Risk Management Officer - City of Toronto, Toronto

About the role

The Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) division at the City of Toronto is dedicated to the operational stewardship and strategic planning of the City's real estate assets. This division aims to provide efficient real estate service delivery city-wide, manage assets through their lifecycles, and implement strategies that effectively support City objectives. The Quality Assurance and Risk Management (QARM) Unit plays a crucial role in supporting CREM by assessing the design and conformity of business processes and internal controls. This unit also supports internal and external audits, monitors corrective actions, and advises management on risk, governance, and service delivery improvements. As a Risk Management Officer, you will report to the Manager, Quality Assurance and Risk Management, and be instrumental in planning and conducting risk-based reviews of operational and project-management processes. Your work will involve identifying control gaps and root causes, developing practical recommendations, and monitoring the implementation of corrective actions to strengthen governance, accountability, and service delivery across the City of Toronto. This role is key to ensuring compliance and robust internal processes.

Day-to-day

In this dynamic role, your daily activities will involve a comprehensive range of responsibilities focused on risk management and process improvement:

• Implements detailed plans and recommends policies/procedures regarding program specific requirements.
• Conducts research into assigned area ensuring that such research takes into account developments within the field, corporate policies and practices, legislation and initiatives by other levels of government.
• Provides input into and administers assigned budget, ensuring that expenditures are controlled and maintained within approved budget limitations.
• Creates, implements, and maintains a compliance framework for the Division to ensure all processes and policies are adhered to, health & safety, legislative, regulatory and contractual obligations are met.
• Provides subject area expertise in the risk management area to staff, management, ensuring responsiveness to emerging business, legislative, regulatory, and policy changes.
• Conducts business process and internal controls reviews to determine adherence to standardized policies and procedures, analyzes findings to make recommendations for improvement and minimize reoccurences.
• Conducts risk-based reviews of capital-project governance and controls, including cost and schedule management, project change control, contract administration, risk management, approvals, documentation and project reporting. Identifies control gaps and systemic issues, recommends improvements, and monitors implementation to strengthen project delivery and accountability.
• Supports internal and external audits of the Division’s operations, drives action, and administers the Division’s response to address recommendations resulting from these audits.
• Prepares reports for senior management and Internal/External Auditors in the area of operational reviews, recommendations on changes in business methods and processes including appropriate staffing levels, resources allocations, etc, policy recommendations and statistical analysis.
• Conducts periodic review of records/reports to determine timeliness, completeness and adherence to standards.
• Conducts studies, surveys and field reviews to determine adherence to standardized policies and procedures, analyzes findings to make recommendations for improvement as required.
• Performs reviews related to compliance and regulatory risk management and operational business risk management.
• Makes recommendations regarding long-term risk plans to support the division's risk management framework.
• Supports in the development of monitoring and reporting structures, including performance measures, to ensure compliance to established legislative and divsional policies and procedures.
• Makes recommendations for business continuity to address evolving and changing needs.
• Identifies emerging risk management issues and develops contingency plans designed to ensure continued service delivery.
• Collects and analyzes data from internal business processes and makes recommendations as required.
• Develops and implements reporting and tracking systems for development activities and outcomes.
• Documents and reports findings from reviews to senior management and makes recommendations for improvement.
• Documents the review process and all related transactions in detail.
• Identifies areas of non-compliance, root causes and initiates corrective action.
• Provides consultation to divisional staff on risk management processes/issues pertaining to compliance and operational risk.
• Evaluates and makes recommendations required to improve monitoring and service delivery.
• Develops and implements quality assurance processes to monitor compliance with City policies, established standards, and applicable legislation.
• Completes assigned projects, ensuring effective teamwork and communication, high standards of work quality and organizational performance.
• Identifies trends and makes recommendations to improve program and operational effectiveness.
• Enhances the Division's control framework and ability to meet its risk management requirements in key business processes by providing appropriate training, education, and information to staff on risk and control issues, as well as effective management principles/practices.

Who we're looking for

The ideal candidate for this Risk Management Officer position will bring a strong background in risk management, compliance, and process improvement, particularly within a public sector context. We are seeking an individual with proven analytical and communication skills, capable of collaborating effectively with various internal stakeholders.

• Post-secondary education in a discipline pertinent to the job function, e.g. public or business administration, public sector auditing, risk management or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Considerable experience with applying Risk Management methodologies to develop and implement strategies, preferably in a public sector context.
• Considerable experience performing operational, and compliance reviews as well as evaluation of programs and services.
• Considerable experience in auditing and/or managing quality management systems preferably in a municipal environment.
• Considerable experience conducting risk-based reviews of business processes and internal controls, preferably including capital projects and project-management processes such as project governance, cost and schedule controls, change management, contract administration, risk management, approval requirements, documentation, and project reporting.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to identify and create collaborative Division-wide solutions.
• Strong customer service orientation to collaborate with internal stakeholders and establish work plans that meet mutual objectives.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to liaise with internal stakeholders, and to facilitate training/ education and provide direction to management clients.
• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary setting, both independently and within a team setting, with competing deadlines and priorities.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office products to create reports, spreadsheets, presentations (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint), as well as other relevant application products to create work process materials (e.g. MS Project, Visio) and SAP.
• Knowledge of the Ontario Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA), relevant City by-laws, and any other provincial or federal legislation pertaining to a municipal environment. Program) and other inter-related legislation.

Who you'll work with

As a Risk Management Officer, you will report directly to the Manager, Quality Assurance and Risk Management within the Corporate Real Estate Management division. This role involves significant collaboration with various internal stakeholders across the City of Toronto, including divisional staff, management, and internal/external auditors. You will provide consultation on risk management processes and issues, facilitating training and education on risk and control issues. The City of Toronto is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace that reflects the diverse residents it serves, and provides accommodation for Code-protected needs throughout the recruitment process.