Apply By: Monday, July 14, 2025 11:59 pm EDT

Program Consultant, Innovation

Job ID:

231994

Posting status:

Open

Organization:

Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario

Division:

Information & Information Technology Division/ Business Optimization and Insights Branch/ Innovation & Insights

City:

Toronto

Position(s) language:

English

Job term:

1 Permanent

Job code:

AGCO/09 - AGCO/09

Salary:

$84,154.00 - $105,195.00 Per year

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) isn't just a regulatory agency; we're the heartbeat of Ontario's vibrant alcohol, gaming, horseracing, and private cannabis retail sectors. As a dedicated organization reporting to the Ministry of the Attorney General, we uphold the highest standards of honesty and integrity while championing public interest and safety. Here, innovation thrives, ideas flourish, and passion drives us to new heights of excellence.

At the AGCO, we believe in harnessing the power of teamwork, embracing diversity in all its forms, and creating an environment where every voice is heard and valued. The AGCO Innovation Hub, known as Innovation & Insights (I&I), is an extension of that vision. The AGCO Innovation Hub is dedicated to cultivating digital innovation by identifying, promoting, and executing activities that ensure the organization can adapt to new challenges and regulatory and business landscapes.

Are you interested in driving impactful change in the areas of business, technology, and policy through innovation? The Business Optimization and Insights Branch is seeking a dynamic Program Consultant, Innovation (Program Consultant) with a focus on Insights, to help shape the future of how the AGCO conducts business, delivers its services, and achieves its mandate.

As a Program Consultant, reporting to the **Manager, Innovation & Insights,**you will oversee initiatives that prototype and test new methods for delivering programs and conducting agency activities. In this role, you will oversee innovation initiatives, conduct business and regulatory research, develop internal reports and briefings, and collaborate with data experts to uncover insights that support AGCO's strategic resilience. This role strongly involves working closely with various business areas, transforming research findings into communication projects and data products tailored to diverse audiences.

Seize this exciting opportunity to join our forward-thinking team and drive impactful change, helping create a modern, agile, and innovative AGCO that delivers exceptional value for the government and the people, communities, and organizations of Ontario.

About the AGCO Innovation Hub
The AGCO Innovation Hub, known as the Innovation & Insights unit, is a team dedicated to cultivating digital innovation at the AGCO. Our mission is to drive the AGCO's innovation agenda by identifying, promoting, and executing activities that ensure the organization can adapt to new challenges and regulatory landscapes. We strive to support the vision of a digital-oriented AGCO that delivers programs and services in sustainable, modern, efficient, and effective ways. Our core values include embracing learning through failure, exploring new ideas, challenging the status quo, leveraging strategic insights, and prioritizing long-term sustainability. The Innovation Hub is essential in enhancing organizational agility, augmenting capacity, and fostering collaboration, all aimed at future-proofing the AGCO.

About the job

The successful candidate will:

Conduct Applied Research

• Lead applied research to identify opportunities for innovation across AGCO's business, regulated sectors, and operational areas.

• Scan for emerging trends (e.g., technologies, policies, sector developments) and bring forward insights that could shape future approaches.

• Analyze internal activities and their processes, data, and performance to proactively uncover gaps, challenges, and improvement opportunities.

• Develop clear, compelling, actionable research products (e.g., reports, briefings) that inform senior leadership and support decision-making.

• Connect research findings to innovation priorities — helping to proactively trigger innovation cycles.

• Present research findings to a variety of internal audiences in an accessible and compelling manner.

Support the Delivery of Innovation Initiatives

• Collaborate with business areas to identify challenges, surface opportunities, and explore new ways of working

• Scope and support the design and delivery of innovation initiatives, including pilots, prototypes, or small-scale tests (executing the innovation cycle).

• Develop business cases to explore the feasibility of ideas, including conducting cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses.

• Facilitate ideation events and co-design workshops to foster, develop, and refine ideas.

• Define learning goals and performance measures to guide experimentation, success determination, and decision-making.

• Share insights and outcomes of ongoing innovation initiatives to inform future improvements and opportunities to scale those that work.

• Foster strong relationships with stakeholders to facilitate the creation and support of internally generated ideas and secure buy-in for testing and implementing new practices.

Support Stewardship of Innovation Program

• Maintain the agency's innovation framework, tools, and processes.
• Manage a centralized portfolio of innovation ideas and initiatives.
• Monitor and document the impact of the innovation program in alignment with the I+IT strategy.
• Coordinate with internal partners to align innovation with agency strategic priorities.
• Support knowledge sharing, documentation, and continuous improvement of the program.

