Business Development Officer – City of Barrie

Organization: City of Barrie

Position: Business Development Officer

Location: Barrie, ON

Description: The Business Development Officer implements and maintains a sound economic development program that positively contributes to the City’s employment base and non-residential tax base through the retention and growth of Barrie’s existing business base and through attraction and re-location of new business.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement a corporate company visitation program to obtain economic and business data to identify opportunities and challenges.
• Advise businesses on strategy in response to opportunities/challenges through the provision of information and resources, including investigating and connecting via electronic or in-person meetings to relevant business support programs and services.

• Implements effective business attraction initiatives including generating, contacting and pursuing business leads.
• Conducting company prospect research in targeted industry sectors, contacting and meeting with business owners/senior executives/developers to present and promote the City of Barrie as an investment destination for businesses to locate, expand or re-locate their operations/developments

• Manages City-owned industrial land inventory.
• Prepares real estate listings of available City-owned industrial lands, analyzes market conditions for determining property valuations, marketing available lands to potential purchasers, negotiating Agreements of Purchase and Sale with respective purchasers and administering the land sale policy and development agreements for sold parcels.
• Creates and maintains an inventory of all available industrial/commercial land and space.

• Establishes strategic relationships with the real estate community, business leaders, institutions, government bodies and other community and business organizations through meetings, communications, joint projects/programs and events to lead, facilitate and support the execution of the Business Development Department strategy and workplan.
• Is an effective liaison and maintains communication regarding business development with all levels of City staff, Council and committees, senior officers of local enterprises, investors, realtors, consultants, lawyers, representatives of senior levels of government and local bodies involved in promoting economic growth in the City.
• Participates as a member of boards and advisory groups, (i.e. Downtown Barrie, Tourism Barrie, Greater Barrie Chamber of Commerce, Georgian College) representing the Business Development Department.

• Supports and facilitates companies establishing new facilities, expanding within, or re-locating to Barrie by managing and navigating the development project through the City development process.
• Acts as the liaison, managing the relationship between the client and City departments by facilitating meetings with staff in relevant City departments where appropriate, managing information flow between the client and the City and conducting follow-up activities to ensure client satisfaction and development completion

• Responds to requests for information from the general public, business owners, Government, Councillors, Real Estate Professionals and Site Selectors.
• Provides information regarding local economic data, development issues and processes, business start-up/growth inquiries, investmest attraction inquiries, industrial/commercial land availability and general business information.
• They also include the provision of information on site location, zoning, development charges, taxes, economic climate, demographics, labour force, City policies, by-laws, regulations, restrictions, fees and corresponding with other City departments as required to obtain information for the client.
• Where necessary, provides interpretation of municipal policies and by-laws.

• Development/co-ordination of communication and promotional materials to promote the City of Barrie as a business destination.
• Creates the textual content for promotional literature including web content, newsletters, ad copy, lure, magazine and newspaper articles, brochures and economic profiles.
• Determines the types of promotional literature to produce and co-ordinates with communications for creative design and production within departmental budget.
• Develops and delivers presentations on economic data, business location costs and benefits, City development initiatives and business programs/initiatives to internal/external stakeholders including real estate/developer prospects, Transportation and Economic Development Committee, Department Heads, Service Clubs, Developers, Local Businesses, International Delegations and others as required.
• Develops, plans, co-ordinates resources, promotes and delivers economic development related events including seminars, real estate tours, economic forums within departmental budget.
• Attends trade shows, industry events/conferences, seminars and workshops as a City representative.
• Markets and pursues business opportunities on behalf of the City.
• Maintains a high standard of public relations at all times, responding to, and preparing data as required for media inquiries.
• Participates in networking and business development events where appropriate.

• Prepares Staff Reports for Council for approval by the Director, business cases, terms of reference documents for tender and other reports as required.
• Assists Director of Business Development and outside consultants retained by the City in the formulation and preparation of an economic development strategy for the City.
• Implements the strategy through the development and execution of annual work plans.
• Participates in the implementation of the Department’s computerized information system, in maintaining the data base, inputting and retrieving data, etc. for the purpose of managing business contacts and business leads.
• Develops Department work plans with the Director of Business Development and assists Director in preparing the Department’s annual budgets.
• Manages projects in concert with Department team members and internal departments, providing direction where required.
• Participates in inter-divisional/interdepartmental projects, special projects and corporate initiatives as a representative of the Department, providing input/guidance as required.
• Performs other related duties as may be assigned by the Director of Business Development.

Skills and Qualifications:

Education (degree/diploma/certifications):

• Four (4) year university degree in one of business, public administration, economics, urban planning, marketing and communications, or a closely related field or equivalent experience.
• Valid Ontario Class G Driver’s Licence in good standing with a reliable vehicle to be used on corporate business.
• A Certificate in Economic Development would be considered an asset.

Experience:

• Five (5) or more years of closely related experience with a demonstrated background in business development, public relations, event planning, marketing and liaising/building relationships with various levels of government (including politicians), community organizations, members of the business community and other stakeholders.
• Two (2) of the five (5) or more years of experience include work in a progressive Municipal Economic Development environment is preferred.

Knowledge/Skill/Ability:

• Demonstrated business acumen.
• Project management skills to manage projects within set timelines and budgetary constraints while setting and achieving clear objectives and outcomes.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills. Superior presentation skills. Negotiating skills. Strong problem-solving skills. Superior interpersonal skills required to build effective working relationships with all stakeholders including industry and government officials, community leaders, members of the public, Council and staff.
• Ability to think and act strategically in a political and community based business service environment within a complex mandate.
• Exceptional judgment and political sensitivity in complex situations.
• Computer literacy utilizing the Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Project), and the ability to skillfully manage database information related to economic development, GIS and Adobe Products including Acrobat and Photoshop.

The 2015 salary range is $70,452 to $84,429 per year ($38.71 to $46.39 per hour). The hours of work will be 35 hours/week. For full details regarding this position, please visit our website at www.barrie.ca.

Please submit your resume electronically by quoting file #I-15-30 Business Development Officer (MS Word format only; quote file number in subject line), by Monday, December 14, 2015 to: E-mail hrjobs@barrie.ca Human Resources Department, City of Barrie, P.O. Box 400, Barrie, Ontario, L4M 4T5.

The Corporation is seeking a friendly, personable, dedicated, enterprising and results-oriented leader. The City of Barrie provides a dynamic operating environment and working conditions. We thank all applicants and advise that only those to be interviewed will be contacted. Personal information is collected under the authority of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, c.25 and will be used to determine employment eligibility. Questions regarding collection should be directed to the Human Resources Department at 705-739-4202.

Apply now