The City of Maple Ridge is seeking an accomplished and strategic Assistant City Manager to work closely with the City Manager and executive leadership team in advancing the City’s strategic priorities, organizational performance, operational excellence, and long-term growth.

This is a significant leadership opportunity within one of British Columbia’s fastest-growing municipalities. The successful candidate will operate at the enterprise level, helping translate Council priorities and corporate strategy into coordinated organizational action while strengthening alignment across departments, services, and major initiatives.

The Assistant City Manager will serve as a trusted strategic and operational partner to the City Manager and will play an important role in supporting organizational transformation, leadership capacity, governance, service delivery, and executive continuity.

For a seasoned municipal or public-sector leader, this role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution today while progressively broadening executive responsibilities over time.

About the City of Maple Ridge

Located in Metro Vancouver, Maple Ridge is a growing and evolving community with a population of approximately 100,000 residents.

The City continues to experience significant growth and investment across infrastructure, community development, economic opportunity, land development, public services, and long-term municipal planning.

This growth creates both opportunity and complexity.

The organization requires strong executive leadership capable of balancing immediate operational priorities with the longer-term needs of the community, while maintaining fiscal discipline, responsive service delivery, organizational alignment, and effective governance.

The City’s leadership environment places a strong emphasis on collaboration, accountability, professionalism, continuous improvement, and building the organizational capacity required to support a growing community.

The Leadership Opportunity

Reporting directly to the City Manager, the Assistant City Manager will be a senior member of the City’s executive leadership team.

The successful candidate will help ensure that Council-approved priorities, corporate objectives, and major organizational initiatives are executed effectively across the municipality.

Working across departments and functions, the Assistant City Manager will help create alignment, remove organizational barriers, address emerging risks, strengthen coordination, and support leaders in delivering results.

This is not simply an administrative coordination role.

It is an enterprise leadership mandate requiring someone capable of seeing across the organization, understanding the relationship between governance and execution, anticipating emerging issues, and bringing together people, priorities, resources, and decisions around shared outcomes.

The Assistant City Manager will also provide executive leadership continuity, including acting on behalf of the City Manager when delegated.

The Leadership Mandate

Executive Leadership and Corporate Coordination

The Assistant City Manager will:

• Serve as a trusted strategic and operational advisor to the City Manager.
• Support the advancement of Council and corporate priorities across the organization.
• Work closely with the executive leadership team to strengthen alignment across departments.
• Identify significant initiatives requiring enterprise-level coordination.
• Address organizational barriers and competing priorities that may affect execution.
• Lead or sponsor complex corporate initiatives involving multiple departments.
• Provide executive oversight, coaching, and direction to leaders and teams as assigned.
• Contribute to leadership development, organizational capacity, and succession planning.

Strategy and Enterprise Performance

The successful candidate will:

• Support the development and execution of the City’s Strategic Plan.
• Contribute to corporate and multi-year business planning.
• Help translate strategic priorities into clear organizational initiatives, accountabilities, and measurable outcomes.
• Monitor progress on major corporate priorities and help address issues affecting execution.
• Lead or sponsor service reviews, organizational transformation initiatives, and process improvements.
• Strengthen enterprise performance management and organizational accountability.
• Encourage disciplined decision-making informed by resources, performance, risk, and community impact.

Council Relations and Governance

Working alongside the City Manager, the Assistant City Manager will:

• Support effective communication between the administration, Mayor, and Council.
• Provide executive-level briefings on strategic, operational, and emerging matters.
• Integrate information from across departments into clear recommendations and briefing materials.
• Attend Council meetings, committees, and commissions when delegated.
• Present staff reports and respond to questions within areas of responsibility.
• Coordinate organizational responses arising from Council direction.
• Help ensure Council receives timely, accurate, and well-considered information to support effective decision-making.

