COO – Regional Operations — Urban Infrastructure Platform

The mandate

A Canadian urban-infrastructure platform operates mobility, public-realm and utility-linked assets through regional models that evolved around individual concessions. As the platform prepares further public-private partnership bids, the board seeks a Regional COO who can build a repeatable operating spine without stripping assets of local accountability.

The perimeter covers approximately C$28,550 million in projects and operating assets and 950 employees and material partners. Accountability includes regional operations, mobilisation, maintenance, service performance, contractor delivery, asset management interfaces, resilience, safety partnership, operating technology and leadership. Project-company executives retain statutory and concession duties. The COO owns cross-regional operating capability, intervention and whether expansion promises can be delivered by the existing system.

The immediate choice is what to standardise. Control rooms, work management, contractor assurance, incident command, performance evidence and mobilisation gates can often share principles, while service hours, customer remedies, climate response and authority reporting may remain concession-specific. The COO must distinguish legitimate variation from historic preference and convenience.

PPP expansion will be tested against operational capacity before bid commitments. A strong financial model cannot compensate for absent asset leaders, unqualified suppliers or a maintenance proposition that has never been demonstrated under local conditions.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned replacement with a four-to-six-month handover. The incumbent continues to carry ordinary authority and will transfer regional, customer and project knowledge through an agreed succession process. Confidentiality allows the board to complete referencing and announce the transition in sequence. No hidden safety, service or conduct event has prompted the search.

What you will own

• Define the common operating spine and approved local variation.
• Restore service, maintenance and contractor performance across regions.
• Establish operational readiness gates for every PPP pursuit.
• Direct mobilisation from preferred bidder through stable service.
• Govern resilience, incident command and cross-asset mutual aid.
• Build regional COOs, asset leaders and successors.

The common model will begin with work. Planned maintenance, fault response, permit control, contractor mobilisation, customer escalation and operating handover will be mapped across representative assets. The COO will select standards where common discipline improves reliability, then document local departures with an owner and review date. Harmonisation will not be measured by identical manuals.

Performance will connect service and asset health. Availability, response, repeat failure, maintenance compliance, backlog condition, deductions and customer harm will be reconciled rather than reported in separate forums. Asset leaders will explain leading evidence and recovery action before quarterly outcomes are fixed. Central teams will support difficult decisions but cannot become a buffer that weakens concession accountability.

Contractor governance will follow consequence. Critical maintainers and operators need verified competence, workforce continuity, parts access, safe systems and recovery capacity. Commercial scorecards will include field evidence and repeat defects, not only invoice compliance. Where multiple concessions share a supplier, the COO will surface concentration and coordinate leverage without concealing local underperformance.

PPP bids will carry an operating case signed by named leaders. Service design, workforce, maintenance, systems, partners, lifecycle, mobilisation and contingency will be costed against contract obligations. The COO can require a pilot, alter risk allocation or decline operational sign-off when evidence is inadequate. Bid optimism may not be transferred silently into the first operating budget.

Mobilisation will use gates for people, permits, data, spares, control environments, customer communication and emergency readiness. Acceptance from construction will include tested systems and residual defects, not a ceremonial handover date. Lessons from live assets will feed bid assumptions and readiness reviews.

The first 12 months

Within 75 days, the COO will visit priority assets, validate the twelve most consequential service and asset risks, and assess regional leadership. The sponsor will receive decisions on common standards, urgent interventions and the operating capacity available for the expansion pipeline.

By month eight, four assets should use the common performance spine, two regional variations should be removed or explicitly justified, and every priority PPP bid should carry operational-readiness evidence. The highest-risk contractor concentration will have a tested recovery route.

At year-end, critical-service availability should exceed approved thresholds, repeat equipment failures fall 20% in targeted cohorts and planned maintenance compliance exceed 95%. Regional forecast cost should remain within 5%, mobilisation gates apply to all new awards, and 75% of pivotal operating roles have verified emergency cover.

What the board will measure

• Reliable service and asset health across regional models.
• Common operating discipline with justified local choice.
• PPP commitments matched to people, systems and suppliers.
• Controlled mobilisation and contractor concentration.
• Strong regional leaders and practical succession.

The person

You are a regional COO, infrastructure operations executive or asset-platform leader with 22–28 years of experience. You have carried at least C$16,550 million in accountable scope and led no fewer than 950 people. Your record includes concession operations, contractor networks and PPP mobilisation in a regulated or public-service environment.

The board will examine an operating standard you chose not to harmonise, a bid you changed because operational capacity was insufficient, and a cross-regional recovery sustained beyond the first intervention. You must be credible in the field and with public counterparties. Pure project-delivery experience without live service accountability will not qualify.

This onsite Toronto role requires extensive asset, authority, contractor and regional travel.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is C$460,000–620,000 plus annual incentive and LTI. Measures include service, maintenance, operating cost, mobilisation, resilience and succession. Long-term awards follow standard vesting and the confirmed regional perimeter.

Confidentiality

The platform, concessions, authorities, assets and suppliers remain confidential. Identifying information follows qualification and mutual confidentiality. Rounded scale and blended context prevent the client from being inferred.