About Us

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is leading the transformation of the Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) and public education system in Nova Scotia. This will provide children and families with a strong foundation for lifelong success and well-being. Nova Scotia regulates, funds and provides policy and program support to early learning and child care programs, and other key partners, across Nova Scotia to develop and sustain quality early learning and child care programs province-wide.

About Our Opportunity

If you enjoy working in a dynamic, team-based environment, that is both challenging and rewarding, the Coordinator, Monitoring and Improvement role may be a good fit for you!

This position reports to the Director, Service Provider Funding and Affordability Supports, within the ELCC branch. It involves regular collaboration with various functional areas of the Department, while also engaging with funded organizations in the ELCC sector.

Child care operators and agencies that receive grant funding from the Department are party to funding agreements. These agreements outline conditions and requirements for funded organizations. A key part of your role will be to lead and coordinate monitoring and compliance activities related to these agreements. This will include both financial and non-financial matters.

As a subject matter expert on funding practices and policies, you will also provide guidance on process improvement for Grants Administration and other activities within the ELCC branch. This will include recommendation and implementation of internal controls, process flow improvement, developing procedural/policy documents, and other similar activities. You will also be a key contributor to processes related to implementation of a new operational funding model for the sector. 

Primary Accountabilities

The Coordinator, Monitoring and Improvement is responsible for leading these activities to improve processes and ensure public funding is used as intended. In this role you will be responsible for the following:

·         Developing and implementing robust processes to inform whether funded organizations are meeting conditions of funding, and what the key risks are to the branch.

·         Providing recommendations and advice to ELCC branch leaders regarding tools and resources needed for compliance activities.

·         Acting as a consultant within the ELCC branch on matters of internal controls and process improvement.

·         Liaising with project leads on priority initiatives and financial considerations

·         Establishing internal and external accountability frameworks, including monitoring mechanisms, to ensure transparency and adherence to financial guidelines.

·         Providing coordination and support to functional units in implementing program and financial controls, while ensuring alignment with organizational goals and objectives.

·         Liaising with external consultants and serving as a subject matter expert in monitoring and compliance processes, collaborating to ensure compliance and best practices.

·         Designing and assisting in the implementation of systems and procedures to organize and coordinate the collection of financial and statistical information.

·         Ad hoc activities, performing various financial and accounting tasks as needed, to contribute to the overall financial health and efficiency of the organization.

Qualifications and Experience

To be successful in this role, you will have a bachelor’s degree with a focus in accounting or finance, plus six (6) years of related experience. An equivalent combination of education, training, and experience will be considered.

You possess the skills and experience to analyze funding agreements and similar documents, and easily identify, create, and implement processes to effectively and efficiently evaluate compliance. Similarly, you are astute at evaluating current processes (including internal controls) and identifying improvements in consideration of ongoing changes. This is irrespective of whether robust IT supports exist for related processes.  

You have excellent communication skills (oral/written) and interpersonal skills, consensus building, as well as team building skills, while valuing an inclusive workforce. You are a self-starter with a high degree of personal initiative and integrity, who is able work under minimal supervision to quickly determine the root cause of complex problems within ambiguous or conflicting situations.

You recognize sensitivities in working with confidential information. You exercise a high degree of judgement regarding how certain information will be used or presented, while maintaining the necessary confidentiality that has been entrusted to you in this position.

You also have experience:

 
-Working closely with team members and management to analyze, evaluate, recommend, implement, and manage innovative and best-practice solutions to procedural and operational issues.
-Working independently, demonstrating exceptional understanding and problem-solving skills with business processes and system functionality.
-Delivering user-friendly documentation to describe complex business processes and system functionality.
-Applying independent, sound judgment and decision-making skills in making proactive recommendations to solve problems.
-Participating in various stages of projects to provide technical, functional, master data, and procedural subject matter expertise.
-Preparing reports for senior leadership.
 

Assets for this position include:

-Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) Designation or enrollment in the CPA program, and/ or other relevant certification (s) (i.e. Certified Internal Auditor).
-Formal training and/or experience in SAP modules.
-An understanding of the childcare sector and the issues within it related to funding (accessibility, affordability, wages and operational requirements).
-Bilingualism. 
 

We will assess the above qualifications and competencies using one or more of the following tools: written examination, standardized tests, oral presentations, interview(s), and reference checks.

Equivalency

Applicants relying on education and experience equivalencies must demonstrate such equivalencies in their application.

Benefits

Based on the employment status and union agreement, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as a Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Health, Dental, Life Insurance, General illness, Short- and Long-Term Disability, Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs.  For information on all our Benefit program offerings, click here: Benefits for government employees.

Additional Information

This is a permanent, full-time vacancy based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

What We Offer

• Career Development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career.
• Engaging workplace. Our Employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in. We have forward-thinking policies and strategies.
• Countless Career Paths for Nova Scotians.
• Department Specific Flexible working schedules.