The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is the national voice of municipal governments, representing the interests of cities and communities with the federal government.

Position

Senior Director, Brand and Communications

Department

Chief Strategy & Engagement Office

Classification

Level 10

Languages

Bilingual English and French required

Term

Permanent Full-Time

Location

Hybrid (Ottawa)

Why GMF is the place for you

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is the national voice of local governments, representing their interests with the federal government.

With over 2,000 members, including Canada’s largest cities, small urban areas, rural and remote communities, as well as 20 provincial and territorial municipal associations, FCM represents more than 90% of the country’s population. Through its advocacy, funding offers and diverse programs, FCM’s work has a direct impact on Canadians’ quality of life.

At FCM, we are committed to making the communities Canadians live in more prosperous, sustainable, and equitable. We aspire to be deeply respectful, collaborative, empowering and inclusive. All leaders in the organization embrace these values, the corporate culture and the passion for FCM’s mission.

You in this role

The Senior Director, Brand and Communications is a strategic leadership role responsible for shaping and executing a cohesive organizational brand, communications and marketing strategy that aligns with FCM’s mission, values, and diverse stakeholder landscape. As a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, this role provides the vision, structure, and oversight necessary to elevate FCM’s public presence, strengthen internal communications, and ensure consistency across all external messaging.

Leading two internally client-focused communications teams—one embedded within the Green Municipal Fund and the other embedded within Policy and Public Affairs—the Senior Director will be responsible for ensuring that FCM’s corporate communications, advocacy messaging, and programmatic storytelling work in concert to enhance the organization’s impact. This role will also establish an internal communications structure. This role is critical in developing a unified organizational narrative that reinforces FCM’s position as the leading voice for municipalities in Canada. In addition, the Senior Director will play a key role in issues management and crisis communications, providing strategic guidance to senior leadership and the Board on emerging reputational risks.

A distinctive focus of this role will be the development of a targeted, regionalized communications strategy that reflects the unique needs, challenges, and priorities of municipalities across Canada. From the Atlantic provinces to the Prairie regions, from Northern communities to large urban centers, this position will ensure that FCM’s communications resonate with its diverse membership and stakeholders. Recognizing that a one-size-fits-all approach does not serve the organization’s advocacy and engagement goals, the Senior Director will hold oversight of the design and implementation of audience-specific messaging frameworks that provide localized relevance while maintaining a strong national brand identity for FCM.

Beyond external branding and stakeholder engagement, the Senior Director will also be responsible for strengthening internal communications within FCM. They oversee the implementation of a corporate internal communications framework that enhances employee engagement, fosters alignment across teams, and ensures that staff at all levels are informed, connected, and empowered to contribute to the organization’s strategic objectives.

This is a high-impact, high-visibility leadership role that requires an experienced, politically astute professional with a deep understanding of branding, communications, marketing and stakeholder engagement in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment. The ideal candidate will bring a track record of success in corporate communications and brand leadership, exceptional team management skills, and the ability to anticipate and navigate key issues before they escalate into crises.

With a strong mix of solid corporate leadership ability and an adept view of Canada’s political and municipal landscape, this leader will play a pivotal role in ensuring that FCM’s communications remain strategic, effective, and aligned with the evolving needs of municipalities across the country.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Brand Positioning

• Develop and lead the FCM brand and communications strategy in full alignment with FCM’s organizational strategic plan - ensuring consistency across all programs, campaigns, and platforms and, as well, ensuring there is a clear strategy and one that includes alignment with Green Municipal Fund brand.

• Establish a strong and recognizable corporate brand identity, ensuring alignment across all teams and external communications.

• Implement a brand governance framework to maintain messaging integrity, visual identity consistency, and audience alignment.

• Serve as the primary strategic advisor to the CEO, senior leadership, and Board on communications best practices, public positioning, and reputational risk management.

• Identify and activate member voices to amplify national messaging at the local level, ensuring alignment while enabling tailored, community-driven advocacy and storytelling.

Political Acumen and Strategic Alignment

• Monitor and assess shifts in the municipal, provincial, and federal political landscapes to inform communications strategies.

