Director, Real Property Relations

At Alto, we are actively contributing to the transformation of Canada's future with our high-speed train project connecting Quebec City and Toronto. With the support of the Government of Canada, this innovative project aims to improve the quality of life of our citizens, strengthen ties between communities and stimulate economic growth.

Would you like to take on a stimulating, high-impact challenge?  We are looking for a Director, Real Property Relations. This role may be based in one of our four offices: Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, or Ottawa.

The role

The Director, Real Property Relations is responsible for defining and executing the real property engagement strategy for a major high-speed rail project across Ontario and Quebec. This includes leading stakeholder engagement related to land access and acquisition, managing key relationships with public and private entities, overseeing the private developer partner’s landowner engagement approach, training land agents and supporting the development of landowner-facing materials, managing reporting and issue escalation, overseeing land portal matters, and ensuring the successful delivery of land required for project implementation.

The Director plays a critical leadership role in navigating the interface between technical delivery, stakeholder concerns, and regulatory compliance. They will oversee a multidisciplinary team and consultant network to negotiate agreements, implement engagement tools, support speaking engagements and community-facing activities with a real property lens, and support the social acceptability and risk mitigation objectives of the project.

The responsibilities

• Develop and implement the real property engagement strategy for both Ontario and Quebec, tailored to diverse stakeholder groups including municipalities, agricultural associations/unions, utilities, private landowners, businesses, residents, and other affected community members.
• Oversee landowner and land-related stakeholder engagement across all project phases-planning, engagement, acquisition, and delivery-ensuring a consistent, respectful, and solutions-oriented approach.
• Manage the private developer partner’s real property engagement activities, including expectations for land agent conduct, consistency of messaging, issue identification, escalation, and follow-up with affected landowners.
• Develop, review, and deliver training, briefing materials, scripts, FAQs, and other tools for land agents and partner teams to support respectful, accurate, and coordinated engagement with landowners and communities.
• Establish regular reporting on landowner engagement, outreach progress, themes, risks, complaints, commitments, and unresolved issues, ensuring timely escalation to Real Property leadership and coordination with Communications and Community Engagement teams.
• Oversee land portal matters, including content requirements, issue tracking, privacy-sensitive handling of landowner inquiries, response coordination, and alignment with approved real property messaging.
• Facilitate regular communication and feedback loops with affected communities and interest groups to build trust and support, with a focus on understanding landowner concerns, local context, property impacts, and the practical realities of agricultural, residential, commercial, and institutional land uses.
• Support social acceptability by integrating landowner and community concerns into real property strategies and mitigation plans.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders: provinces, municipalities, utilities, farming unions and associations, citizen groups, and regulatory authorities.
• Lead negotiations for land-related agreements in coordination with legal, technical, and environmental teams, ensuring alignment with project objectives.
• Represent the real property workstream on internal and external committees and ensure transparent and proactive follow-up on issues raised, in close coordination with Community Engagement teams, Communications, Legal, technical teams, and the private developer partner.
• Lead and manage a multidisciplinary team, including internal staff, external consultants, land agents, and private developer partner resources, responsible for land access and property communications.
• Develop and oversee delivery tools, including landowner-facing communications, meeting materials, speaking engagement content, issue logs, portal content, and reporting dashboards.

The requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning, Economics, Real Estate, Law, Public Administration, or a related field (Master’s preferred).
• Minimum 10 years of experience in land acquisition, stakeholder consultation/engagement, or community/government relations for linear infrastructure or major capital projects.
• Deep knowledge of Ontario and Quebec’s municipal, regulatory, and agricultural contexts.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex negotiations involving diverse stakeholder interests and political sensitivities.
• Experience developing consultation/engagement tools and engagement products tailored to affected communities.
• Experience overseeing partner or consultant teams delivering landowner engagement, including training, quality control, reporting, and escalation of sensitive issues.
• Strong leadership, organizational, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities in a past faced, high-pressure environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; bilingualism in French is a strong asset.
• Willingness to travel throughout Ontario and Quebec.
• Experience with regulatory processes (federal or provincial) related to land acquisition or environmental assessments (asset).
• Familiarity with railway, public transit, or other large-scale public infrastructure sectors (asset).

Why join our innovative team?

• Basic paid group insurance for you and your family: medical, dental, life, disability, etc.
• Access to wellness and health accounts to support your lifestyle.
• Flex-Alto account of $500 to encourage a healthier approach and a more sustainable mode of transportation.
• A retirement plan and savings options (RRSP and TFSA).
• Vacations based on experience, available upon hiring.
• An incentive compensation program.
• Flexible hybrid work mode.
• A work environment that encourages initiative, innovation, and forward-thinking solutions.
• A unique opportunity to shape the future of transportation in Canada.

We work to create high-performance, diversified teams

At Alto, we believe in the power of diverse teams. We aspire to provide an inclusive and equitable work environment where everyone can develop and flourish. Alto offers equal employment opportunities to all and invites qualified individuals, regardless of their identity, origin or situation, to apply.

Please let us know if you need any adjustments during the recruitment process. We will do our utmost to provide you with a fair and pleasant experience, while keeping any adjustments confidential.

Please note that we will communicate only with those candidates whose applications are selected for further consideration. To find out more about the entire project, visit Alto - Home.