Director, Planning and Operational Excellence

About the role

Responsible for driving strategic alignment and optimizing performance outcomes across SOPC's high‑performance programs. This role partners closely with Senior Directors and other high‑performance staff to support goal setting, strategic planning, tracking and monitoring.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the development and integration of annual and multi‑year operational plans, translating strategic priorities into coordinated programs, resources, timelines and delivery priorities.
• Coordinate integrated planning and operational readiness across high‑performance programs, ensuring athlete requirements, competitions, training camps and critical dependencies are identified and planned in advance.
• Lead the Sports R&D and innovation agenda, directing research priorities and translating emerging technologies into practical applications for athlete performance and injury prevention.
• Identify and address process inefficiencies, service gaps and bottlenecks, applying continuous‑improvement methodologies such as process analysis, benchmarking and root‑cause analysis.
• Design, govern and continuously improve the end‑to‑end Elite Athlete Journey, establishing service standards, SLAs and performance measures.
• Develop and maintain the high‑performance operating model, ensuring clear roles, accountabilities, controls and escalation mechanisms.
• Act as the primary liaison between high‑performance programs, support functions, corporate services and national federations, fostering strong partnerships and alignment.
• Lead and develop the High‑Performance Planning & Operational Excellence team, setting clear objectives, delegating responsibilities and coaching for high performance.

Required skills

• Process analysis
• Continuous improvement methodologies
• Team leadership
• Benchmarking
• Root‑cause analysis
• Stakeholder engagement