At Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, we deliver excitement. Our mission is to be the heartbeat of our community by creating connections, building champions, and winning, together. If you’d like to join a team that’s people-first, diverse, innovative, and energized about delivering extraordinary fan experiences to our guests, then we’d love to sign you to a player's contract!
THE POSITION
The Scotia Place Transition Project Director is accountable for leading CSEC’s enterprise-wide transition from the Scotiabank Saddledome to Scotia Place. The role owns the end-to-end transition required to prepare the organization, teams, systems, and operations to successfully occupy, operate, and fully realize the value of the new venue.
Acting as the single point of accountability for the transition, the Project Director defines the required workstreams, guides execution, manages risk, and ensures coordinated delivery across business segments and support functions. This includes maintaining momentum while protecting day-to-day operations throughout the transition.
The role provides enterprise-level coordination, readiness, and risk management without replacing functional ownership of operations. It reports to the Scotia Place Transition Steering Committee and works closely with internal leaders, external partners, and public stakeholders to ensure a smooth and successful transition to Scotia Place.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
Enterprise Transformation Leadership
- Define and maintain the enterprise transformation strategy, roadmap, and sequencing for the Scotia Place transition.
- Translate strategic intent into an integrated, executable transition plan across all functions.
- Act as the enterprise integrator, ensuring alignment, coordination, and disciplined execution across the organization.
- Frame and present clear options, trade-offs, and recommendations to support timely Executive Leadership Team and Board decisions.
- Ensure the intended strategic, operational, and commercial benefits of the Scotia Place transition are protected and enabled through disciplined execution.
Workstream Definition & Delivery Oversight
- Identify, define, and stand up all transformation workstreams required to support the transition.
- Provide clear guidance to workstream leads on scope, deliverables, milestones, dependencies, and success criteria.
- Actively manage cross-workstream interdependencies, conflicts, and gaps.
- Hold workstream leads accountable for progress, risks, and delivery.
- Challenge scope, sequencing, or readiness assumptions where risks to timeline, cost, or operational stability are identified.
Governance, Cadence & Reporting
- Establish and lead a clear governance structure and reporting cadence for the transformation.
- Chair weekly project status meetings with workstream leads to review progress, risks, decisions, and upcoming milestones.
- Provide bi-weekly updates to the Executive Leadership Team, including progress, risks, financials, and decisions required.
- Deliver monthly updates to the Board, providing clear visibility into progress, risks, readiness, and key milestones.
- Ensure reporting is concise, decision-oriented, and free of surprises.
Financial Oversight & Budget Management
- Own the transformation budget, including forecasting, tracking, and financial reporting.
- Manage one-time transition costs and readiness investments.
- Ensure financial discipline while enabling critical transformation outcomes.
Risk Management & Mitigation
- Develop, maintain, and actively manage an enterprise transition risk register in alignment with CSEC’s Corporate Risk Policy.
- Identify, assess, and mitigate operational, financial, people, reputational, and timeline risks.
- Escalate material risks, trade-offs, and decisions to the Executive Leadership Team with clear options and recommendations.
Change Management & Organizational Readiness
- Lead enterprise change management and readiness planning.
- Partner with functional leaders to prepare teams for new systems, spaces, operating models, and ways of working.
- Drive clarity, engagement, and adoption across the organization.
Operational Handover & Stabilization
- Oversee operational handover and post-opening stabilization to ensure a smooth transition from transformation into steady-state operations.
- Ensure accountability is clearly transferred from transformation workstreams to business-as-usual owners at the appropriate time.
Executive & Stakeholder Engagement
- Serve as the primary executive lead for the Scotia Place transition.
- Coordinate with internal leaders, external partners, vendors, and public stakeholders.
- Align transition sequencing and messaging in partnership with Corporate Communications.
- Oversee integration and performance of key third-party vendors and partners critical to transition success.
THE INDIVIDUAL
The ideal individual will have the following background:
- 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in large-scale transformations, complex operational transitions, or enterprise programs.
- 7+ years of experience leading or supporting major event venues, large-scale facility openings, relocations, or live-operations environments.
- Demonstrated experience managing large, complex transformation budgets (typically $50M+), including forecasting, cost control, and executive-level financial reporting.
- Proven experience working in fast-paced, high-visibility environments with executive and Board-level oversight.
- Experience working with public-sector partners, municipalities, or public-private stakeholders is an asset.
Leadership Profile
- Enterprise-minded, pragmatic, and execution-focused
- Calm under pressure; thrives in ambiguity and complexity
- Decisive, highly organized, and outcomes-oriented
- Trusted advisor to executives and functional leaders
- Focused on momentum, clarity, and disciplined delivery
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Engineering, Architecture, Urban Planning, Operations Management, or a related field required.
- Master’s degree (MBA, MPA, MSc, or equivalent) considered a strong asset.
- Professional certifications in project management, change management, or transformation leadership (e.g., PMP, PgMP, Prosci, Lean, Six Sigma) are an asset.
This position will remain open until 3:00pm Friday, May 1st, 2026.
CSEC is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on age, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religious belief, or sexual orientation
