THE POSITION

The Senior Director, Public Affairs is responsible for the development and execution of Walmart Canada's government relations strategy.  The role reports to the Vice President, Corporate Affairs and works closely with the Corporate Affairs external communications, sustainability and charitable giving teams.  The role will also work proactively with other Walmart departments to identify, triage and resolve key public policy issues. With over 1.8 million customers visiting over 400 stores and Walmart.ca each week, Walmart is one of Canada’s largest employers and is ranked as one of the country’s top 10 most influential brands.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES / ACCOUNTABILITIES: 

• Monitor federal, provincial and municipal government public policy issues and political activity throughout the country.
• Build relationships with federal, provincial, municipal government officials and other third parties reinforce Walmart’s leadership on public policy issues.
• Work with senior management to develop and execute reputation-building Walmart’s government relations strategies and plans.
• Pursue Walmart’s business objectives with governments to achieve policy or regulatory changes to support top line growth.
• Manage external government relations agencies and budgets.
• Liaise with internal clients to help identify public policy priorities, opportunities and risks and to understand and develop government relations plans regarding complex public policy issues.
• Represent the company in meetings with senior government officials, key stakeholders and third-party influencers.

THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE WILL HAVE:

• 8+ years of progressive leadership experience within a highly-regulated, complex customer-facing business, proactively managing the public and corporation affairs function with an emphasis on government relations. Experience within a retail organization is ideal.  
• In-depth knowledge of political and bureaucratic government structures at the municipal, provincial and federal levels, for purposes of effective policy development, relationship management and advocacy.
• Solid understanding of the geopolitical risks within the regulatory environments that Walmart Canada operates in.
• Excellent relationship management skills – has partnered across the enterprise (i.e. communications, marketing, and legal,) to leverage expertise and identify opportunities to create a consistent message to enhance Walmart’s corporate image.
• Coach/mentor with an ability to motivate and inspire others to embrace change; has a successful track record of engaging people and developing high-performance teams.
• Thought leader – experience leading the conceptualization, development, and implementation of stakeholder engagement frameworks, strategies, tactics and approaches.
• An implementer of best practices - someone who will create the processes, practices and metrics to build and achieve continuous improvement.

EDUCATION & OTHER QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree; preferred undergraduate degree in political science or journalism
• Sound judgement, tact, and diplomacy.
• Strong communications and presentation skills.
• Superior problem-solving.
• Ability to work well with internal and external stakeholders.
• Bilingual French is an asset.
• Accountable for GR agency budgets