Planning Director at City of North Vancouver

The City of North Vancouver is the urban core of the beautiful North Shore and has a long-term vision to be “The Healthiest Small City in the World”, with five key priorities to be a City for People, a Resilient City, a Vibrant City, a Connected City and a Prosperous City.

We are looking for a Director, Planning to lead the strategic direction and operational oversight of the City’s Planning division in the Planning, Development, & Real Estate department.

The Director, Planning is a critical position to designing and delivering planning projects and program delivery, including development planning, city design, and urban regeneration and analytics. The Director, Planning directs the work of three Manager, Planning roles. Key responsibilities include:

• Oversees the creation and/or revision of broad policy for the City including its Official Community Plan, city design, and urban regeneration and analytics, and various other policies, ensuring this work is well integrated.
• Oversees the creation and/or revision of significant bylaws such as the Zoning Bylaw; provides leadership for the interpretation of policies and bylaws, including liaison with outside parties including Squamish Nation, Metro Vancouver, and other municipalities.
• Provides advice to Council to aid in its policy decision-making to support and help shape the vision of the City by balancing the economic, social and environmental needs of the community.
• Provides oversight to the management of the Development Process in the City, including overseeing the processing of development approvals through City Council (OCP Amendments, Rezonings, Development Variance Permits, Development Permits, Heritage Program, etc.)
• Provides leadership, guidance and input to corporate priorities and special projects.
• Provides support to departmental managers for staffing the department with the best possible work force, deployed in the best possible way to provide the best services to Council and the community for the City services Planning provides.

The successful candidate will possess a University degree in a Canadian Institute of Planners recognized professional degree program, membership in the Canadian Institute of Planners and 7-10 years relevant experience. Additionally, the preferred candidate will be a strong communicator and relationship builder, who demonstrates thorough knowledge of the legislation, bylaws, regulations, rules and policies applicable to the work performed. Candidates should demonstrate their experience in dealing with a wide variety of policy considerations and community development issues, and experience project managing large scale studies and projects; along with a strong understanding of development at a range of scales; and the ability to work collaboratively with others to optimize outcomes.

During the recruitment process, applicants will be requested to provide a current Police Information Check (PIC).

We offer an attractive remuneration and benefits package to this exempt position, including a compressed work schedule. The salary range is $166,992.00 to 195,264.00 annually (2024 rates).

If you are passionate about making the City of North Vancouver an even greater place to live, work and play, apply online through the Career Portal at www.cnv.org by Friday, January 23, 2026.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer—one that reflects the diversity of our community and values the unique contributions of each person. Guided by our core values and Council’s vision for an open and inclusive city, we work to create respectful, safe, and accessible workplaces. We regularly review and improve our hiring practices to help identify and remove barriers. Through ongoing learning, we continue to address any that remain.

We welcome applications from all qualified candidates. If you need an accommodation during the selection process, or are having trouble completing or submitting your application, please contact us at [email protected]. We’re here to support your full participation.

Thank you for your interest in the City of North Vancouver.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work on the traditional and unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation). The City of North Vancouver is committed to Reconciliation with these Nations, who have lived on these lands since time immemorial.