The Colman Education Foundation is seeking a passionate and skilled person to join the Our Place team as Manager, Policy & Advocacy.

At Our Place, we believe that supporting local schools to be the heart of a whole community is one of the best ways to achieve long lasting change in communities experiencing disadvantage. We do this by convening partnerships across local services, government, philanthropy and the community to support all children and their families to succeed in life. We also actively influence the adoption of these integrated ways of working into wider policies and systems.

We are striving to build an Our Place team that is as diverse as the communities we work within, so we encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply for this opportunity. We are committed to inclusion, flexibility and supporting staff with a work-life balance that meets their needs.

About the role

In this new position, you’ll play a key role in ensuring that Our Place is an effective partner to government, an independent thought leader, and a champion for the changes we know are needed for communities to thrive. Leading a small team, you will be responsible for building our capability to communicate effectively and to develop impactful policy and advocacy products.

While you’ll have a cadence of regular meetings and governance responsibilities, this role is not all about deadlines and tasks — there’s space for deep thinking, creativity, and collaboration. You’ll balance focused, self-directed work with responding to team needs and ensuring Our Place’s strategic priorities are advanced.

When you join us, you will work with the Director of Strategy, CEO and your team members to develop a new approach to advocacy and communications for Our Place. Beyond this establishment period, in a ‘business as usual’ month, you would likely have:

• Worked with your team to finalise a refresh of the Our Place Key Messages and a project plan for their adoption
• Participated in meetings with Victorian Government counterparts to plan for upcoming partnership governance meetings and got a head start on meeting papers
• Collaborated with the Evaluation Team to compile evidence of impact and change at Our Place sites to inform a Ministerial meeting
• Proactively identified an opportunity for a relevant policy submission, then drafted and submitted it with input from across the Leadership Team
• Held team meetings and met 1:1 with your direct reports to support their core work, check in on wellbeing and to reflect and learn
• Spent half a day at an Our Place school site to deepen your understanding of our local work and how the Our Place approach impacts the work of our site partners
• Had an online coffee catch up with a peer in a thought-partner organisation elsewhere in Australia to share perspectives on policy challenges and opportunities
• Attended regular whole of organisation team meetings and had 1:1 meetings with your line manager to discuss your work, share two way feedback and support your wellbeing.

About you

We’re looking for someone who can keep their eye on the big picture while managing multiple tasks, who can turn complex ideas into clear, compelling messages and who enjoys working both independently and leading a team.

We value diverse perspectives and experiences. Whether you’ve worked in government relations, advocacy or another field, we’d like to hear what skills you think you would bring to this role.

We strongly encourage applications from people with lived experience of social or economic disadvantage and from the communities we work alongside. We value the insights and perspectives that these experiences bring to our team and our mission. To find out more about Our Place visit www.ourplace.org.au.

If this sounds like your perfect role, we’d love to hear from you. To apply, please submit your CV and a one-page cover letter. We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis so, if you are interested in this role, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

You can also send questions about the position to [email protected] using the subject line: Manager, Policy and Advocacy enquiry via EthicalJobs.

A position description is attached.