Job Summary
VMIAC
- $145,000 (negotiable based on skills and experience) + superannuation
- Applications close:
- Job posted on: 6th May 2025
Director, Engagement and Advocacy
VMIAC
Job description
Highlights
- Reports to: CEO
- Department: Leadership Group (Executive), working alongside Deputy CEO and Director of Policy, and Director Corporate Service
- Direct reports: 4 (subject to change)
- Contract: Three-year contract; Six-month probation; Full time (possibility of 0.8 FTE)
- Renumeration: $145,000 (negotiable based on skills and experience) + superannuation
- Requirements: The preferred candidate for the role is required to complete and/or provide Police and Working with Children checks prior to final confirmation and commencement of employment.
- Office located in Southbank
About VMIAC
VMIAC is the peak Victorian non-government organisation for people with lived experience as consumers of mental health services. We work from a rights-based perspective.
Our Vision
A world where all mental health consumers stand proud and live a life with choices honoured and rights upheld, these principles are embedded in all aspects of society.
VMIAC aims to achieve our vision by:
- Honouring mental health consumer diversity
- Providing advocacy for mental health consumers Advancing mental health consumer workforce and leadership
- Delivering information and training to the community Enabling mental health consumer-driven education and research
- Developing strategic partnerships.
Our guiding principles are premised on the following beliefs: People’s experiences are respected and valued
- People are experts in their own lives
- People have a right to self-determination
- People have capacity to make genuine choices
- People should be safe, respected, valued and informed, free from coercion
- People’s diversity is embraced.
VMIAC is owned, governed, managed and staffed by people with a mental health consumer lived experience. We aim to be an organisation in which the diversity of people with a mental health consumer lived experience can meaningfully and powerfully contribute to our thriving organisation.
We aim to be the employer of choice for the mental health lived experience workforce. We know that by working well together we become a true force for systems change and reshaping consumer experience.
Equal Opportunity Statement
VMIAC values diverse consumer perspectives, and we aim to reflect this diversity in our staffing cohort.
We are an equal opportunity workplace, and we strongly encourage applications by First Nations people, people from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, d/Deaf and Disabled people and people from the LGBTIQA+ community.
We understand the needs of people with family obligations, and we provide a hybrid workplace, and part-time positions. Crucially we also understand the complexity of consumer experience and by negotiation offer reasonable adjustments and workplace supports to promote staff wellbeing.
About the role
This is a critical new role, designed to support VMIAC (organization and communities) as we review and strengthen our work in consumer advocacy and stakeholder engagement. A key senior leadership role, the Director, Engagement and Advocacy will lead our work in these areas and oversee the design and implementation of our statewide engagement strategy, ensuring meaningful and collaborative opportunities for consumers across the state to inform our work.
The Director, Engagement and Advocacy will work closely with the CEO and Deputy CEO to develop workflows and an evaluation approach that ensures that data and insights from the Advocacy and Engagement teams drive our broader systemic advocacy agenda.
It is expected that the Director, Engagement and Advocacy will actively contribute to building a positive, accountable and inclusive workplace culture while progressing strategy and organisation-wide projects.
About you
You are a dynamic, engaging and collaborative leader who loves leading a strategic agenda, in collaboration with senior leadership and a diverse staff group. With a passion for social justice and human rights you are a values-driven leader with a diverse range of experiences and the ability to meet people on any level.
As a senior leader, you enjoy being part of a high-functioning executive team by contributing to strategic discussion and decision making for the broader goals of any organization, while ensuring your portfolio is ready to respond and reach these same goals.
You love supporting a team to do their very best, with the resources required to achieve great results. You are not afraid of hard conversations or delivering feedback if required.
This role is an important conduit for communities and stakeholders which means you are a great, generous and clear communicator with a commitment to representing people and organisations ethically and thoughtfully.
THIS IS A LIVED EXPERIENCE, CONSUMER POSITION
Applicants must be people who identify as having experience of mental health challenges, trauma or emotional distress and who have accessed mental health services specifically to support their wellbeing.
Applicants must be willing to reflect on how their own lived experience interacts with that of others; and be able to contribute to the development and implementation of collaborative ways of working.
Role overview
The Director, Engagement and Advocacy joins the organization at a critical time. As we move toward a strategic refresh, this role will contribute to, and lead on, relevant executive level planning and implementation responsibilities.
This role oversees VMIAC’s work in:
- Engagement - building capacity across community and consumer groups in self-advocacy and overseeing meaningful input from our members and stakeholders into all of our work
- Advocacy – overseeing our individual advocacy programs including general and specialist programs (NDIS Appeals) and ensuring diverse consumer perspectives are embedded in our systemic advocacy and policy development
In addition to providing strong and collaborative leadership in these areas, this role works closely with the team to ensure a constructive and pro- active working environment for all direct reports and associated teams along with the broader VMIAC staff group and communities.
