• Permanent
• Hours per week: 35 hours
• Location: Melbourne

About Us

At Oxfam Australia, we believe all lives are equal and no-one should live in poverty. We are a member of Oxfam International, a global confederation working with partners and local communities in 76 countries.

Would you like to join this global movement of people working together to eliminate the inequalities that keep people in poverty?

We are currently seeking a Head of Partnerships and Grants to join our team.

The Role

Reporting to the Executive Lead of International Programs, you will provide strategic and operational leadership of Oxfam Australia's partnerships and grants function. You will oversee donor funded programs, strengthen partnerships, ensure compliance with donor and organisational requirements, and support the delivery of high quality, locally led and impactful international programs. The role also leads a high-performing team and contributes to organisational strategy, risk management and continuous improvement initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership of Oxfam's partnerships and grants function, driving quality, compliance, locally led approaches and high performing teams to deliver impactful programs.
• Lead Oxfam’s partnerships and grants portfolio, ensuring effective governance, donor compliance, risk management, capacity building and high-quality program delivery.
• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships, represent Oxfam with donors and stakeholders, and drive locally led, impactful and compliant program delivery.
• Lead risk and compliance management across Oxfam’s partnerships and grants portfolio, ensuring accountability, governance and donor compliance.
• Support and empower a high-performing team through coaching, mentoring and strong cross-organisational collaboration.
• Oversee budget planning and resource allocation, ensuring financial integrity, donor compliance and effective stewardship of funding.

Essential:

• Demonstrated experience leading and developing high-performing teams within complex and dynamic environments.
• Extensive experience managing international development partnerships, grants and donor-funded programs.
• Strong knowledge of DFAT, ACFID, safeguarding, compliance, risk management and program quality frameworks.
• Proven ability to build strategic relationships and influence donors, partners and stakeholders across diverse cultural contexts.
• Experience overseeing grant governance, financial management, contract management and organisational accountability requirements.
• Strong strategic leadership capability with a track record of driving continuous improvement, innovation and operational excellence.

A little about you (Key Selection Criteria)

• The role requires exceptional leadership, relationship management, and technical expertise in partnership and grants management, as well as a strong ability to collaborate, influence, innovate, deliver, and drive continuous improvement in a complex, rapidly changing external environment.
• Strong and proven people and team management skills, building and leading high-performing, inclusive and adaptive teams across diverse and changing contexts.
• Extensive experience developing, adapting and managing complex international development partnership and grant portfolios, approaches and systems (DFAT and/or other major institutional donors) ensuring quality, compliance, accountability and effective risk management,
• Understanding of and commitment to advancing decolonised, feminist, locally-led and equitable approaches to partnership management and program delivery.
• Deep knowledge and experience of DFAT accreditation, ACFID Code of Conduct, global program standards, and other institutional donor compliance frameworks and approaches to support partners to comply with these and quality standards
• High levels of emotional intelligence, humility, self-awareness, cross-cultural competence and experience working respectfully across languages, identities, and regional dynamics, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region

How to Apply

Complete the online application form, then, as three separate documents, upload:

1. A cover letter that tells us why you want to join Oxfam Australia, and how your professional history and lived experience make you the right candidate.
2. Your CV.
3. Your response to the key selection criteria outlined in the advertisement.

Here is the link to the UPDATE LINK

What we can offer you

• Superior leave benefits and access to a generous not-for-profit salary packaging program (up to $18,450 of your salary tax-free).

• The opportunity to use your talents and expertise to make a positive impact around the world.

• We value flexibility and seek to support our people in ways that meet their work/life commitments and support their wellbeing.

• Cultural leave
• Superannuation matching

Our culture is shaped by our values, which reinforce what we care about and how we do things, not just what we do. Our core values of Equality, Empowerment, Solidarity, Inclusiveness, Accountability and Courage drive everything we do at Oxfam.

Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work, including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct. We are committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us. Therefore, our people are required to comply with the One Oxfam Child Safeguarding and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse policies and sign the Oxfam Australia Child Safeguarding and One Oxfam Employee Codes of Conduct.

Our people are at the heart of everything we do. We care deeply about creating a safe and inclusive workplace where our people feel valued, respected and empowered. We are committed to providing equal opportunities and encourage applicants with personal experience of the forms of injustice we seek to address to apply for opportunities at Oxfam Australia.

Australian work rights

Applicants will be required to show proof of their right to work in Australia the subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, which include Police Checks and Misconduct Disclosure Scheme outcomes, before commencement. Pre-employment checks are not used by Oxfam Australia to prevent any applicant from applying for this position. Each application will be considered on its merits.

Oxfam Australia will not recruit international candidates who do not hold visas permitting them to work in Australia. Oxfam Australia does not provide visa sponsorship.

Additional information

For ongoing roles, candidates will be required to have a minimum of 2 years' Australian work rights from the date of commencement of their employment with Oxfam Australia. For fixed-term roles, candidates will be required to have work rights for the full duration of the contract.

At Oxfam Australia, we are committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and equitable culture where everyone's rights are recognised and respected. Guided by feminist principles and core values, we embrace different perspectives and work to eliminate systemic inequities that perpetuate discrimination. We centre and amplify the voices of people with lived experience and work in solidarity to build a future where no one is left behind.

Our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is reflected in our actions, Oxfam Australia:

• Supports employee-led committees

• Promotes consultative ways of working and decision making

• Maintains a comprehensive enterprise agreement that prioritises employee well-being, as demonstrated through multiple leave types

• Provides ongoing awareness and training on unconscious bias, inclusion, and respectful workplace practices, ensuring alignment with Oxfam’s values

• Ensures a fair and accessible recruitment process