Reports To:

Senior Director, Construction

Location:

Greater Toronto Area – hybrid, with travel across the store network

About the Role

Our Director of Construction still builds stores himself. That is how the role was defined when FIKA was small, and it worked. At our current size and growth rate it is the constraint — the person who should be planning the program is on a site with tools in his hands. We are hiring a Project Manager to take that work over — and to take it over quickly. The goal is a complete handover of site execution within 90 days. What makes this role different from a standard retail PM: our hardest projects are not new stores. They are multi-store programs delivered in live trading environments — banner rebrands, concept conversions, renovations, and VM and fixture programs. Every shop is a different size and layout, so a program that looks like rinse-and-repeat on paper turns into a different plan in every store, and the doors stay open while the work happens. That is where the time goes, and that is where we need the most help. You will also put the preliminary design together yourself. Not permit drawings — external consultants produce our formal and sealed sets. But the site capture, the layout, the fixture plan that a designer takes formal. Today that step queues behind one person, and it is where projects lose their first two weeks. This is a role with range. You will run new store openings, rebrands, renovations and special projects side by side, because in any given month the pressure moves. As FIKA grows and as your own strengths become clear, the function is expected to split into two lanes — new store development on one side, rebrands and special projects on the other — and you will help decide where that line falls. What You’ll Own





Site Capture and Preliminary Design

Walk a site — often on short possession notice — and capture everything a design and a plan require in a single visit: measurements, existing conditions, services, constraints, photographs. Produce preliminary floor plans and fixture layouts in AutoCAD, SketchUp or equivalent — good enough to brief a designer, price the work and start the permit path. Brief, manage and hold accountable the external architects, designers and engineers who produce our formal permit sets; review and redline what comes back. Read drawings critically in the field. Walk a new build and know whether it is being built correctly and to drawing — before it becomes a deficiency list. You will not be producing sealed or permit-stamped drawings, and no BCIN or professional designation is required. Multi-Store Programs and Live-Store Projects

This is the heaviest lift in the role. Own rebrands, renovations, concept conversions and VM/fixture programs running across multiple stores at once. Solve the per-store variation problem: translate one program into a site-specific plan for every location — what fits, what changes, what gets ordered, what the millwork has to do differently in that footprint. Plan and sequence work around trading hours. Phasing, after-hours work, hoarding and safe separation, and keeping the store selling while the work happens.



Build the repeatable kit — per-store survey templates, scope sheets, fixture schedules, standard details and site instructions — so the third wave takes less time than the first, rather than the same. Carry the communication load these programs create, internally and with vendors. Multi-store work lives or dies on planning and follow-up. New Store Openings

Walk a site — often on short possession notice — and capture everything a design and a plan require in a single visit: measurements, existing conditions, services, constraints, photographs. Produce preliminary floor plans and fixture layouts in AutoCAD, SketchUp or equivalent — good enough to brief a designer, price the work and start the permit path. Brief, manage and hold accountable the external architects, designers and engineers who produce our formal permit sets; review and redline what comes back. Read drawings critically in the field. Walk a new build and know whether it is being built correctly and to drawing — before it becomes a deficiency list. You will not be producing sealed or permit-stamped drawings, and no BCIN or skilled designation is required. Trades and Vendor Management

Source, qualify and manage general contractors, millworkers, signage vendors and trades across every market we operate in; build a reliable bench and hold it to standard. Run tender and award: write scopes of work, issue RFPs, level bids properly, recommend award, and manage contracts. Hold vendors to their commitments. Push back on unjustified change orders, challenge pricing, and have the direct conversation when a date slips — firmly, and in a way that keeps a bench we re-use across hundreds of stores. Negotiate rate cards and standing agreements where our volume justifies them.

📌 Project Manager, Construction and Store Development (Winnipeg)
🏢 FIKA Herbal Goods
📍 Winnipeg