• Establish a proactive communications and campaign calendar—aligned with FCM’s political, advocacy, and program priorities—to drive visibility, reinforce key messages, and position FCM as a forward-looking leader.

• Adjust communications approaches in real time to maintain alignment with stakeholder priorities and the broader political context.

• Anticipate potential political risks and opportunities to help position FCM as a credible, forward-looking advocate for municipalities.

• Ensure the team is prepared at all times to provide strategic counsel to senior leadership on the political implications of messaging and engagement activities.

• Ensure full alignment and a cohesive approach with the Policy & Public Affairs team on all political approaches and intentions.

• Ensure a rigorous risk analysis lens is applied to ensure that all political and reputational risk issues are assessed and proactively mitigated, within the realm of influence in the Senior Director role.

Regionalized Audience Segmentation & Tailored Communications

• Develop a specialized component of the brand and communications strategy focused on audience segmentation and regional differentiation across FCM’s diverse membership and stakeholder groups.

• Ensure that communication approaches reflect the distinct priorities, challenges, and needs of different regions, as an example: recognizing that the way FCM engages with Atlantic provinces will differ from its approach to the Prairie provinces, Northern communities, and urban centers.

• Work closely with internal teams to integrate regional strategic priorities into the broader corporate communications plan, reinforcing FCM’s commitment to localized engagement and impact.

• Ensure that branding and messaging resonate with local government stakeholders, municipal leaders, policymakers, and advocacy partners.

• Establish regional feedback mechanisms to ensure that the organization’s communications are responsive to local issues and opportunities.

Corporate Communications & External Engagement

• Oversee and align corporate external communications, media relations, and public engagement strategies ensuring there is timely, trusted mechanisms in place.

• Develop and implement a high-impact external communications plan that enhances thought leadership and visibility for the CEO, Executive Table Officers and Members

• Ensure clear, compelling messaging for policy positions, funding initiatives, public reports, and key advocacy efforts.

• Oversee the development and execution of high-profile campaigns, digital engagement strategies, and storytelling initiatives.

• Oversee an integrated media strategy—across earned, owned, and paid channels—designed to drive coverage of FCM’s priorities, increase thought leadership visibility, and ensure message discipline across all media engagements.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with national and regional media, ensuring strategic media engagement and proactive reputation management, leading FCM to become a trusted thought leader by major media outlets

• Lead, and where appropriate oversee, the development of key messages, press releases, op-eds, and speeches for senior leadership and board members.

• Lead the creation and execution of integrated communications plans, encompassing internal and external communications, public relations, social media, and digital marketing.

Internal Communications & Employee Engagement

• Oversee and lead the effective implementation of an organization-wide internal communications framework that enhances transparency, engagement, and alignment with organizational goals.

• In conjunction with the Strategy team and the People & Culture Senior Director, develop strategies for leadership communication, ensuring that executives and senior managers effectively convey priorities, decisions, and changes.

• Champion and communicate FCM’s organizational story—including our growth, strong workplace culture, and internal leadership—positioning the organization as a top employer and sector leader.

• Lead the introduction of new channels and tools (e.g., intranet, newsletters, video updates) to improve employee access to information and collaboration.

• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure internal communication effectiveness and adjust strategies accordingly.

• Work in close collaboration with People & Culture to ensure alignment between internal communications and employee engagement initiatives.

Team Leadership & Cross-Departmental Collaboration

• Provide strategic leadership, mentorship, alignment and oversight to the two Communications Directors and their teams plus the internal communications function in the organization.

• Articulate and share the vision of the Senior Leadership team with the Communications teams and ensure that Senior Leadership understand the Comms, Brand and Marketing approach required to achieve the organizational strategy.

• Establish, develop and implement an internal communications function for the organization.

• Ensure that the Green Municipal Fund and Policy & Advocacy Communications teams work in alignment with corporate brand, communications and all organizational priorities.

• Drive collaboration between communications teams and other departments, including Policy and Public Affairs, membership engagement, and the CEO Office.

• Foster a culture of creativity, accountability, and high performance across all communications functions.

• Coordinate and leverage third-party validators—such as organizations, experts, and influential members—to amplify FCM’s messaging; develop advocacy toolkits; and collaborate with the Policy and Public Affairs team to ensure aligned timing, messaging, and channels, thereby strengthening our influence ecosystem and expanding strategic communication reach.

