Program Director, Drone Transport Initiative

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

This position will be filled internally. It is posted for informational purposes only.

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world. Since 1915, UBC’s entrepreneurial spirit has embraced innovation and challenged the status quo. UBC encourages its students, staff and faculty to challenge convention, lead discovery and explore new ways of learning. At UBC, bold thinking is given a place to develop into ideas that can change the world.

Our Vision: To Transform Health for Everyone

Ranked among the world’s top medical schools with the fifth-largest MD enrollment in North America, the UBC Faculty of Medicine is a leader in both the science and the practice of medicine. Across British Columbia, more than 14,000 faculty and staff are training the next generation of doctors and health care professionals, making remarkable discoveries, and helping to create the pathways to better health for our communities at home and around the world.

The Faculty of Medicine —comprised of approximately 2,700 administrative support, technical/research and management and professional staff, as well approximately 650 full-time academic and over 12,000 clinical faculty members—is composed of 19 academic basic science and/or clinical departments, 3 schools, and 26 research centres and institutes. Together with its University and Health Authority partners, the Faculty of Medicine delivers innovative programs and conducts research in the areas of health and life sciences. Faculty, staff and trainees are located at university campuses, clinical academic campuses in hospital settings and other regionally based centres across the province.

The UBC Vancouver Campus is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. The City of Vancouver is located on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations territory.

• Own and steward the multi‑year strategic vision for the DTI across phases, aligning research, engineering, clinical operations, commercialization, and community objectives with UBC and partner priorities.
• Direct the institutional transformation required to enable drone‑enabled health logistics at scale, including governance design, operating model development, change leadership, and sustainability planning (with pathways for a future standalone entity).
• Translate strategy into approved roadmaps and investment priorities, with clear milestones, resourcing decisions, and benefits realization accountability.

• Steward and maintain the proposed governance framework, including decision rights, escalation thresholds, and accountability structures across UBC, health authorities, First Nations communities, and industry partners.
• Accountable for compliance with applicable regulatory and policy frameworks, including: research ethics and privacy, Indigenous data governance and community‑defined protocols, aviation regulations and RPAS safety management requirements
• Direct negotiation and approval of collaboration, data‑sharing, and IP agreements (with UILO and legal counsel), including commercialization‑enabling provisions that preserve public benefit, health system access, and Indigenous rights.

• Provides leadership, coaching, and performance management for two teams:
  • Project & Community Engagement Team — co-designs health‑system workflows; leads research ethics, privacy, and Indigenous data stewardship; supports partner readiness and community engagement.
  • Operations Team — leads change management; operational readiness; drone operations support; SOP development; safety management; incident response; and logistics execution.
• Hold managers and teams accountable for delivery, quality, safety, capacity planning, and workforce sustainability.
• Accountable for organizational design, recruitment, performance management, succession planning, and cultivate a culturally safe and inclusion work place

• Serve as primary liaison among the faculties of Applied Science, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicine, and InDro Robotics (SME partner), ensuring integrated engineering, regulatory, clinical, operational, and commercialization workstreams.
• Liaises with government agencies, Indigenous partners, industry representatives, and community organizations to foster collaborations, ensure regulatory compliance, and enhance research and product development outcomes for the drone program.

• Lead integrated planning across technical development, clinical/operational workflows, and community engagement; convert strategy into schedules, deliverables, and resource plans.
• Oversee design and implementation of the proprietary development of the healthcare cargo & request platform, and overall gradual implementation of high-impact drone logistics operations. Includes defining technology requirements, deploying user-centred design with clinical and community input, interoperability, security, and compliance.
• Establish robust program controls (scope, schedule, budget, KPIs/OKRs, risks/issues, change control, benefits tracking).

• Accountable for the design, approval, and effectiveness of operational readiness, safety management, and incident response frameworks governing drone operations and handling of clinical materials.
• Lead enterprise‑level risk stewardship across legal, clinical, operational, community, commercialization, and reputational domains; ensure contingency and emergency protocols are established, tested, and improved.

• Own the DTI commercialization strategy, including market assessment, value proposition definition, adopter segmentation (e.g., health authorities, laboratories, First Nations communities), and partner/channel strategies.
• In partnership with UILO and governance bodies, advise leadership on the design and recommend licensing and adoption pathways that balance commercialization with public benefit, equity, and Indigenous data sovereignty.
• Develop and present executive decision packages on sustainability models, funding pathways, and entity formation options for approval by UBC leadership.

• Steward a multi‑year, multi‑source investment portfolio, making strategic trade‑offs across research, operations, and commercialization while ensuring sponsor compliance and financial sustainability.
• Define program‑level performance and impact metrics (safety, access, equity, cost, environmental benefit, adoption, and commercialization outcomes).
• Produce executive‑level briefings and reports for senior leadership, governance bodies, funders, and partners.

• Embed equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and Indigenous self-determination throughout program design, commercialization, and delivery; co-develop approaches with First Nations and other communities to ensure culturally-safe practices and reduce barriers to access.
• Ensure community engagement is ongoing, reciprocal, and meaningfully informs program and market decisions, operational models, and technology adoption.

• Decisions made affect worker and public safety across a 200km stretch of municipalities and at the Prince George Airport, creating legal and financial liabilities for the Faculty and the University, and affecting the reputation of the University within the aviation and medicine profession, the surrounding community and broader public.
• The financial authority of the position enables the self-supporting mandate of the DTI. Errors in decisions can adversely affect the Faculty’s and the University’s legal, reputational and financial interests.
• Decisions affect legal, operational, financial, safety, commercialization, and reputational risk for the University and partners. Errors in judgment—including failures in safety management, regulatory compliance, privacy/data governance, IP/licensing, ethical commercialization, or community engagement—may result in regulatory non-compliance, project delays or cancellations, loss of funding or partner trust (including Indigenous communities), compromised market opportunities, and potential harm to individuals or the environment. The Director is expected to exercise expert judgment, proactively manage risk, and escalate issues appropriately.
  

·       Graduate degree (e.g., MEng, MASc, MBA, MHA, MPH, MPP) required.

·       Demonstrated experience in of successfully leading or directing cross-sector initiatives spanning academia, healthcare, government/regulators, Indigenous communities, and industry.

·       Require PMP certification and Prosci/Change Management or equivalent

·       Certifications in UAS/RPAS pilot or safety credentials, and/or relevant privacy/ethics training are considered an asset.

·       Strong financial management and sponsor compliance experience (public/industry).

·       Excellent relationship management, facilitation, and negotiation skills with the ability to influence at senior levels across institutions.

·       Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict

·       Operates with a high degree of independence and judgment.

·       Strategic systems thinker with the ability to move from vision to execution across multidisciplinary teams.

·       Advanced program management, risk management, and governance design capabilities.

·       Fluency with data stewardship, privacy, and information‑sharing agreements; familiarity with health data interoperability and security considerations.

·       Deep understanding of commercialization pathways for university‑based innovations (licensing, service models, spin‑outs) and how to align them with public‑interest goals and Indigenous rights.

·       Commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and reconciliation; ability to work respectfully across cultures and disciplines.

·       Comfortable operating in ambiguity; adept at prioritization, resource trade‑offs, and iterative delivery.

·       Diplomacy, discretion, and integrity when handling sensitive information and high‑stakes relationships.