Chief Talent and Capability Officer — Urban Infrastructure Platform

The mandate

A Canadian urban-infrastructure platform is preparing mature assets for capital rotation while maintaining service and developing the next pipeline. The investment plan assumes strong asset management, transaction readiness, technical assurance and operating leadership, but these capabilities are concentrated in a small number of people. External advisers fill gaps without transferring knowledge. The board has created an urgent Chief Talent and Capability Officer role to make critical capability a managed asset.

The role will influence approximately C$23,500 million in projects and operating assets and 1,150 employees and material partners. Accountability spans strategic workforce planning, capability architecture, technical academies, leadership development, internal mobility, succession and learning governance. Business leaders own delivery and performance. The officer owns whether the platform can supply, develop and retain the expertise its capital strategy requires.

Capital rotation changes the work. Teams must prepare asset evidence, separate systems and contracts, manage investor diligence and continue service under transaction pressure. After sale, retained leaders need to redeploy capital and capability rather than remain attached to one asset. Capability maps will identify tasks, proficiency, location and time to replacement, including key contractors and advisers.

The platform also needs deep operating expertise: asset condition, lifecycle planning, public-service contracts, safety, community engagement and resilience. These skills cannot be inferred from job title or course completion. Standards will use observed work, decisions and technical outputs. Critical experts require recognition and succession without being forced into conventional people-management careers.

Why this seat is open

The position was not in the approved hiring plan. The balance-sheet programme exposed distributed ownership of critical talent and an immediate single-expert risk. Interim HR leaders maintain programmes but cannot make enterprise capability choices. Appointment is targeted within four to six weeks.

What you will own

• Map pivotal capabilities across development, operations, transactions and retained-platform leadership.
• Establish proficiency standards grounded in observed infrastructure work.
• Build internal mobility between assets, projects and transaction teams.
• Decide which expertise to build, hire, borrow or secure through partnership.
• Govern succession and knowledge transfer for single-expert positions.
• Develop capability leaders and analytics beyond the central office.

Capability investment will be sequenced against the asset calendar. A project approaching financial close needs bid-to-delivery continuity; an operating concession entering diligence needs people who can explain maintenance, contractual and regulatory evidence; a retained platform needs leaders able to redeploy capital and govern partners. The officer will therefore create readiness reviews at investment, mobilisation and transaction gates, with named skills at risk and dated interventions. Learning spend without a link to one of those decisions will be challenged.

Knowledge transfer must survive ownership change. For each pivotal expert, the officer will identify judgement that sits outside manuals, then use paired assignments, technical reviews and observed demonstrations to test whether another person can apply it. Retention awards may protect a defined transition, but will not substitute for succession. External advisers will be required to leave reusable methods, decision records and coached internal owners rather than a collection of presentations.

Capability investment will be governed through business outcomes. Each pathway needs a sponsor, target population, proficiency test and operating measure. Generic catalogues will be reduced where they consume time without changing readiness. External providers must transfer usable methods and materials, with rights and data agreed.

Mobility will state the work to be delivered, capability gained and return route. Managers cannot hoard talent without naming the risk they are protecting. Pay, geography, professional accreditation and union or employment arrangements will be addressed before moves are promised. Transaction assignments will not become permanent career limbo.

Knowledge transfer will use live decisions and artefacts. An asset specialist may coach a successor through a condition review, concession report or investor question, with independent assessment. Interviews and document repositories alone do not prove readiness. The business will rehearse absence from selected critical roles.

The officer will protect fair access. Specialist pathways, temporary assignments and succession pools will be reviewed for structural barriers across region and population. Employee data will be used for stated workforce purposes, with human judgement and challenge where analytics influence careers.

The first 12 months

Within 90 days, the officer will identify the 25 most consequential capability risks, assess talent leadership and secure interim cover. The sponsor will receive a build-buy-borrow-partner plan aligned to rotation dates.

By month eight, three capability pathways should use observed-work assessment, 100 employees should complete cross-asset or transaction assignments and the ten most fragile roles should have verified succession plans.

At year-end, ready cover should exist for 75% of pivotal roles, time to proficiency fall 20% in selected cohorts and regretted attrition remain below 8%. At least two asset transactions or separations must evidence reduced external dependency, while capability actions remain within the approved investment case.

What the board will measure

• Critical expertise available before transaction and operational gates.
• Proficiency demonstrated through work rather than attendance.
• Mobility that retains knowledge across capital rotation.
• Reduced single-expert and adviser dependency.
• Strong capability leadership and succession.

The person

You are a Chief Talent Officer, capability executive or infrastructure people leader with 22–28 years of experience. You have influenced at least C$13,650 million and 800 employees. Evidence must include a technical-capability system, cross-asset mobility and succession that protected operations or transaction readiness after the expert stepped away.

This hybrid Toronto role requires asset, project and regional travel. You are credible with engineers, operators, investors and people leaders.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is C$330,000–440,000 plus annual incentive. Measures include readiness, mobility, proficiency, reduced dependency, retention and succession. Final calibration will follow the confirmed platform capability perimeter.

Confidentiality

The platform, assets, employees, advisers and transaction plans remain confidential. Controlled details follow qualification and an undertaking. Toronto and rounded figures are non-identifying.