Reporting to the CEO, the role will form part of the VMIAC senior leadership group and work in close collaboration with the CEO, alongside Deputy CEO and Director of Policy, and Director Corporate Services. It is expected that the Director, Engagement and Advocacy will actively contribute to building a positive, accountable and inclusive workplace culture while progressing strategy and organisation-wide projects.
It is the role of the Director, Engagement and Advocacy to represent VMIAC externally, as approved by the CEO, in forums, groups and events requiring a level of authority. The Director may be requested by the CEO to present to the Committee of Management.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy and Leadership:
- Lead on the engagement and advocacy agenda for VMIAC with a clear strategy, developed in consultation with the CEO, Executive team and broader staff group
- Develop and deliver on shared advocacy goals for VMIAC, including publishing the advocacy goals for consumers and communities to engage with
- Lead a dynamic and vital engagement and advocacy agenda, with a team that is energised, connected and cohesive
- Lead and further develop Advocacy, NDIS and Membership/Engagement programs.
Representation:
- Represent VMIAC at key meetings with the government and other appropriate agencies
- Maintain and develop active networks in established priority areas and foster and maintain relationships
- Ensure anyone representing VMIAC understands the shared advocacy agenda and is supported to present impactfully and effectively.
Programs and quality:
- Ensure continuity in approach between consumer-facing programs including General Advocacy, NDIS and Membership teams
- Identify and manage program risk areas, with relevant staff members and senior team members
- Work with senior team members to deliver program outcomes in line with VMIAC’s annual plans
- Maintain key relationships that allow VMIAC to achieve better outcomes for consumers
- Provide comprehensive, timely and accurate program reports that meet the information and accountability expectations of the CEO, and the requirements of the Committee and funder
- Identify opportunity for program growth aligned with strategy including new program streams or areas of development for VMIAC.
People and culture:
- Recruit key roles in the Engagement and Advocacy portfolio Ensure appropriate support and supervision is always available to all staff in the program areas
- In collaboration with the CEO and other Directors design, grow and maintain an organisation culture that is caring and inclusive, inspires best practice and promotes mutual accountability while supporting staff to thrive in professional roles
- Promote and inspire teamwork and collaboration within and between teams
- Lead by example and uphold a values driven team culture
- Work collaboratively as required with other members of the VMIAC team including attending and contributing to scheduled meetings.
Workplace and systems:
- Contribute to the design and development of a fit for purpose and contemporary workplace and workplace policy and procedures (including hybrid workplace models)
- Input into the specifications for business appropriate technology and information management systems
- Ensure program staff follow agreed business processes and are supported to work well with the technology necessary to their roles Ensure program staff collect and enter all data required for quality and reporting purposes using agreed protocols, schedules and systems
- Develop policy and user-friendly processes that effectively support program delivery and reporting.
Organisational:
- To comply with VMIAC ways of working to create a collaborative, supportive and accountable workplace
- Demonstrate awareness and understanding of diversity, culture and human rights
- Be aware of current policy as VMIAC has a responsibility to maintain current policy
- To actively participate in relevant meetings and consumer forums as required
- Actively contribute to Workplace Health and Safety by taking reasonable care for personal health and safety and that of others in the workplace; raising suggestions and concerns as they arise to ensure a safe work environment for employees, consumers and visitors.
Key selection criteria
Essential:
- Demonstrated experience in leadership and management within a not-for-profit or advocacy organisation
- Track record in advocacy at individual, organisational and systemic levels
- Demonstrated experience in community and stakeholder engagement, ideally in a service-provision context
- Expertise in program review, design and implementation, ideally in a relevant or allied sector
- Ability to inspire and grow well-supported teams that do their jobs well including the ability to manage a diverse consumer workforce
- Strong communication and representational skills, both written and verbal
- Leadership in implementing work systems and efficiencies to ensure smooth and cohesive working environments
- Experience in working with a senior leadership team to achieve shared strategic goals
- The ability to identify, develop and maintain partnerships that are values aligned
- Knowledge of the state and national mental health landscape, particularly the state reform agenda
Desirable:
- Experience working in a designated mental health consumer role
- Understanding of and experience in a membership-based organisation
Application process
To express interest in the role:
Please prepare:
- Current CV (no more than four pages) and;
- Cover letter that responds to the responsibilities outlined above. You should also include why you are the right person for this role.
Submit your application via the "Apply Now" button.
For your information
- We will have a two-stage interview process.
- First stage interviews will take place online. Second stage will likely be no more than two candidates and take place in person.
- Where possible interviews will likely take place between Monday 2 June and Friday 13 June
- We are hoping the successful candidate will be in place by the end of August 2025.
To ask questions or have a confidential discussion, please contact: Jade Lillie [email protected] using the subject line: Director, Engagement and Advocacy enquiry via EthicalJobs.
Supporting Materials
Job Summary
VMIAC
- $145,000 (negotiable based on skills and experience) + superannuation
- Applications close:
- Job posted on: 6th May 2025