Operational Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness

The Assistant City Manager will:

• Help ensure municipal operations remain aligned with Council policies, approved budgets, and strategic priorities.
• Bring an enterprise perspective to complex operational issues.
• Identify emerging organizational risks and challenges.
• Support executive leaders in removing barriers affecting service delivery or corporate execution.
• Strengthen collaboration and accountability across departments.
• Promote organizational effectiveness and continuous improvement.
• Help create an environment in which leaders understand priorities, make informed decisions, and follow through on commitments.

Growth, Infrastructure, and Economic Development

As Maple Ridge continues to grow, the Assistant City Manager will bring an informed executive perspective to matters involving:

• economic development
• investment attraction
• community growth
• land development
• commercial development
• infrastructure planning
• land use considerations
• growth management
• capital priorities
• long-term municipal sustainability

The successful candidate does not need to be the technical expert in every area. They must, however, be capable of understanding the interconnected financial, operational, political, organizational, and community implications of major municipal decisions.

Organizational Communication and Alignment

The successful candidate will:

• Help maintain strong communication across the executive leadership team and organization.
• Ensure leaders understand significant corporate priorities and organizational decisions.
• Foster collaboration across departments and functions.
• Build trust and constructive working relationships throughout the organization.
• Promote an enterprise perspective rather than siloed decision-making.

Executive Leadership Continuity

The Assistant City Manager will act for the City Manager when delegated, ensuring continuity of executive leadership and organizational decision-making.

The role also represents an important component of the City’s longer-term leadership succession planning.

For the right individual, the position offers the opportunity to progressively expand executive responsibilities while developing alongside an experienced City Manager and contributing meaningfully to long-term leadership continuity within the organization.

This is not a guaranteed succession path. It is, however, an important dimension of the opportunity.

External Representation

When delegated by the City Manager, the Assistant City Manager will represent the municipality in meetings and discussions with:

• other orders of government
• regional partners
• agencies and public bodies
• community organizations
• institutional partners
• business and development stakeholders

The successful candidate will represent Maple Ridge with sound judgment, professionalism, credibility, and a clear understanding of the City’s strategic interests.

What Success Will Look Like

In the First 90 Days

The successful candidate will:

• Build a strong and trusted working relationship with the City Manager.
• Develop productive relationships with the executive leadership team.
• Gain a clear understanding of Council priorities, corporate objectives, and the City’s operating environment.
• Become familiar with major growth, infrastructure, service delivery, and organizational priorities.
• Identify areas requiring stronger enterprise coordination or executive attention.
• Demonstrate sound judgment, political awareness, and the ability to navigate complex issues constructively.

Within the First Year

The Assistant City Manager will:

• Be recognized as a trusted strategic and operational partner to the City Manager.
• Strengthen alignment and coordination across departments.
• Help advance significant Council and corporate priorities.
• Improve organizational follow-through on complex cross-functional initiatives.
• Bring greater enterprise visibility to emerging risks, barriers, and opportunities.
• Build credibility with Council, executive colleagues, and organizational leaders.
• Contribute meaningfully to corporate planning, organizational performance, and leadership development.
• Demonstrate the capacity to assume progressively broader executive responsibilities.

The Leader Maple Ridge Is Seeking

Maple Ridge is seeking a sophisticated and collaborative public-sector executive who understands that successful municipal leadership requires more than technical expertise.

The successful candidate will be comfortable operating in an environment where governance, community expectations, organizational realities, financial considerations, and political dynamics frequently intersect.

They will know how to move between strategic thinking and operational execution.

They will understand when to lead, when to influence, when to challenge, and when to create space for others to succeed.

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• strong executive judgment and political acumen
• a broad enterprise perspective
• exceptional relationship-building capability
• confidence working with senior elected and administrative leaders
• the ability to build alignment across departments and stakeholders
• strong business and financial acumen
• disciplined execution and follow-through
• experience leading significant organizational initiatives
• an understanding of organizational change and transformation
• excellent briefing, communication, and presentation skills
• humility and emotional intelligence
• professionalism and discretion
• a collaborative leadership style
• the ability to build and sustain trust

The ideal leader will be motivated by organizational impact rather than personal recognition and will understand that success in this role is ultimately measured through the performance of the broader organization.

