade a customer-centric strategy across all operations, in line with the corporate strategic focus for improving and sustaining customer satisfaction.
• Accountable for the overall incident management and safety protocols working in conjunction with the NOC (Network Operations Centre) when accidents or incidents take place on the rail corridor or at stations – across the whole transit network, with a particular focus on their region.
• Working in collaboration with Operations (GO & UP) Vice Presidents and Directors, establish benchmarks, goals and objectives that reflect corporate strategic objectives and direction, including appropriate metrics (Key Performance Indicators), monitoring systems, and reporting functionalities.
• Participate in strategic planning, policy and operational decisions, identifies areas for improved collaboration and continuous improvements; champion the identification of innovative and best practices for functional excellence; determine feasible options and initiate changes to structures or operating practices.
• Design and direct staffing at all levels for an organizational structure for high performance delivery of mandate, with a focus on enterprise-wide collaboration and synergies creating centres of customer operational excellence ensuring proper levels of resourcing is onboard to meet deadlines and commitments.
• Establish, communicate, and implement operations-related policies, practices, standards, quality assurance audits and security measures to ensure effective and consistent support and execution.
• Provide overall leadership and direction for labour relations; support the development of collective bargaining strategies; administer collective bargaining agreements, processes and grievances within the region.

What Skills and Qualifications Do I Need?

• Minimum of fifteen (15) years of progressive leadership in Rail industry and Rail customer (passenger) operations. A minimum of ten (10) years’ experience managing teams, budgets and operational plans, with five (5) years at the senior management level; experience in a unionized environment.
• Experienced in developing and implementing customer operations strategies in rail environment with proven experience leading Rail customer operations, working collaboratively across related business lines with the ability to take a holistic approach to problem-solving and critical thinking to share vision and lead future planning; ability to prioritize initiatives and the ability to translate strategy into an executable plan.
• Experience working with stakeholders across government to develop partnerships that support deliverables.
• Knowledge of incident management theory and best practice, including post-incident evaluation with relevant partners; In-depth knowledge of risk mitigation techniques and customer satisfaction measurement methodologies that are appropriate for use in complex, regulatory service-based environments.
• High level of political acuity and integrity to recognize political issues/implications to Metrolinx; to work in a high-profile environment that is subject to public scrutiny.
• Demonstrated experience in building strategic and operational plans that drive results over multiple cycles; analytical abilities to evaluate specific operational and customer issues and trends related to the overall Metrolinx experience.
• Exceptional communication skills to articulate strategies, and present information to a variety of audiences; superior consultation, influencing, and negotiation skills with the ability to influence as well as convey complex risk management solutions and methods in simple, relatable terms both one-to-one and in presentations.
• Strong team building skills- hiring, developing, and motivating people.
• Knowledge and understanding of organizational development, strategic and business planning and business/program management including performance review and quality management and how they impact business and operational planning and management.
• Project management principles and practices to lead and direct cross functional teams and consultants engaged in rail customer operations projects (i.e. development, project progress, related staff and project resources) to monitor project activities to adherence to timelines and project performance objectives.

Don’t Meet Every Requirement? 

If you’re excited about working with Metrolinx but your past experience doesn’t quite align with every qualification of this posting, we encourage you to apply. You just might be the right candidate for this or other roles. We are always look for great talent to join our team. 

We invite all interested individuals to apply and encourage applications from members of equity-deserving communities, including those who identify as Indigenous, Black, racialized women, people with disabilities, and people with diverse gender identities, expressions, and sexual orientations. 

Accommodation:

We value the unique skills and experiences each person brings to Metrolinx and are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment. We are committed to the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act so if you require accommodation during the hiring process, please let our Recruitment team know by contacting us at: 416-202-5601 or email hr.recruitment@metrolinx.com

Application Process: 

All applicants must be legally entitled to work in Canada. Metrolinx will be using email to communicate with you for all job competitions. It is your responsibility to include an updated email address that is checked daily and accepts emails from unknown users. As we send time sensitive correspondence, we recommend that you check your email regularly. If no response is received, we will assume you are no longer interested in pursuing the opportunity. Please be advised that a Criminal Record Check may be required of the successful candidate. Should it be determined that any background information provided be misleading, inaccurate, or incorrect, Metrolinx reserves the right to discontinue with the consideration of your application. 

For internal applicants, with the recent implementation of the Internal Mobility Policy, the internal recruitment process has changed for non-union roles. Please review all provisions of the policy before submitting your application. 

Should it be determined that any background information provided be misleading, inaccurate or incorrect, Metrolinx reserves the right to discontinue with the consideration of your application. 

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for further consideration will be contacted. 

WE ARE AN EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE EMPLOYER. 

#LI-SC1

Read Full Description