Contractor Manager Jobs in Pickering, ON (NOW HIRING)

Welcome to Normative

At Normative, we are committed to solving valuable problems through human-centered design consulting. Our team operates at the intersection of strategy, product design, and technology, helping organizations navigate complexity and drive meaningful innovation.

We believe that exceptional work comes from true partnerships, where collaboration is built on transparency, trust, and shared ownership. Our expertise in specialized problem-solving enables us to tackle hard challenges, leveraging deep domain knowledge and a user-first mindset.

If you thrive in ambiguous and complex environments, seek to work for real impact, and believe in the power of collaboration and innovation, Normative is the right place for you.

About This Role

We're seeking a curious, rigorous, and visually-fluent Foresight Strategist to support strategic foresight research and synthesis that helps our clients anticipate change and make confident decisions about the future.

This contractor role is for an intermediate strategist with a strong grounding in strategic foresight methods - horizon scanning, signal and trend analysis, scenario development, and synthesis - paired with the graphic design skills to turn complex research into clear, compelling, and well-crafted artifacts.

You'll join a small, senior team and play a key supporting role: gathering and organizing signals, building evidence-rich trend libraries, helping shape near-term foresight, and translating findings into tactical, decision-ready recommendations. You'll move fluidly between research and craft, making sense of ambiguity and communicating it beautifully.

This is a collaborative, delivery-focused role. Strong communication, organization, attention to detail, and the ability to navigate complexity are essential.

Work Eligibility & Location

This role requires candidates to be located in Canada and eligible to work in Canada. While Normative is fully remote and offers flexibility in working hours, there will be times when availability during 7:30am-3:30pm PST / 8:30am-4:30pm MST / 10:30am-6:30pm EST is required to align with team collaboration and project needs.

What You'll Do

• Support strategic foresight research, including horizon scanning and the identification of signals, trends, and emerging shifts relevant to client challenges.
• Build and maintain evidence-rich trend and signal libraries, capturing examples with concrete artifacts, screenshots, and source references.
• Conduct competitive and global inspiration scans, distilling how markets and behaviours are evolving into clear, tactical insight.
• Synthesize multiple inputs into cohesive patterns, themes, and near-term foresight that ground recommendations in real evidence.
• Translate research and synthesis into prioritized opportunities and tactical recommendations that clients can act on.
• Design and produce high-quality visual artifacts - trend cards, frameworks, scenario visuals, journey and summary graphics - that make complex thinking clear and compelling.
• Support lightweight qualitative research activities, such as interview preparation, note synthesis, and surfacing quotes and signals.
• Collaborate closely with senior strategists and cross-functional teammates through working sessions and reviews to shape and sharpen direction.
• Bring rigor, creativity, and a highly collaborative mindset to deliver polished, decision-ready outputs.

What You'll Bring

• A Master's degree in Strategic Foresight and Innovation (or a closely related foresight/futures discipline).
• 1-2 years of experience applying strategic foresight methods in a professional, research, or consulting setting.
• Strong foresight acumen: horizon scanning, signal and trend analysis, pattern recognition, scenario thinking, and synthesis.
• Previous experience in graphic design, with strong, demonstrable visual craft and a portfolio of well-designed artifacts.
• Proficiency in design and collaboration tools such as Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Miro, and similar, with a willingness and ability to learn new software as required.
• The ability to translate dense, ambiguous research into clear narratives and compelling visual communication.
• Experience gathering, organizing, and making sense of qualitative inputs from multiple sources.
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted tools and methodologies to drive new ways of researching, thinking, and working.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present ideas with clarity and diplomacy.
• Strong time management and organization skills, with a demonstrated ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks in a deadline-driven environment.
• A continuous learning mindset, staying curious about emerging trends, technologies, and behaviours.
• Comfort with ambiguity and an adaptive mindset that allows you to remain productive and grounded in evolving contexts.

If you meet most of these requirements and are excited about this role, we encourage you to apply.

Working at Normative

At Normative, we offer a place where curious, driven people can do the best work of their careers in an environment built for autonomy, mastery, and impact.

We are a fully remote, highly collaborative team, designed to support independent thinkers who thrive in complexity, ambiguity, and high-accountability environments.

We take on hard problems that matter, spanning strategy, foresight, UX, service design, and technology. You won't just execute - you'll shape solutions, drive impact, and push boundaries.

We operate with high trust and high accountability. You own your work, manage your time, and contribute at a high level - without micromanagement. We stay connected through deliberate collaboration, a well-defined organizational cadence, and shared rituals.

We expect ownership, directness, and bravery, but we also value introspection, creativity, and a positive mindset. We push for excellence while fostering continuous learning and growth.

We invest in our team with fair, clearly defined compensation. The rate offered for this contract is determined by each candidate's relevant knowledge, skills, education, training, and experience, and is aligned to ensure both internal and external competitiveness using market data for the geographic location and industry.

Inclusion

At Normative, we are committed to building an environment where everyone feels included, valued, and heard. Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are an important part of our everyday work. We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous peoples, racialized people, people with disabilities, people from gender and sexually diverse communities, and/or people with intersectional identities.

Accommodations and Accessibility

Normative provides employment accommodation during the recruitment process. Should you require any accommodation, please indicate this on your application and we will work with you to meet your accessibility needs. For any questions, suggestions, or required documents regarding accessibility in a different format, please contact us at hello@normative.com.

Use of AI

Normative uses AI tools in our recruitment process, including developing job postings and note-taking during interviews. AI is not used to screen, assess, or select candidates. All resumes are reviewed by a human, and all hiring decisions are made by humans. Any AI-generated output used during the recruitment process is reviewed by a human before action is taken.