What you bring to the team

The ideal candidate will have:

• 3+ years of experience in identifying, researching, or supporting initiatives within a public sector, consulting, or cross-functional environment.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex challenges using both qualitative and quantitative methods, and to translate insights into actionable business opportunities.
• Strong communication skills to prepare and present clear and compelling reports, briefing notes, presentations, or data products for both executive and operational audiences.
• A university degree in a relevant field (e.g., Public Policy, Business, Economics, or related fields), or an equivalent combination of education and experience that demonstrates strong critical thinking, research, and strategic insight.
• Experience working in or with complex organizations; able to navigate ambiguity, build relationships, and move ideas forward collaboratively.
• Proven ability to contribute to the design, development, and delivery of innovation projects, pilots, or experiments that improve public services or operations.
• Knowledge of public-sector innovation practices (e.g., human-centered design, lean experimentation, behavioural insights, agile methods), and/or the ability to quickly apply new tools and methodologies.
• Experience facilitating or supporting co-creation activities (e.g., workshops, discovery sessions, design sprints) with internal or external stakeholders.
• Experience with evaluating outcomes of initiatives through performance measures.
• Proficiency with business intelligence tools (e.g., Power BI, Excel, SQL, R), with willingness to adopt and learn new tools.
• Strong organizational and time management skills; able to prioritize and deliver in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
• The successful candidate must be eligible to work in Canada and will be subject to a criminal background check.

How to apply:

To apply to this vacancy please submit your application online at our Careers webpage located at https://www.agco.ca/careers by July 14th 2025

Don't meet every qualification?

If you are excited about this position and meet most, but not all, of the listed qualifications, please still consider applying. We recognize that no one person might have every qualification in this job ad, and you just might be the right candidate!

How we support diversity, inclusion and accessibility

The AGCO has the responsibility to lead by example in advancing racial equity and to build a diverse, inclusive, accessible, and respectful workplace where every employee has a voice and the opportunity to fully contribute. To this effect, you are encouraged to reflect upon the diversity you would bring to the role within your application including, but not limited to, individuals identifying with one or more of the under-represented groups identified within Ontario's Human Rights Code.

Disability related accommodation during the recruitment process is available upon request.

Additional information:

Apply by:

Monday, July 14, 2025 11:59 pm EDT

Position details:

• 1 English Permanent - Full Time, 90 Sheppard Ave E, Toronto, Toronto Region, Criminal Record Check

Compensation group:

Excluded

Work hours:

Schedule N/A

Category:

Consulting and Planning

Posted on:

Monday, June 30, 2025

Note:

• About security checks:
  A criminal or other federal offence record does not automatically disqualify you from the position. We consider each situation based on the position's responsibilities.
  If a check is needed and you've lived outside of Canada in the past 5 years for 6 or more months in a row, or if you are not a Canadian resident, you'll need to provide an out-of-country police clearance certificate from the country you lived in.
  Employment screening checks are only reviewed and evaluated by the Transition and Security Office, which also maintains them and keeps them strictly confidential.

How to apply:

• You must apply online.

• Your cover letter and resume combined should not exceed five (5) pages. For tips and tools on how to write a concise cover letter and resume, review the Writing a Cover Letter and Resume: Tips, Tools and Resources.

• Customize your cover letter and resume to the qualifications listed on the job ad. Using concrete examples, you must show how you demonstrated the requirements for this job. We rely on the information you provide to us.

• Read the job description to make sure you understand this job.

• OPS employees are required to quote their WIN EMPLOYEE ID number when applying.

• If you require a disability related accommodation in order to participate in the recruitment process, please Contact Us to provide your contact information. Recruitment services team will contact you within 48 hours.

Language requirements and assessment:
All external Ontario Public Service (OPS) job ads are posted in English and French. Check the "position(s) language" section at the top of each job ad for the language requirements. For all roles, candidates are assessed in English, the business language of the OPS. If the position is bilingual (English/French), you'll also need to pass a French-language proficiency test.

Exigences en matière de langue et évaluation:
Toutes les offres d'emploi externes de la fonction publique de l'Ontario (FPO) sont affichées en français et en anglais. Consultez la section « Langue du ou des postes » en haut de chaque offre d'emploi pour connaître les exigences linguistiques. Pour tous les postes, les candidats sont évalués en anglais, la langue d'affaires de la FPO. Si le poste est bilingue (anglais/français), vous devrez également passer un test de compétences linguistiques en français.

Strengthening Ontario, together