Director, Operations

BC Emergency Health Services

Location: British Columbia (Hybrid) | Provincial travel required

 

BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) provides life-saving emergency medical care to people across British Columbia. As part of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), BCEHS operates one of the largest and most complex emergency health service systems in Canada, delivering care across a province spanning approximately 944,000 square kilometres and responding to more than 600,000 patient events each year in communities ranging from major urban centres to some of the most remote regions in the province.

 

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Director of Operations to provide senior leadership for provincial operational coordination and system performance across BCEHS.

 

This is a unique opportunity for a senior operational leader to help guide the real-time health and performance of the provincial Emergency Health System while leading a team responsible for coordinating frontline service delivery across British Columbia.

The Role

Reporting to the Senior Executive Director, the Director of Operations is responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership for provincial EHS system coordination. The Director oversees a team of Provincial Operations Managers and works closely with frontline leaders, health system partners, and emergency response agencies to ensure effective and consistent delivery of ambulance services across the province.

 

In this role, you will lead the operational oversight of BCEHS services in a 24/7 healthcare environment, ensuring the system is responsive, resilient, and able to meet the evolving needs of patients and communities.

The Director provides leadership in:

• Monitoring and maintaining provincial system health and operational performance
• Coordinating responses to emerging operational pressures
• Supporting major incidents and critical event management
• Advancing initiatives that strengthen operational coordination and system effectiveness

 In addition to operational leadership, the Director contributes to provincial strategic initiatives, operational policy development, and service delivery improvements that support the long-term sustainability and performance of emergency health services across British Columbia.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

• Provide leadership and oversight for a team of Provincial Operations Managers (POM), who, based out of the Dispatch and Communication centers, collectively support frontline operational leadership across BCEHS.POMs Provincial Operations Managers provide centralized coordination of significant events across the provincial system, maintain continuous situational awareness, notify senior operational leaders of emerging issues, and serve as the primary operational coordinators for major incidents and system pressures.

• In coordination with the BCEHS Disaster, Risk and Resilience team (DR3), maintain situational awareness of provincial emergency health service operations, identifying emerging pressures, risks, and system performance issues.

System Coordination

• Coordinate operational responses during major incidents, system disruptions, and high-demand periods, ensuring effective collaboration with internal leaders and external emergency response partners.

Operational Improvement

• Support the development and implementation of provincial operational strategies and initiatives that enhance system performance, resource coordination, and service delivery.

Partnership and Coordination

• Foster strong and productive working relationships with health authorities, emergency services partners, regulatory bodies, and government stakeholders

Culture and Leadership

• Promote a culture that prioritizes patient safety, employee safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Support BCEHS leadership in building a high-performing, collaborative, and resilient operational environment.

Leadership Scope

The Director provides leadership to Provincial Operations Managers, who in turn support operational supervisors and frontline personnel responsible for delivering emergency health services across British Columbia.

Through this leadership structure, the Director plays a key role in ensuring:

• Effective provincial coordination of ambulance resources
• Consistent operational decision-making
• Reliable access to emergency care across diverse communities
• Close collaboration with peers and internal partners to align operational priorities, support cross-program initiatives, and ensure cohesive, system-wide decision-making

What You Bring

You are a highly experienced operational leader who understands the complexity of large-scale healthcare or emergency service systems and thrives in dynamic environments where decisions directly impact patient care and service delivery.

 

Your leadership style is collaborative, decisive, and grounded in operational credibility. You are comfortable navigating complex systems, coordinating diverse stakeholders, and leading teams through both routine operations and critical incidents.

 

This role will appeal to senior EHS leaders who have developed their careers through operational leadership and are ready to influence system performance at a provincial level.

Qualifications

• A Master’s degree in Health Administration, Business Administration, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education, training and experience.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in emergency health services, healthcare operations, or a comparable complex service delivery environment.

Experience

• Extensive leadership experience in emergency health services or healthcare operations.
• Demonstrated experience leading operational teams and supervising staff.
• Demonstrated experience driving system performance and operational improvement initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience leading operational teams and driving system performance and operational improvement initiatives.
• Proven ability to lead during critical incidents, system pressures, and high-consequence operational events.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• A strong understanding of EHS systems, emergency response operations, or large-scale healthcare service delivery environments.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills, including the use of data and information to support decision-making.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams through change, support process improvement, and build effective teams.
• Ability to provide leadership, guidance, and direction while anticipating and responding to changing priorities.
• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills with the ability to engage effectively with internal teams, healthcare partners, government agencies, and emergency services organizations.

Indigenous Cultural Safety and Diversity

• Knowledge of Canadian colonial impacts on Indigenous people in social and health contexts, supported by significant knowledge of Canadian and Indigenous ideologies, including knowledge, and understanding of Indigenous cultural safety, cultural humility, Indigenous-specific racism and anti-racism.
• Awareness of and commitment to learning and understanding the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action (2015), In Plain Site Report (2020), BC's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (2019), and Reclaiming Power and Place Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls calls for justice, and how they intersect across the health care system.
• Supports team members on their learning journey, ensuring education strategy for team/department to implement Indigenous Cultural Safety at a practical level.
• Works collaboratively with appropriate Indigenous teams/departments to ensure ICS lens applied holistically.
• Commitment to upholding the shared responsibility of creating lasting and meaningful reconciliation in Canada as per TRC (2015) and BC's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (2019).
• Knowledge of social, economic, political and historical realities impacting indigenous communities and familiarity with Indigenous Cultural Safety and anti-racism and accompanying reports (BC DRIPA, TRC, etc.)

While BCEHS would consider a foundation in Indigenous cultural safety to be a strong asset for consideration, our commitment to enhancing Indigenous cultural safety includes providing all employees with access to resources and training programs in partnership with San'yas Core Health Indigenous Cultural Safety Training and Anti-Indigenous Racism Response Training. 

What We Offer

Every PHSA employee enables the best possible patient care for our patients and their families. Whether you are providing direct care, conducting research, or making it possible for others to do their work, you impact the lives of British Columbians today and in the future. That’s why we’re focused on your care too – offering health, wellness and development programs to support you – at work and at home.

• Join one of BC’s largest employers with province-wide programs, services and operations – offering vast opportunities for growth, development, and recognition programs that honour the commitment and contribution of all employees.
• Access to professional development opportunities through our in-house training programs, including +2,000 courses, such as our San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training course, or Core Linx for Leadership roles.
• Enjoy a comprehensive benefits package, including municipal pension plan, and psychological health & safety programs and holistic wellness resources.
• Annual statutory holidays (13) with generous vacation entitlement and accruement.
• PHSA is a remote work friendly employer, welcoming flexible work options to support our people (eligibility may vary, depending on position).
• Access to WorkPerks, a premium discount program offering a wide range of local and national discounts on electronics, entertainment, dining, travel, wellness, apparel, and more.

Job Type: Regular, Full-Time, Permanent, Non-Unionized

Typical Hiring Range: $133,733 - $148,653

The starting salary for this position would be determined with consideration of the successful candidate’s relevant education and experience and would be in alignment with the provincial compensation reference plan.
Location:  BC (Hybrid) 

Closing date: April 5, 2026
Requisition # 196246

Contact: NUTA@bcehs.ca (Only applications submitted online through this posting will be considered. Please do not send resumes to this email address, as email applications will not be reviewed.)

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