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Chief Executive Officer - Remote / Flexible location

Vets for Climate Action
  • Remote / Flexible location

About Vets for Climate Action

Vets for Climate Action (VfCA) represents veterinarians, veterinary nurses, practices and industry partners across Australia calling for climate action. We work to help everyday Australians understand the need for urgent climate action, we train people within our profession to become advocates and we organise our community to realise the change they want to see.

VfCA is a young and dynamic organisation. In the two years since founding we’ve made substantial progress in our journey towards being a fully-fledged and impactful climate organisation. The vast majority of our work is driven by our incredible volunteers and we have two other full time paid staff in addition to the CEO.

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity for a strategic, skilled and inspirational leader whose values and mission strongly align with VfCA and who is seeking the opportunity to scale up an impactful growing climate organisation.

Reporting to an active and committed Board, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will lead VfCA to deliver its vision and strategic plan through high impact advocacy and industry engagement.

The roles and responsibilities include:

  1. Strategic planning and growth - creating, implementing and when necessary revising the strategic plan, and designing strategies that create change and balance short-term opportunities with the long-term objectives of VfCA, in consultation with the Board.

  2. Fundraising - refining and executing VfCA’s fundraising strategy, managing existing donor relationships, developing new major donor relationships and creating new funding avenues to ensure the ongoing financial security of the organisation.

  3. Managing staff and volunteers - VfCA has grown quickly and now has three full-time staff members (including the CEO) and a strong network of volunteers who are integral to the success of the organisation. The CEO must have management and team building experience, the ability to draw out the best from their staff and volunteers and manage a diverse group of staff and volunteers working remotely across Australia.

  4. Building partnerships and community – managing existing partnerships, and building new ones including with other organisations in the climate movement, government and businesses across the veterinary and animal-care industry. The CEO will develop and implement strategies to engage, organise and empower existing and new partners and supporters both online and offline.

  5. Executing campaigns and projects - The CEO guides and assists staff and volunteers to execute projects and campaigns, including our current ClimateSmart campaign, our RE100 work and our community organising work.

  6. Media - representing VfCA in the media, and working with our supporters, partners and spokespeople to amplify their voices.

  7. Leading and managing a non-profit - managing the organisation competently with a view to growing our organisation, its scale and impact; raising and allocating resources efficiently in line with the strategic plan; ensuring the organisation complies with all relevant laws and regulations and working with our book-keeper and accountant to produce financial statements and manage annual audits.

About you (core competencies)

To lead our work, the Chief Executive Officer will be a highly effective communicator, and a skilled and well-connected fundraiser. They will have campaign experience and strong people and advocacy skills. The CEO will understand the Australian context of community and political climate action, and the opportunities for the animal-care industry to play a leading role in achieving bipartisan support for climate action.

  1. Leadership - you have demonstrated leadership capability and are able to inspire confidence in relevant stakeholder groups, including supporters, partners and donors. The CEO must have the leadership and management skills to effectively lead our two staff and many volunteers.

  2. Persuasiveness - you are a persuasive leader and a confident and experienced fundraiser, including with major donors, grants and ideally also with regular giving programs. You are confident in making requests of donors and other stakeholders and have high emotional intelligence and empathy.

  3. Strategic thinking and initiative - VfCA is a fast paced and dynamic organisation. You are able to independently make strategic judgement calls about week-to-week priorities, that balance short-term opportunities with ensuring delivery on the long-term strategic objectives of the organisation. You can competently implement and when necessary review the organisation’s Strategic Plan and Theories of Change.

  4. Written and verbal communications - The CEO must be able to confidently and articulately represent VfCA’s position verbally and in writing. The CEO will need to inspire audiences of all sizes through public speaking, donor and stakeholder engagement, and media interviews.

  5. Relationship building - For VfCA to succeed we need strong relationships with stakeholders and partners across the animal-care industry, climate and community groups and across the political spectrum. The CEO must be a ‘people person’, showing a track record of being able to effectively build relationships and strong networks across a diverse range of stakeholders.

  6. Political savvy - VfCA aims to engage constructively with all sides of politics to drive climate action outcomes. The CEO needs to understand the Australian context of community and political climate action, and the opportunities and challenges of engaging and empowering people to advocate for climate action in Australia.

  7. Planning and organising - The successful candidate will be a skilled project manager, able to deliver work on time and within budget. They must have proven experience in planning and executing projects, ideally in climate campaigning, and be experienced in organisational governance.

  8. Passion for climate action - The CEO must be genuinely passionate about the urgent need to address the climate crisis.

We value diverse experiences and perspectives to strengthen our team, strategies, and movement. We strongly encourage applications from First Nations people, people of colour, parents and carers from all types of families, and people living anywhere in Australia. We offer some flexibility in working hours to fit with your family commitments.

Position Details

This position is full-time and involves some travel to perform the role. As we are a volunteer-led organisation with a heavy focus on community organising, there will be occasional evening commitments. We would consider 4 days per week (0.8 FTE) for an exceptional candidate. It is initially a 2-year contract with a preference for extension subject to performance and funding.

The candidate would ideally be located reasonably close to a major airport. We have a preference for this role to be based on the East Coast of Australia, but will consider any location in Australia. We have access to shared office space in Surry Hills, Sydney with a partner organisation.

The salary range is $100,000 - $110,000 plus superannuation, negotiable commensurate with skills and experience.

How to apply

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