Issues Management & Crisis Communications

• Develop and implement a proactive issues management framework to identify, assess, and respond to emerging risks.

• Establish rapid-response protocols for handling sensitive issues, media inquiries, and potential crises.

• Act as a key senior resource in times of crisis, providing calm, clear, and strategic messaging to internal and external stakeholders.

• Conduct post-crisis debriefs and implement lessons-learned strategies to strengthen future crisis response.

Board & Executive Communications

• Provide briefings, reports, and strategic recommendations on communication matters to the CEO, Senior Leadership team, Board Executive Committee, and Board of Directors.
• Support the board in its public-facing communication needs, including advocacy efforts and policy positioning.

Your skills make us better

Knowledge and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Political Science, Business, or a related field.

• Master’s degree in Public Affairs, Communications, Business Administration, or Political Science is preferred but commensurate experience will be considered as well. Minimum of 10+ years of progressive experience in corporate communications, branding, or public affairs, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.

• Proven track record of developing and executing high-impact, internal and external, communication strategies in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.

• Experience in a membership-based, political, advocacy, or nonprofit organization is highly desirable.

• Demonstrated success in leading high-performing teams, managing large-scale campaigns, and navigating sensitive stakeholder and/or political landscapes.

• Demonstrated success and understanding of leading marketing campaigns that include evidence of impact through earned, owned and paid campaigns.

• Strong background in crisis communications, issues management, and risk mitigation strategies.

Skills & Competencies:

• Strategic mindset: Ability to develop and execute forward-thinking, integrated communications strategies.
• Collaborative Leadership Approach: Ability to create high trust relationships across the organization to ensure the work of the organization and the team are fully aligned.
• Political acumen: Strong understanding of the Canadian political landscape, including municipal, provincial, and federal policy dynamics.
• Regional Vision: Acute understanding of the culture and needs of each region of Canada
• Linguistic Outreach Commitment: Skilled at promoting outreach and communication in both official languages.
• Exceptional leadership: Skilled at leading and inspiring multidisciplinary teams.
• Exceptional organization skills: Skilled at ensuring long range planning is detailed, clearly articulated and that multi-disciplinary teams are all motived and aligned to the key objectives.
• Outstanding communicator: Superior writing, editing, and verbal communication skills.
• Stakeholder engagement: Proven ability to build relationships with media, policymakers, funders, investors and advocacy partners.
• Crisis management expertise: Ability to anticipate and navigate complex reputational risks.
• Data-driven decision-making: Experience using analytics and audience insights to shape communications strategies.

Specific Working Conditions & Requirements

• Hybrid from home location, typical office environment at the FCM head office building
• May require availability outside of normal working hours
• Domestic (out-of-province), travel may be required

Why working here rocks

We prioritize work-life balance with our flexible model:

• When we say flexible work model, we mean that in collaboration with your manager and based on what your team needs, you have the flexibility to determine when you work so that you can enjoy a healthy balance between work and personal demands.

We don’t just talk about employee wellness, we live it:

• Summer hours between July 1 and Labour Day:
  • 7-hour workdays rather than 7.5
  • Every Friday off in the summer
• Flexible work arrangements to support productivity and well-being
• Commitment to employee development
• Competitive range of employee benefits and services
• Office facilities located in the Byward Market and Ottawa’s downtown core

We’re committed to fostering an organizational culture that embraces equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, where individuals from diverse racial and ethnic identities, nationalities, social economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and physical and mental abilities can thrive and be fully engaged at their best level.

We welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the recruitment and selection process.

How to apply

If this role speaks to you and the impact you want to make, we’d love to hear from you! Apply today.

The deadline to apply is September 10th, 2025, or until the position is filled.

The future of work at FCM includes a hybrid work model; therefore, this role will be a combination of virtual and on-site work. The successful candidate is required live within 80kms of downtown Ottawa and be authorized to work in Canada.

For additional information on this posting, or for further information on FCM, access our website at www.fcm.ca. Learn more about the Green Municipal Fund at https://greenmunicipalfund.ca/