Projects Officer, Public Safety and Field Communications (Program Admin Officer 1-2)

Department: Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services

Location: DARTMOUTH

Type of Employment: Temporary

Union Status: NSGEU – NSPG

Closing Date: 7/8/2022 (Applications are accepted until 11:59 PM Atlantic Time)

Valuing Diversity

We value a workplace where diversity, in all its forms, is encouraged and recognized for its contribution to a more creative, rewarding, and productive public service to our broader community.

Valuing diversity challenges is not only to be a public service that reflects the community we serve but also to create a more respectful and productive public service and to be a model for other employers in Nova Scotia.

We encourage applications from those that equally value diversity.

About Us

Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services (SNSIS) has a team of 1700+ employees working from offices throughout Nova Scotia. Together, we build relationships with every citizen, business, and municipality in Nova Scotia by understanding evolving client needs and balancing these needs with the public good. Service excellence is at the heart of everything we do. As part of our core business, we provide a vast array of services to the citizens and businesses of Nova Scotia. We also provide the services, tools, and supports that enable other government departments and public sector entities to focus on providing quality services.

Public Safety and Field Communications (PSFC) are responsible for all public safety radio and data communications throughout the Provincial government, primarily focused on first responders, government departments, and also providing support for mobile radio services for municipalities, the federal government, public works providers, and utility providers. This is done through the operation and management of communications infrastructure, and both owned and contracted networks and services.

About Our Opportunity

Reporting to the Director of PSFC, the Projects Officer is responsible for providing a high level of operational service delivery to PSFC staff on both projects and regular operations.

The Project Officer (PO) is an integral part of the Public Safety and Field Communications team, and plays a complex role which combines project coordination, and project delivery for various corporate initiatives. In some cases, the PO will be assigned to complete project work from start to finish, and will work independently to produce results and provide those results to the team. In other cases, where the complexity or technical nature of subject matter requires other staff to lead the projects, the PO will be assigned to complete project documentation, track deliverables, and keep staff on agreed to timelines.

This means that beyond coordinating the activity of projects, the PO will actually be carrying out project activities across various business lines by gathering information on business needs, making connections and determining what is required to deliver those projects, and then coordinating the operational work required to deliver an end product, which facilitates the effective delivery of programs.

While the Projects Officer is not expected to be a subject matter expert within the various areas of responsibility, they will be continuously working with those subject matter experts, and will be expected to become conversant and familiar with various operational functions within PSFC and its partner organizations, to effectively organize resources needed to keep projects on track.

Primary Accountabilities

As the PSFC Projects Officer, you will:
Provide project coordination support for corporate initiatives such as: building project documentation, tracking deliverables, building status reports, and following up with stakeholders.

Work with various internal and external stakeholders on the development of policies and standard operating procedures

Play a key role on behalf of PSFC in projects such as the implementation of online training materials, IT systems/software implementation, and working with Communications Nova Scotia on the development of print materials, videos, PSFCs website, and other public facing media.

Act as the primary liaison with Nova Scotia Digital Service (NSDS) in supporting various IT systems and software within PSFC.

Carry out procurement activities such as project entry in SAP Ariba, tracking project or operational costs, and processing of vendor invoices.

Provide limited administrative support to the organization such as booking/planning meetings, managing mail and correspondence, and overseeing the basic administration of the PSFC head office.

Finally, all positions within PSFC provide support to the Mobile Communications Support Service, which responds to emergencies and planned events to support first responders and departments’ communications needs in the field.

Qualifications and Experience

First and foremost, the successful candidate will take pride in high quality service delivery. The candidate must have high attention to detail, excellent organizational skills, and superior oral and written communication skills, and must detail in their submission their client service experience (i.e. in a public customer service environment, or providing support to internal clients).

The successful candidate will have at minimum a university degree plus one year of related experience in either:

Project coordination or project management within a technical environment such as IT, telecom, or a related field; or,

Experience providing in-depth operational or project support to a team focused in one of the areas of public safety, emergency management, Information Technology (IT), or telecommunications.

An equivalent combination of training and experience may be accepted provided the equivalency is clearly demonstrated in your submission.

Assets will include experience with public safety, IT, telecommunications, or emergency management organizations; certifications or a depth of experience in project coordination or project management (i.e. PMBOK), and IT experience.

Knowledge, skills, and competencies will be assessed using a combination of interviews, tests/exams, and assessments.

Equivalency

Applicants relying on education and experience equivalencies must demonstrate such equivalencies in their application.

Benefits

Based on the employment status and Union agreement, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as Health, Dental, Life Insurance, Pension, General Illness (Short and Long Term), Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs. Click here to learn more about our various benefits offering and eligibility criteria.

Working Conditions

Normal work week is 35 hours/week, 7 hours/day

May be required to work overtime on occasion

This position is based out of the PSFC head office in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. While work will normally be performed during regular working hours from the office, given that our user community and infrastructure is spread across all areas of the province, travel (mostly within the Province) is regularly required with this position (normally less than 15%, and only occasionally requiring overnight stays).

This position can be considered for some flexible working arrangements, including flexible working hours and part-time remote work opportunities.

Additional Information

This is a TEMPORARY employment opportunity with anticipated end date of January 31, 2023. The appointment status (‘term’, ‘temporary’ or ‘casual’) is dependent on the start date of the successful candidate.

What We Offer

Career Development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career

Engaging workplace: our Employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in, we have forward-thinking policies and strategies

Countless career paths

Department specific flexible working schedules

Pay Grade: PR 06 – PR 10

Salary Range: $1,805.02 – $2,588.45 Bi-Weekly

Employment Equity Statement:
Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve. The Government of Nova Scotia has an Employment Equity Policy, and we welcome applications from Indigenous People, African Nova Scotians and Other Racially Visible Persons, Persons with Disabilities and Women in occupations or positions where they are under-represented. If you are a member of one of these equity groups, you are encouraged to self-identify on your electronic application.

This is a bargaining unit position initially restricted to current civil service employees represented by the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union (NSGEU). If applying from outside a government office, employees must apply correctly via this link:

Failure to apply correctly means that your application will not be given first consideration as a bargaining unit applicant, and will only be included if external applications are pursued.

External applicants and current casual employees will only be considered if there are no qualified civil service bargaining unit candidates. PLEASE NOTE: Candidates will not be considered for an interview if applications are incomplete or are missing information.

Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer. We thank all applicants for the interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. All questions and concerns may be directed to [email protected].