Business and Financial Acumen

The successful candidate will bring strong business judgment and an appreciation for the financial disciplines required to lead within a complex municipality.

Experience supporting executive-level decisions involving budgeting, capital planning, resource allocation, fiscal oversight, organizational risk, and long-term planning will be important.

The City is seeking a leader capable of balancing strategic ambition with responsible execution and financial accountability.

Governance and Legislative Understanding

The successful candidate will possess a strong understanding of British Columbia’s municipal governance environment and applicable legislative frameworks, including the Community Charter, Local Government Act, and related public-sector governance practices.

They will understand the respective roles of Council and administration and demonstrate the judgment required to operate effectively within that relationship.

Experience and Qualifications

The successful candidate is expected to bring:

• A master’s degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, Urban Planning, or a related discipline is preferred.
• A minimum of 10 years of progressively senior leadership experience within a complex public-sector environment, with municipal experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success in corporate strategy execution, cross-departmental leadership, and executive-level advisory roles.
• Experience working with senior elected officials, Boards, Councils, or comparable governance bodies.
• Strong understanding of British Columbia municipal governance and legislative frameworks.
• Experience leading complex organizational initiatives and navigating change.
• Strong business, financial, and operational acumen.
• Exposure to municipal growth, development, infrastructure, economic development, or related portfolios is highly valued.
• Exceptional written, verbal, briefing, and presentation skills.
• A valid driver’s licence.

Leadership and Cultural Alignment

The City’s executive leadership environment is collaborative and close-knit.

Trust, humility, professionalism, sound judgment, and interpersonal awareness matter.

The successful candidate must be capable of building strong relationships while maintaining accountability, clarity, and a focus on execution.

Maple Ridge is seeking a leader who listens carefully, communicates clearly, handles difficult issues constructively, supports colleagues, and maintains focus on the broader interests of the organization and community.

Compensation and Benefits

The anticipated salary range for this executive leadership position is approximately $208,000 to $248,000 annually, depending on the applicable compensation band, the successful candidate’s experience, and overall alignment with the mandate.

The position also includes a comprehensive municipal executive benefits package.

Why Consider This Opportunity?

For an accomplished municipal or public-sector executive, this role offers an uncommon combination of immediate influence and long-term leadership potential.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to:

• Work directly alongside the City Manager.
• Help shape the future of one of British Columbia’s fastest-growing municipalities.
• Influence major organizational and community priorities.
• Work across the full breadth of a complex municipal organization.
• Support Mayor and Council on matters of significant public importance.
• Lead enterprise-wide initiatives and organizational transformation.
• Develop and support senior leaders across the City.
• Build deeper executive experience across municipal governance, operations, and strategy.
• Contribute to long-term executive leadership continuity and succession.

For the right leader, this is an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution today while building toward broader leadership responsibility over time.

KIRAH’s Perspective

KIRAH believes this opportunity will be particularly compelling for a seasoned municipal or public-sector executive who wants to operate at the enterprise level and who is motivated by the opportunity to help a growing municipality translate strategy into execution.

Maple Ridge is seeking more than another senior administrator.

The mandate calls for a trusted partner to the City Manager: someone capable of connecting governance, strategy, people, operations, and execution across the organization.

Technical and municipal knowledge will matter. Long-term success will also depend heavily on judgment, humility, political awareness, relationship strength, and the ability to achieve results through others.

The leadership continuity dimension makes the opportunity particularly distinctive. For the right individual, this role offers the ability to progressively broaden executive experience while making a sustained contribution to the future of Maple Ridge.

Equity and Inclusion

The City of Maple Ridge is committed to an inclusive recruitment process.

Qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences are encouraged to apply. Accommodations are available throughout the recruitment and selection process upon request.

Application Process

Candidates interested in this opportunity are invited to submit a current resume and a brief cover letter outlining their interest and relevant leadership experience.

All applications and inquiries will be treated with discretion.

Applications for this opportunity are processed through destinationone Consulting’s recruitment platform.

Select Apply for this Opportunity to proceed directly to the dedicated application page for this mandate.