Variety - the Children's Charity's logo

Project Manager - National

Variety - the Children's Charity

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Let’s change the world, one playspace at a time!

For over 45 years Variety has been making a difference in millions of Aussie kids’ lives, by making sure they have what they need to laugh, live, and learn. We partnered with Touched by Olivia in 2018 to deliver inclusive playspaces around Australia called Variety Livvi’s Places. Play is the bedrock of childhood development, and all kids need to play, play with others, and play often. We know that inclusive playspaces created in partnership with communities, makes this happen and so we are on a mission to make sure that every child has an inclusive playspace in their local community.

We are serious about changing the way society plays.

We are proud creators of Variety Livvi’s Place inclusive playspaces where we can all play together. We advocate for play for all kids to promote the health and wellbeing of our children, connect families and communities and support a thriving inclusive society. We specialise in creating truly inclusive playspaces that foster intergenerational free play and passive recreation in a community setting. We pride ourselves on Variety Livvi’s Place playspaces being sought out nationwide where everyone is welcome, valued, can participate, and feels they belong.

As we continue to grow, we are needing a masterful Project Manager to help us to create and deliver more community led inclusive playspaces to kids and communities.

About the job

Currently working Australia wide, particularly in regional and remote areas, we have a range of projects on the go at any one time. We work in partnerships with councils and developers from inception to delivery and actively participate in project working groups throughout project plans. We share our processes and expertise in these teams that deliver our benchmark inclusive playspaces and build capacity in inclusive practices and principals with all we work with on our projects.

This position makes the biggest impact pre-construction phase. This is where building vision, embedding principals, deep authentic stakeholder engagement and inclusive design expertise takes place. Keeping kids and inclusion front and centre throughout whilst working within budgets and timelines is the ultimate goal.

Working closely with the Head of Inclusive Play this position looks a little like this:

  • Supporting the delivery of our inclusive play strategy you will actively drive to embed Variety Livvi’s Place inclusive playspace creation model with our project partners.
  • Actively participating in the project working groups, sharing expertise in stakeholder engagement, participatory planning, inclusive design, and construction phases of site specific inclusive playspaces nationally.
  • Creatively working within project partners parameters whilst ensuring that projects deliverables are on time, within budget and at our high standard of quality.
  • Going to communities, Australia wide, to facilitate deep authentic community engagement and participatory planning with kids, families, and all stakeholders.
  • Regular site visits & update of schedules, project timelines and deliverables as variations occur, advise on regulations, and identify defects.
  • Measure and evaluate the outcomes of the project and undertake and deliver post occupancy reports.
  • Developing and maintaining strong, trusted relationships with our partners, design and construction teams & other stakeholders of each project as well as other Playmates industry wide including suppliers, advocates and champions of inclusive play.

About you

We are a lean, highly passionate, very close team each with our own areas of expertise. We’re after an experienced Project Manager who can deliver change through process. Someone who can easily identify the needed details and organise them in an efficient way for each unique project.

We are kids and communities first, and challenge traditional methods of playspace design and delivery. Building strong relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, from partners, designers, suppliers, construction crews and our internal teams, is most important. The ability to build trust, influence and negotiate within these relationships to deliver on project goals cannot be understated.

We’re looking for someone with:

  • A passionate, people first approach to project management and a commitment to promoting inclusion and play for all kids. A lived experience of diversity or disability or experience working in this area is ideal.
  • Proven ability and experience planning and running projects from start to finish, in playspaces, landscaping or construction.
  • Experience and enjoyment of hands-on community engagement, inclusive design, project planning and contract administration.
  • Proven leadership ability to inspire others along the project journey to do their best work whilst holding them accountable.
  • Tertiary qualifications in construction, engineering, education or business related will be highly regarded.
  • Experience in being able to handle multiple elements to multiple projects; staying calm under pressure to make sound decisions at any point in time.
  • Ability to positively challenge the status quo, resolve problems, issues and conflicting situations amongst stakeholders during the lifespan of the project.
  • Talent for seeing the big picture and translating into an inclusive playspace design that captures all the details that must come together for a project to succeed.
  • Previous experience in working in or with councils will be highly regarded.
  • Desire and ability to travel and work nationally, including regional and remote communities.
  • Current Working with Children Check (WWCC).
  • Eligibility to work in Australia on a permanent basis.

Culture:

To be an Inclusive Team Playmate you need to be resourceful, positive, energetic, dexterous, and fun. We are as passionate about nurturing the growth & development of our team as we are about inclusive play. We have a highly collaborative and empowering team culture encouraging everyone a voice and space to do their best work and providing professional development to help you grow your career and skills. We work very closely, touching base several times a day, travelling together and supporting each other professionally and personally along the way.

Our wider Variety family is sociable, fun and extremely hardworking. We are passionate and driven to achieve results, so that we can continue to grow and deliver the much-needed support we provide to children.

If you exude warmth, possess the highest standards of professionalism and are passionate about making difference to children and families this challenge is for you.

We love having a team that reflects the diverse nature of the children we serve; and we want to celebrate the fact that what makes us different makes us stronger. If this speaks to you personally, we encourage you to apply.

If this sounds like someone you know, please share/forward.

For questions relating to the role please contact Kim Becherand, Head of Inclusive Play on 0403 778 142.

How to apply

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