Innovation Leader

We create great places and the connections that get people and goods moving-whether by car, bus, train, plane, or their own two feet. Working within the context of the communities we serve, we provide planning, engineering, and infrastructure management services that fit the needs of our clients and improve the overall transportation experience. Join our team and help us keep communities connected.

Your Opportunity

Infrastructure is currently seeking an Innovation Leader for Infrastructure to join our leadership team. The role of an Innovation Leader will be to drive a culture of innovation in our BOU and across a global scale.

Your Key Responsibilities

• Lead and drive a culture of innovation and creativity that is technology forward within the Infrastructure BOU.
  • Organize and manage the innovation portfolio for the Infrastructure BOU and report on status to the BOU leadership. Portfolios should target a balance of core, adjacent and transformational innovations.
  • Create and chair the Infrastructure BOU Innovation Committee.
  • Drive Idea Machine usage within the BOU. Organize, lead and be a resource for the Infrastructure Innovation Coaches for Idea Machine.
  • Work with idea owners and innovation coaches to develop a business plan and a go-to-market (GTM) strategy for every initiative in the innovation portfolio. A GTM strategy includes a roadmap that measures the viability of a solution's success and predicts its performance based on market research, prior examples, and competitive data. Solutions should focus on what mass markets what to buy.
  • Find and recruit thought leaders within the BOU and help them contribute to innovation based on their skills as a blue ocean (i.e. having a product in the market where there is no competition or less competition. Ergo, blue ocean products have a potential for higher profits.) thinker, toolmaker (i.e. someone with strong granular knowledge of existing and pending digital innovations), or both.
  • Drive the identification of Innovative Business Opportunity (IBO) candidates from within the BOU
  • Form relationships with technology providers.
  • Promote Infrastructure's innovations and creativity both internally and externally through effective communication to both audiences with a focus on digital marketing via .com and professional social networks.
• Contribute to the top line growth of the Infrastructure BOU by adding or expanding service offerings and innovative digital solutions through commercialization and identifying opportunities for non-labor-based revenue (i.e. unit sales, subscriptions, etc.).
  • Responsible for directing the Innovation & Growth Business Center (BC) which we expect to create in the near future.
  • Provide guidance and assistance for development of emerging sectors.
• Contribute to the bottom-line performance of Infrastructure by implementing or refining technologies that facilitate ever greater efficiencies and productivity gains.
• Responsible for developing partnerships with each infrastructure region with resources from our delivery center in Pune, India.
• Be a pragmatic blue ocean thinker that helps to future proof our business lines from market changes and disruptions.
  • Must demonstrate understanding of what creates a sustainable competitive advantage.
• Stay current on state-of-the-science technology development associated with Infrastructure projects by enlisting in Stantec's e-library with a focused peer-reviewed literature feed.
• Be the Infrastructure BOU representative within the Stantec Innovation Office.
  • Provide thought leadership to the Office that balances futurism with reasonable return on investment advice.
  • Assign Innovation Coaches to represent the Infrastructure BOU.
  • Participate in Blue Ocean Strategy sessions relevant to the Infrastructure BOU.
  • Participate in regular Innovation Leader (IL) meetings with the Innovation Office.
  • Identify, prioritize and direct investment from the Office of Innovation. The IL is to be the judge and "approver" for many of our programs and apply sound and common-sense business judgement to investment decisions.
  • Be aware of existing and emerging technologies and trends and share this with the Office and within the BOU.
  • Interface with the Infrastructure Digital Practice Lead and the Digital Solutions Team within the Innovation Office to help drive the digital evolution of the Infrastructure BOU.
  • Be aware of innovative ideas (design advancements, digital tools, etc.) being developed and/or deployed across the company and share those within the BOU, with particular focus to ensure that BOU RBL's, RSL's and DPL's are aware of the advancements being made within other BOU's.
  • Be aware of innovative ideas (design advancements, digital tools, etc.) being developed and/or deployed within the [Inserts BOU here] BOU and share that information with the Innovation Office and other IL's.
  • Be Infrastructure's interface with the Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
• Provide oversight for Corporate Investment to the BOU, including IBOs and Corporate Campaigns.
  • Attend regular IBO steering committee meetings and Corporate Campaign quarterly meetings.
  • Work with the Innovation Office to manage these programs applying sound and common-sense business judgement to investment decisions.

