• Full Time

About the role

Do you want to use your skills to make a real difference?

This is an exciting opportunity to support real world outcomes for people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.

Queensland Shelter, a Peak Body for solutions to housing need and homelessness in Queensland, is currently recruiting for a Chief Operating Officer. Reporting to the Executive Director, this role will be based at our Brisbane office in Spring Hill, on the CBD fringe.

The key purpose of the role is to enable Q Shelter to be a strong and effective organisation underpinned by structures, systems, policies, procedures, and plans. This role is critical to capacity and success.

This role is focussed on leading and delivering organisational support services and oversight to operations inclusive of membership, communications, information technology, administration, finance, planning, human resource management, systems and records, policies and procedures, governance support, monitoring/coordinating responses for risk management and organisational reporting.

The role provides leadership to staff providing organisational services. Success will involve flexibility and initiative combined with a deep understanding of Q Shelter’s core role. This role will ensure support for Q Shelter’s effectiveness and efficiency. As a member of the Executive Management Team the candidate will be able to flourish in a dynamic environment, a growing business and manage varied demands and priorities with a high level of accountability and creativity.

The role deputises for the Executive Director and may be delegated to represent he Executive Director and or Q Shelter in selected government and sector forums. If required, the COO role performs the Company Secretary functions for the Management Committee (equivalent of a company Board). External Human Resources, Legal and Information Technology expertise is engaged, as required, to support the role.

The ideal candidate will:

• Have a proven ability to manage key areas of operations including financial monitoring and reporting, HR, IT systems, policies and procedures, risk, and governance
• have proven ability to work with a high degree of autonomy
• be a high-performing individual, driven to deliver high quality project outcomes, by deadlines
• be energetic, enthusiastic, and innovative, with proven leadership capabilities and qualities
• seek out creative solutions to challenging problems
• be a great communicator and write to a very high standard
• be a team player, who positively contributes to organisational culture.

Qualifications and Experience

The successful candidate will have qualifications in a relevant field such as business administration, finance, or HR.

Role conditions

• The role is 1.0 FTE – 38 hours per week
• Q Shelter offers a flexible work environment.
• The salary package is above award
• Q Shelter employees receive five-weeks’ annual leave per year (pro-rata for part time) and a paid Christmas shutdown period.
• Q Shelter staff also have access to not-for-profit salary packaging, which increases their take home pay.
• Q Shelter staff are expected to work within a culturally safe framework and actively contribute to the implementation of Q Shelter’s Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan.

Diversity and inclusion

Q Shelter is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or age.

We strongly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to apply for this role. Q Shelter is currently finalising an Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan to guide and strengthen our approach to inclusion of First Nations’ Peoples.

The position description, incorporating the key selection criteria, is available below or on the Q Shelter website Join our team | Q Shelter: Because home matters

If you have any questions about the role, please contact Q Shelter on (07) 3831 5900.

About Q Shelter

Q Shelter is a peak body for the Queensland affordable housing and homelessness sector (“Sector”). It plays an important role delivering projects to assist in the implementation of the Queensland Government Housing Strategy 2017-27 and the Queensland Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021-25.

It is a member-based association, overseen by a Management Committee, focused on:

• building the Sector’s capacity, to deliver evidence-based solutions to housing and homelessness needs
• influencing public policy and programs, to achieve housing and homelessness solutions; and
• investing in resources and systems, as a base to improve its services to the Sector.