THE COUNCIL OF CANADIAN INNOVATORS (CCI):
The Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) is a national business association representing over 175 of Canada’s fastest-growing technology-intensive companies. Companies within CCI’s portfolio are market leaders in their verticals and commercialize their technologies in over 190 countries, generating between $10M - $750M in annual recurring revenue. CCI’s member companies are all headquartered in Canada and collectively employ over 52,000 Canadians from coast to coast.
CCI was created in 2015 by the leaders of Canada’s most innovative companies to reorient Canada’s economic strategies towards supporting domestic scale-up companies to aid in their pursuit of becoming engines of Canada’s future economic prosperity. CCI works closely with our members and leaders within federal and provincial governments to develop economic strategies that increase access to talent, capital, and customers for homegrown firms, all while updating Canada’s economic playbook for the 21st-century economy. Since 2015, CCI’s advocacy has led to the government improving the way businesses access international talent, patent their inventions, and navigate the global data-driven economy.
CCI is a peer network of Canadian business leaders and innovators who look to CCI’s leadership and membership for strategic advice and foresight, expert navigation of federal and provincial governments, and for connections to other innovators and institutions that can assist them in scaling their businesses worldwide.
Today, CCI is headquartered in Toronto and has staff located in Vancouver, Edmonton, Atlantic Canada, Ottawa and Montreal. CCI is established as a not-for-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors, with Jim Balsillie, retired chairman and co-CEO of BlackBerry, serving as Chair, and John Ruffolo, founder of OMERS Ventures and Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity, serving as Vice-Chair. Both are also co-founders of CCI.
THE OPPORTUNITY:
Reporting to the VP, Programming, the Manager, Program and Events plays a central role in delivering high-quality programs and events that strengthen Canada’s innovation ecosystem. This role will directly support the design, planning, and continuous improvement of CCI’s annual programming roadmap, ensuring that all offerings are strategically aligned, well-executed, and tailored to the needs of our members and partners. Think of this person as the “Product Manager” for programming at CCI.
Working closely with the VP, Programming, this role contributes significantly to the commercialization and delivery of programs, ensuring they are positioned to drive value for stakeholders, support CCI’s strategic priorities, and sustain long-term organizational growth. The Manager will translate high-level strategy into operational plans, bringing rigour, structure, and excellence to our end-to-end program and events delivery. Although they’ll own and be accountable for program execution, they’ll work with a Coordinator, Program and Events, who will own touch-point logistics and delivery.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES:
● Partner with the VP of Programming to build, maintain, and update the annual programs and events roadmap. Ensure that the roadmap aligns with organizational strategy and external cycles, while leaving room for emerging priorities. Be the point person for updating CCI’s progress against this roadmap and evaluating our capacity to add new programs.
● Build CCI’s internal approach to project management for programs and events. This includes identifying the tool (e.g. Notion or other) and creating templates for: the program and events roadmap; event workback plans and checklists; event budgets; storing important documentation for each event, such as vendor contracts, guest list tracking, and F&B agreements; and a resource hub. This responsibility also includes ensuring the Coordinator and VP understand how to use these resources.
● Leveraging strategic inputs from the VP, lead the implementation of current and new programming. Translate strategic direction into detailed program objectives, delivery models, formats, curricula, and schedules.
● Collaborate with the Coordinator, Program and Events to ensure smooth logistics and delivery of in-person and online events.
● Collaborating with the Coordinator, Program and Events, lead the budget management of any larger events (e.g. conferences) and ensure CCI stays on track.
● Leveraging inputs on strategy and CCI brand standards from the VP, build CCI’s playbook for successful events and touch-points. This includes a guide to end-to-end logistics, a checklist and examples for ensuring all touch-points align with CCI’s desired guest experience, a checklist for auditing virtual and in-person event accessibility, and principles on how to curate a great experience.
● Own the continuous improvement of programming by organizing retros and feedback cycles for different touchpoints.
● Leveraging strategic inputs and direction from the VP, implement CCI’s approach to measuring the success of programs. Success measurement will tie back to how CCI delivers value to the innovation ecosystem and how programs advance CCI’s revenue growth and long-term sustainability.
● Collaborate with other functions, including Communications, Policy and Advocacy, and Digital Design, to ensure programs and events are well-positioned and well-marketed amongst CCI’s key audiences. Ensure internal awareness around all current and new programs.
● Support the commercialization of programs and events by identifying opportunities for revenue growth, audience expansion, and improved value delivery.
SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE…
At the Manager level, success looks like end-to-end ownership of programs, delivery, accountability, and entrepreneurship. Specifically for this role:
● A continuously updated and well-managed roadmap of annual programs and events.
● Successful delivery of CCI’s annual program and events roadmap.
● A clear way to measure the success of programs, both in terms of audience satisfaction and impact on revenue growth.
QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS:
● 3-5+ years of experience in program management, event planning, service delivery, or related fields.
● Demonstrated experience designing and delivering high-impact programs and/or events.
● Strong project management skills with the ability to coordinate multiple priorities.
● Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder-management capabilities.
Background in innovation, technology, economic development, or member-based organizations is an asset.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:
● Salary Band for this role is $75,000 to $95,000 CAD annually.
● Flexible schedule and remote-first workplace (with some in-person retreats and events required throughout the year).
● Comprehensive health and dental benefits.
● $2,500 annual professional development stipend.
● Parental leave top-up and leave program.
● Generous vacation: 3 weeks plus two discretionary office closures: 1 week in July and 2 weeks in December, culminating in a total of 6 weeks off per year.
Our bands are based on paying above market rates in our industry and paying comparatively to market rates for parallel roles in the tech sector to acknowledge the diverse skill set we need for our work.
We believe in equal pay for equal value of work. For this reason, although we hire all over Canada, we don't adjust our pay based on where you live. We've used a rate that is competitive across the various locations where we hire.
*PLEASE NOTE: The CCI Team will be out of office from December 19, 2025 to January 5, 2026, and will be reviewing applications upon their return, in the first week of January.