Operations Director

Operations Director

Department

Senior Leadership Team

Reports to

Executive Directors

Location

Preference for GTHA; with regular travel to downtown Toronto office

Position

Full Time, Permanent

Salary Band

$87,500 + benefits

Effective Date

November 1, 2026 (flexible)

The work

Migrant Workers Alliance for Change - MWAC - organizes migrant workers to turn individual problems into collective campaigns that build organized migrant power. We connect with workers (at farms, fish plants, in care facilities, through WhatsApp groups, hotlines, support clinics, and casework), support them to address their immediate problems, bring them into relationship with one another, and support them to develop their leadership.

The Role

The Director of Operations is responsible for building, managing, and improving the internal systems, policies, infrastructure, and people practices that enable MWAC to effectively fulfill its mission.

This position contributes to MWACʼs mission by ensuring that staff, members, leaders, campaigns, and organizational priorities are supported by strong financial systems, clear HR practices, reliable technology, effective administration, and a healthy organizational culture.

The Director of Operations works collaboratively with staff, Board members, vendors, consultants, and external partners to strengthen MWACʼs internal capacity and long-term sustainability.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, this position shares responsibility for the overall health, direction, and effectiveness of the organization. In addition to leading their area of responsibility, the role contributes to organization-wide strategy, resource allocation, organizational development, staff culture, and long-term planning, and is expected to act in the best interests of the organization as a whole.

Who this is for

• We're a migrant-led organization without deep pockets, and the salary reflects that. We're looking for someone who does this work because they believe in it.
• The role is posted as full-time and permanent, but for the right person we are open to finding an arrangement that works, including regarding salary.

Core Competencies

• Demonstrates commitment to migrant justice, racial justice, gender equity, and anti-oppression principles.
• Works respectfully across differences and actively contributes to an inclusive organizational culture.
• Contributes to a positive and supportive team culture. Recognizes and challenges systems of oppression in both organizational and external contexts.
• Builds strong working relationships with staff, members, senior leadership team. Supports collective decision-making and accountability.
• Communicates respectfully, constructively, and effectively in writing and verbally.
• Manages competing priorities effectively. Meets deadlines and follows through on commitments.
• Identifies challenges and opportunities, and develops practical and strategic solutions.
• Exercises sound judgment in complex situations.

What we're looking for

Finance + Budget Management

• Manage MWACʼs financial systems, processes, and controls in partnership with external bookkeepers and accountants, auditors, and other financial service providers.
• Develop and maintain annual organizational budgets, forecasts, and financial tracking systems.
• Monitor cash flow, spending, grant budgets, restricted funds, and financial risks.

Prepare financial reports and analysis for senior leadership, the Board, and funders.

Support grant administration, funding compliance, expense tracking, and financial reporting requirements.

• Ensure invoices, payments, reimbursements, payroll coordination, and financial records are accurate, timely, and well documented.
• Help senior leadership make informed decisions by translating financial information into clear analysis and practical recommendations.

People + HR Systems

• Help develop a new organizational chart for MWAC that identifies clear roles and responsibilities and gaps to be filled..
• Build and maintain HR systems, policies, procedures, templates, and records.
• Coordinate recruitment administration, hiring processes, onboarding, offboarding, contracts, and staff orientation.
• Manage payroll coordination, benefits administration, vacation and leave tracking, and employment records.
• Support performance management processes, role clarity, work planning, staff development systems, and accountability structures.
• Ensure MWACʼs people practices are legally compliant, values-aligned, anti-oppressive, and consistently applied.
• Help build a workplace culture rooted in clarity, care, accountability, sustainability, and collective responsibility.
• Develop systems and practices that support communication, feedback, learning, conflict resolution, and shared responsibility.
• Help ensure staff understand organizational policies, decision-making processes, expectations, and available supports.
• Support staff engagement, team rhythms, retreats, internal communications, and organizational learning processes.
• Identify culture, workload, capacity, or morale issues and help develop practical responses.
• Support an organizational culture that can hold both political urgency and staff sustainability.

Internal Systems + Administration

• Build, improve, and maintain the internal systems that allow MWACʼs work to run smoothly.
• Develop and maintain organizational policies, procedures, calendars, templates, filing systems, and operational documentation.
• Ensure organizational records, contracts, agreements, reports, and key documents are secure, organized, and accessible to the right people.
• Create systems that reduce reliance on informal knowledge, individual memory, and ad hoc coordination.
• Support internal planning processes, leadership meetings, staff meetings, Board processes, reporting cycles, and organizational workflows.

Identify administrative bottlenecks and implement practical improvements.

Ensure organizational commitments, deadlines, reporting obligations, and compliance requirements are tracked and met.

Technology + Vendor Management

• Manage MWACʼs technology systems, software platforms, digital tools, subscriptions, equipment, and related vendor relationships.
• Coordinate with IT providers, consultants, software vendors, legal advisors, auditors, accountants, benefits providers, and other external partners.
• Ensure staff have the tools, access, training, and support needed to use organizational systems effectively.
• Maintain systems for data security, privacy, access management, password management, document storage, and technology onboarding/offboarding.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, collaboration, knowledge management, and reporting through better use of technology.
• Ensure technology decisions are practical, sustainable, secure, and aligned with organizational needs.

Senior Leadership + Organizational Strategy

• Participate actively in MWACʼs Senior Leadership Team and contribute to organization-wide planning, budgeting, staffing, strategy, and decision-making.
• Bring an operations and people lens to major organizational decisions.
• Help identify organizational bottlenecks, capacity gaps, infrastructure needs, and sustainability risks.
• Ensure MWAC remains compliant with employment law, nonprofit obligations, funder requirements, insurance requirements, privacy obligations, and relevant legislation.
• Lead internal systems-building projects that strengthen MWACʼs ability to grow and sustain its work.
• Work with other senior leaders to ensure organizing, casework, campaigns, communications, operations, fundraising, and governance are aligned.
• Help build an organization where responsibility, knowledge, and leadership are shared rather than concentrated.

What success looks like in the first year

The successful performance of this role may be demonstrated through:

• MWAC has created a new organizational chart, internal re-structuring plan, and hiring takes place.
• MWAC has clear, reliable, and well-documented operational systems.
• Technology systems are secure, contemporaneous, functional, and appropriate to MWACʼs needs.
• Financial information is accurate, timely, and useful for planning and decision-making.
• Budgets, grant tracking, payroll coordination, payments, reimbursements, and financial reporting run smoothly.
• HR systems, staff records, contracts, onboarding, leave tracking, and people processes are organized and consistently applied.
• Staff have clearer expectations, stronger internal supports, and more accessible organizational information.
• Vendor relationships are well managed and external providers are held accountable.
• Board, funder, legal, HR, and compliance obligations are met on time.
• Organizational knowledge is documented and not overly dependent on individual staff.
• Senior leaders have the operational information and infrastructure needed to make good decisions.

Working Conditions

• Regular hours of work: 35 hours/week
• Employer-provided health and benefits package.
• Ability to work from our downtown Toronto office, with flexibility to work from home occasionally.
• Occasional evening and weekend work may be required.
• This role may involve participation in staff meetings, senior leadership team meetings, Board meetings, planning sessions, retreats, and organizational events.
• This role requires handling confidential HR, financial, legal, and organizational information.
• Additional duties may be assigned that are reasonably related to the purpose and responsibilities of the position.