Head of Automation and Technology Division

The Water Management Service is tasked with providing Laval citizens with a supply of drinking water and exemplary wastewater treatment while respecting applicable standards, ensuring sustainable management of water resources, all in a safe, reliable, environmentally friendly, and financially responsible manner.

Driven by the excellence initiatives in which the Water Management Service is engaged alongside its staff members and collaborators, the Service aims to strengthen its role as a leader, from river to river, by continuously integrating best practices for optimal, resilient, innovative, and efficient water asset management while developing a specialized workforce that ensures a level of exceptional and sustainable service delivery for the benefit of the Laval community.

The Water Management Service consists of over 250 employees dedicated to managing drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater with an operational budget of over $55M. It manages assets worth over $1.5 billion, including 3 drinking water production plants, 3 water resource recovery stations (StaRRE), and more than 75 pumping stations. Major upcoming projects in wastewater and drinking water are planned over the next 10 years to ensure the city's development and environmental protection.

Reporting to the Deputy Director of the Water Management Service, you will be responsible for planning, coordinating, and controlling activities related to the optimization of automation systems, operational technologies, and information technologies of the infrastructure. In this capacity, you will collaborate on the strategic planning of the service and ensure efficient management of human, financial, and material resources in your division to guarantee the sustainability of municipal assets, user safety, and the quality of services offered to the population, while respecting the strategic directions, policies, regulations, and budgets established by the City.

Main responsibilities:

• You will define and deploy the strategic vision of the division regarding automation and operational technologies;
• You will plan, lead, and control activities related to industrial control systems (ICS), data acquisition and control systems (SCADA), manufacturing execution systems (MES), and other operational technologies;
• You will contribute to the secure and efficient integration of OT systems with IT systems;
• You will ensure compliance with and integration of health and safety standards in the execution of design, programming, and maintenance tasks;
• You will collaborate with other divisions to identify operational needs and propose suitable technological solutions while respecting the principles of cybersecurity for infrastructures;
• You will ensure the maintenance, evolution, and security of OT infrastructures;
• You will guarantee the optimal use of Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS) to manage all activities in your division;
• You will lead automation initiatives from the design phase to deployment, leveraging technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML);
• You will advise management on optimizing automation systems, operational technologies, and information technologies of the infrastructure.

• Hold a bachelor's degree in automated production engineering or any relevant degree for the position;
• Member of the order of engineers or in the process of obtaining it;
• Technical skills covering the following areas: Instrumentation and control, automation, electricity, computing, and industrial control networks;
• Good knowledge of programmable logic controller programming, i.e., mastery of industrial control systems used in municipal infrastructures;
• Ability to oversee the implementation of new technologies and manage multidisciplinary teams;
• Good knowledge of industrial cybersecurity (Protection of automated systems);
• Good knowledge of municipal regulations;
• Must possess safety training for construction sites (SST).

Demonstrating proven leadership, you will embody the management model advocated by the City of Laval:

Humanize: You will demonstrate a genuine interest in the well-being of others and the work environment. You will share the vision by conveying it in a way that gives meaning to the work and ensures a common understanding of the preferred direction.

Energize: You will promote skill development, inspire others, and encourage them to engage in their work and perform. You will gather, share, and disseminate the required information to foster communication within the organization.

Inspire: You will be able to exert strategic influence and promote your ideas in alignment with those of the organization while having an informed awareness of the internal and external environment. You will be able to develop formal and informal networks to facilitate exchanges leading to beneficial outcomes for all parties involved.

Transform: You will know how to generate creative ideas to provoke citizen-centered transformation. You are able to perceive the urgency and importance of situations and must ensure to communicate and manage them according to organizational issues.

Navigate: Recognized for your courage to act, you will be determined to carry out the interventions you believe are necessary to create maximum value for citizens. Focused on results, you will concentrate your efforts to achieve or exceed expected outcomes and adopt strategies that contribute to improving the results obtained.

Choosing the City of Laval means joining the third-largest city in Quebec, in an environment where your leadership and influence can truly make a difference. It also offers the opportunity to grow within a human, committed, and passionate team for public service.

For this position, we offer competitive working conditions and benefits:

• 4 weeks of annual vacation;
• 5 personal days annually;
• 16.5 holidays per year including several days off during the holiday season;
• Comprehensive group insurance;
• Defined benefit pension plan;
• Hybrid work mode;
• Work location easily accessible with free parking;
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP);
• Priority access to a CPE daycare.