If you’re a privacy professional who is passionate about protecting personal information, navigating complex legislation, and helping an organization build strong privacy practices, the Privacy Officer position may be the perfect next step in your career.
What you’re passionate about
As the Privacy Officer, you are a trusted advisor who brings sound judgment, discretion, and a strong understanding of privacy legislation to complex organizational issues. You are energized by balancing compliance, transparency, and operational realities, and you take pride in building practical privacy solutions that protect people and information. You are highly analytical, detail-oriented, and comfortable interpreting legislation, conducting investigations, and advising stakeholders at all levels. You also bring excellent communication and relationship-building skills, enabling you to provide clear guidance, deliver meaningful training, and influence sound privacy practices across the organization.
A typical day for the Privacy Officer
In this role, you are the organization’s primary authority on privacy and access matters, providing enterprise-wide guidance and leading key privacy initiatives. A typical day may include:
- Lead and continuously improve the organization’s privacy management program, including policies, procedures, standards, and practices.
- Provide practical privacy and access advice to staff at all levels, including guidance on legislative interpretation, risk mitigation, and compliant information handling.
- Conduct privacy impact assessments for projects, systems, process changes, and initiatives involving personal information.
- Manage privacy incidents and investigations, including containment, root cause analysis, notifications, and reporting where required.
- Oversee formal access to information requests and support routine disclosure processes in accordance with legislative requirements.
- Review information sharing arrangements, forms, publications, and corporate practices to ensure alignment with privacy legislation and organizational standards.
- Develop and deliver privacy training, awareness materials, and reporting for staff, leadership, and external stakeholders as needed.
What you bring
- University degree and five or more years of directly related experience.
- Professional privacy certification, related certificate completion, or an equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered. Prior experience in a privacy office and experience with Alberta access and privacy legislation would be an asset.
Knowledge
- Comprehensive knowledge of Alberta’s access and privacy legislation and their practical application in an organizational setting.
- Understanding of privacy and security principles, privacy management practices, and emerging issues affecting information handling, technology, and risk.
- Experience interpreting legislation, conducting research, developing policy, and supporting privacy-related investigations or program delivery.
- Knowledge of Microsoft Office applications and familiarity with Microsoft 365 tools to support documentation, analysis, collaboration, and reporting.
Skills
- Excellent written, verbal, editing, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex legislative and privacy concepts clearly.
- Strong analytical, research, and interpretive skills, with the ability to assess risk, investigate issues, and develop practical recommendations.
- Strong organizational, project management, and time management skills to manage multiple priorities and meet legislative deadlines.
- Exceptional interpersonal and client service skills, including diplomacy, confidentiality, facilitation, and the ability to build strong working relationships across the organization.
- Ability to exercise sound judgment and independent decision-making when handling sensitive, confidential, or high-risk matters.
- Experience designing and delivering adult-focused training and awareness materials is considered an asset.
Abilities
- Ability to read, interpret, and apply legislation and policy to complex organizational issues.
- Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy when reviewing records, assessing privacy risks, and preparing written materials.
- Ability to manage competing priorities in a complex environment while maintaining professionalism and legislative compliance.
- Ability to identify issues proactively, assess possible outcomes, and recommend sound, practical solutions.
- Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with discretion, tact, and a high degree of integrity.