Business Development

• Work with RBLs, RLs, AMs, SLs and BC leaders to identify our clients' problems that most need solving through innovation and technology adaptation.
  • Obsess about our clients' problems and then iterate on the solutions.
  • Listen to our clients' problems, learn about their costs, risks and profit drivers, and then match it to our investments in innovation and creativity.
• Prepare a business development plan, which takes stock of existing innovation related revenues (i.e. the baseline) and then establishes strategy and net revenue (NR) goal(s) within 60-90 days of starting as the IL. This will include a discussion about expectations for growth of innovation and creativity in the BOU and its connection to the broader Stantec's BOUs and regions.
• Engage colleagues in the selling of new innovation technologies and creative work to clients. This will require the IL to build, develop, and communicate a client-centric business case for new technology adoption that clearly identifies the benefits to clients as selling concepts and technology is understandably more difficult than selling our conventional professional services.
• Identify value propositions where Stantec has competitive advantage and work with client facings teams to create a market compelling ROI and value proposition.
• Identify and recruit beta and pilot customers for new products and services. Responsible for ensuring initial successful delivery of value propositions.
• Creating technology partnerships and sales channels by creating an ecosystem of nonexclusive vendor relationships that create technology differentiation and a many-to-one sales channels.
• Identify and pursue private, public and institutional clients with other leaders that will be prioritized for innovation related conversations around problems, needs and investments.
• The IL will be expected to add the following direct related gains in NR to the BOU:
  • Year One: $2M in new work/backlog attributed primarily to IL;
  • Year Two: $4M in new work/backlog attributed primarily to IL;
  • Year Three: $6M in new work/backlog attributed primarily to IL.

Enhance our Infrastructure BOU Practice

• The IL will be part of the senior leadership team in the Infrastructure BOU and will actively assist the BOUL, BLs, SLs, RBLs, DLs in the improvement of project delivery and the strategies that can be employed to help differentiate us in the market on major pursuits. Likewise, the IL will regularly meet with the Stantec digital technical advisory committee on technology development, learn about other related investments and adaptations, and work with this committee to implement new digital tools.
  • The IL will partner with the Infrastructure Digital Practice Team to develop and conduct a minimum of 12 BC audits per year.
• Increase the visibility of our innovations and creativity in the internal Stantec and external design community for the purposes of staff recruitment and retention. The IL will need to be very active on relevant social media and contribute to Stantec's social media.
• The IL will build relationships with other Stantec Business Lines and Sectors to foster cross-pollination of innovation and creativity and to capitalize on new business opportunities.
• The IL will assist in the recruitment of top talent that has a strong knowledge of digital innovations and emerging design trends.
• Mentor and assist in the career development of blue ocean thinking and toolmaker staff within the BOU to further their professional development and to foster succession planning.
• Assist our senior leadership in creating a more cohesive and collaborative network of design excellence and execution across the Infrastructure BOU.
• Work with the leads of our strategic growth initiatives to support their work as they progress their initiatives to win more work and evolve the long-term growth of our business.

Professional Symposiums/Publications/Webinars

• Being seen, heard, and read is a key goal of our business lines. The IL will take a proactive role in furthering our presence and leading staff to participate. Infrastructure's IL will work with our marketing, communications, and PR group to identify opportunities for articles and white papers and prepare topics for development and release.
• The IL will identify panel and presentation opportunities and participate in key functions focused primarily on the promotion of the BOU's innovations and creative approaches.
• A significant portion of external promotions of related thought leadership of innovations within the BOU will be targeted to direct client meetings. The IL will need to be a strong communicator and public speaker.
• The IL will work within an identified budget for participation in industry events, panels, or conferences.

• A minimum of fifteen (15) years of professional work experience
• A minimum of five (5) years of general leadership experience in infrastructure or innovation
• Bachelor's degree, with majors preferably in engineering, planning, landscape architecture, or geomatics
• Preferred - licensure in engineering, landscape architecture, planning, or geomatics
• Financial acumen, strong client/project focus, growth leader, inspirational leader, self-starter, and exceptional communicator
• Ability to travel to other Stantec offices in North America

This description is not a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that may be required of the employee and other duties, responsibilities and activities may be assigned or may be changed at any time with or without notice.

Stantec is a place where the best and brightest come to build on each other's talents, do exciting work, and make an impact on the world around us. Join us and redefine your personal best.