Product Manager, Centralized Scheduling

About Us

The Department of Health and Wellness offers opportunities to grow and advance in a dynamic sector that touches the lives of all Nova Scotians. Along with our partners, including the Nova Scotia Health Authority and the IWK Health Centre, we're committed to continually improving our health care system. With a focus on collaborative primary health care, urgent and emergency care, acute care, community-based supports, digital health, capital infrastructure, and more, the department is thinking differently about how to plan, fund, legislate and monitor to improve access and service delivery. To do this, we need leaders at all levels of the organization who embrace a challenge and believe in their ability to make a difference. 

About Our Opportunity

The Centralized Scheduling (CS) project is part of a larger Centralized Navigation/811 (CN/811) program - a provincial transformation initiative that aims to centralize citizens’ points of access to the healthcare system and provide trusted, efficient navigation to the most appropriate care. The CS solution will serve as an orchestration layer for available appointments across health and social services, giving citizens access to schedule availability in one centralized place.

The Product Manager, Centralized Scheduling will work collaboratively with colleagues at the Department of Health and Wellness and the CS solution vendor to drive implementation of the CS solution across the Province. The successful candidate will join a core project team of Departmental employees from Primary Care, Emergency Care and Health System Navigation, and Digital Health.

Primary Accountabilities

• Defines and owns the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for the CS solution, aligned with the broader CN/811 program objectives, and revisits them as the program scales across the Province.
• Delivers required program outcomes through direct consultation with the Department and partner organizations across the Province, and reports regularly to senior leadership.
• Leads implementation of the CS solution within the broader CN/811 program, working collaboratively with Departmental leadership, program sponsors, partner organizations, and vendors.
• Gathers and prioritizes requirements from clinical, operational, and citizen-facing stakeholders, translating them into clear product requirements and a prioritized backlog for the development/vendor team.
• Monitors performance against success metrics CS solution, using findings to inform the roadmap.
• Leads user research and usability testing with citizens, care navigators, and participating health and social service providers to validate product decisions before and after release.
• Leads relevant product governance meetings, supports key decision-making, and provides business analysis and policy recommendations as needed.
• Manages a team of technical consultants toward completion of program objectives.
• Applies a hybrid project management approach to program delivery - including detailed planning, budget formulation, and robust risk identification and mitigation - against established timelines and budget. Conducts ongoing budget analysis, allocates resources, and delivers outcomes within a designated area of financial control.
• Establishes and maintains regular communication with key stakeholders, both internal and external, providing ongoing updates on program status and the rationale behind key decisions, along with monitoring and reporting tools as needed.
• Identifies shortcomings in existing processes, systems, and procedures, and leads related change management initiatives in collaboration with senior colleagues and the project team.
• Manages day-to-day relationships with receiving services, partners, and contracted service providers, within an established contract management plan.
• Coordinates onboarding of new health and social service organizations onto the CS platform, validating that their scheduling data and workflows integrate correctly with the orchestration layer.
  
  

Qualifications and Experience

To be considered for this opportunity, you have:

• A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., engineering, data science, health science); a Master’s or PhD would be considered an asset.
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience, preferably in product/program management (relevant certification preferred).
• Experience leading diverse technical/product teams, including managing technical developers, consultants, data scientists, and/or engineers.
• An understanding of the provincial health system, particularly as it relates to digital health initiatives, virtual care, and health system navigation (preferred).
• Knowledge of digital health technologies and tools, technical architecture across large-scale digital health initiatives, and experience with similarly scaled projects (preferred).
  
  

In addition, you:

• Work with a high degree of independent judgment and initiative, and can develop concepts and communicate effectively with industry, government, and community partners.
• Hold strong communication, relationship-building, and leadership skills.
• Engage others effectively, securing buy-in to deliver results and skillfully influencing to build support.
• Develop inter-departmental collaborations and facilitate team development to address specific issues.
• Demonstrate proactive initiative in leading complex mandates.
• Are skilled at navigating complexity and ambiguity, and are comfortable translating large data sets into cohesive objectives and deliverables.
  
  

We will assess the above qualifications and competencies using one or more of the following tools: written examination, standardized tests, oral presentations, interview(s), and reference checks.

Equivalency

Applicants relying on education and experience equivalencies must demonstrate such equivalencies in their application.

Benefits

Based on the employment status, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as a Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Health, Dental, Life Insurance, General illness, Short and Long Term Disability, Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs.  For information on all our Benefit program offerings, click here: Benefits for government employees.

Additional Information

This is a term position based in Halifax with a projected end date of September 29, 2028.

What We Offer

• Career development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career.
• Engaging workplace: our employees feel valued, respected, and connected, through forward-thinking policies and strategies.
• Countless career paths.
• A dynamic, client-focused office environment where service excellence is our focus.