Vice President of Operations

At Northern Communications, we are committed to delivering reliable, secure, and innovative emergency communication and monitoring services that help keep communities and businesses safe. For over 70 years, our team has supported organizations across Canada, the United States, and Mexico with services spanning emergency call handling, fire dispatch, monitoring, and customer support. Our mission-driven culture is grounded in trust, urgency, innovation, and collaboration, creating an environment where you can grow, contribute, and make a meaningful difference every day. We’re growing and excited to welcome new team members who value continuous learning and meaningful work.

When someone dials 9-1-1, a smoke alarm trips at 3 a.m., or a connected car senses a crash, Northern911 is the team that picks up and makes the call that gets help moving. Our APCO-certified telecommunicators answer, triage, and route 9-1-1 and emergency calls to the right police, fire, or medical agency, and dispatch fire services for rural and volunteer departments. Our TMA-certified specialists provide 24/7 alarm monitoring, responding to fire, intrusion, environmental, and connected-device alerts.. Our customer support specialists extend that care beyond emergencies, handling after-hours answering, on-call escalation, and municipal support for organizations that need someone empathetic and reliable on the line around the clock.  Public safety agencies, technology partners, and business customers rely on our teams to gather critical information quickly and accurately and respond with care. Learn more at www.northern911.com  And www.northerncom.com. 

What this role is about:
When someone reaches out in an emergency, the first voice they hear is one of ours. As VP, Operations, you will lead the people behind that voice: about 150 public safety telecommunicators, monitoring agents, and customer support specialists working around the clock. Each service has built deep expertise of its own, and we are looking for the leader who will take us to the next level by bringing them together into one operation that is stronger than the sum of its parts.  And we’re just getting started: as we expand into new markets and grow our international footprint, including opening and integrating new centres, you will build the operation that makes that growth possible. 

As a member of the leadership team, you will drive operational excellence, financial performance, and an exceptional employee experience, designing scalable operating models and developing innovative solutions along the way. You will shape how the teams are staffed, trained, coached, and supported, and bring AI and automation onto the floor to support our teams and extend how many people they can help.  Combining operational discipline, financial acumen, entrepreneurial thinking, and strong people leadership, you will empower teams to solve problems, embrace change, and innovate in the pursuit of service excellence. You will also partner with RapidSOS product and engineering teams to put new technology to work in a live 24/7 operation. 

This is a chance to lead the people who answer when it matters most, and to build an operation that lets them do  their best work every day.

What you'll do:

• Lead 24/7 operations across 9-1-1 call handling, monitoring, and customer support, keeping service reliable every hour of every day for customers across Canada, the US, and Mexico
• Own the path from company vision to results: set quarterly plans with measurable outcomes, then build and maintain the operational scorecard with meaningful KPIs, using the data to monitor performance, identify trends, and drive clear accountability and improvements 
• Unite our service lines through integration and continuous improvement, connecting teams, leveraging shared capabilities, and building efficient, scalable operating models while preserving service-specific requirements
• Lead our operational expansion, opening and integrating new centres, bringing acquired operations onto a common operating model, and building cross-border teams that serve customers wherever they are 
• Build the operating budget and staffing plan with Finance and People & Culture, and find new ways to improve efficiency, productivity, and profitability that strengthen service quality and make work better for your teams
• Raise the standard of every call and customer interaction by continuously improving training, procedures, and quality assurance, and by investigating incidents and service failures to uncover root causes and turn each one into a lasting improvement
• Drive organizational transformation, shaping the structural and process improvements that move the operation forward, building commitment across teams, and seeing each change through to results
• Identify, evaluate, and implement AI, automation, and emerging technologies, and drive their adoption so our teams can deliver higher-quality service to more people 
• Apply emerging industry standards and best practices across our service lines, staying current on regulatory changes and ensuring compliance with regulations, collective agreements, and contractual obligations while managing operational risk
• Partner with RapidSOS product and engineering teams, bringing frontline insight from our live 24/7 operation to test new technology and help shape the products public safety teams rely on
• Foster a culture where people want to stay and grow, through engagement, recognition, and leadership development that strengthens retention and empowers your team members, and where creative problem-solving is encouraged and celebrated
• Represent Northern Communications and Northern911 across the industry as a trusted voice in public safety, building relationships with customers, agencies, and associations and sharing your expertise through speaking engagements and industry events

What we're looking for in our ideal candidate:

• 5-10+ years leading 24/7 operations in emergency communications, enterprise monitoring, or contact centre operations environment, or equivalent experience, including leading an organization of 50+ people 
• Senior operational leadership experience with demonstrated success in operational performance, financial management, and organizational improvement, and strong knowledge of workforce planning, training, quality assurance, performance management, and regulatory compliance
• Proficiency in data analysis, performance measurement, and the use of operational scorecards / metrics to inform decisions, identify trends, and drive improvements
• Proven track record of leading organizational change, building commitment and communicating effectively across functions, optimizing operational systems and processes, and developing high-performing teams
• Demonstrated experience implementing AI-enabled solutions or automation to achieve measurable operational improvements, with a strong aptitude for adopting emerging technologies
• Ability to see complex processes holistically, identify root causes, and design scalable solutions, with an entrepreneurial mindset that experiments with new ideas and technology and stays adaptable through ambiguity
• Ability to lead with empathy, develop capable employees, and foster a culture where people are engaged, accountable, and empowered, with clear communication and collaboration across teams and with customers
• Natural curiosity and a willingness to challenge the status quo, with the creativity to look beyond how things have always been done and find better ways to serve our customers and support our teams 
• Ability to travel up to 15% and work onsite in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Nice-to-have experience (but not required!):

• Experience leading complex, service-oriented operations; experience in emergency communications (PSAP), contact centres, or monitoring
• Experience scaling operations across borders or opening new sites, particularly expanding into the US 
• Experience extending services into new international markets, including supporting customers in additional languages and adapting to local regulations and expectations 
• Experience building employee wellness or critical incident stress programs for frontline teams 
• Industry-specific certifications (e.g., Emergency Number Professional (ENP), Communications Center Manager (CCM), Certified Public-Safety Executive (CPE)) and relevant professional development
• Experience working in a unionized environment 
• French / Spanish fluency 

What we offer: 

• Competitive Compensation & Benefits: Base salary range of $175,000 – $215,000 CAD, plus a comprehensive benefits package and pension plan
• Equity Participation: This role is eligible to receive equity options in RapidSOS, our parent company. 
• Relocation Assistance: Comprehensive relocation support to Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada is provided if required. Enjoy over 300 lakes, extensive trails, and an affordable cost of living, with the amenities of Northern Ontario’s largest city. 
• A Seat at the Table: Join the leadership team and help shape the future of the company as it grows across North America 
• A Fun & Vibrant Culture: A dynamic and fun work environment that celebrates a great team with events like staff appreciation parties, Telecommunicators Week, and summer BBQs.
• Mission-Driven Impact (A RapidSOS Company): Northern Communications is proudly part of RapidSOS, the emergency response data platform connecting over 730 million devices directly to first responders. You’ll join a passionate, mission-driven team using cutting-edge technology to solve one of the world's most critical challenges—saving lives when seconds count.

If you’re curious to learn more, visit www.northerncom.com and www.northern911.com 

Northern911 is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or Veteran status. 

Interested in the role but you don’t meet 100% of the requirements? We’d love to hear from you! We encourage you to apply; we’d be excited to see if your unique skill set and experience could be a match.