Stakeholder Engagement & Policy Manager

About Us

HumanAbility is a Jobs and Skills Council for the health human services aged care and disability sport & recreation and early childhood industries.

HumanAbilitys objective is to advance education by supporting skills and workforce development for the above specified industries. It is a values-based organisation that is not-for-profit industry-owned and led that is contracted by the federal government.

HumanAbility will achieve its objectives through:

• Implementation of the Jobs & Skills Councils Strengthening Australias National Vocational Education and Training System program or its replacement program and similar programs supported by governments and/or industry;
• Workforce planning activities that develop strategies to address workforce challenges using high-quality data and evidence on current and emerging skills needs (in collaboration with Jobs and Skills Australia) associated with a range of educational pathways including vocational education and training (VET) and higher education;
• Formal and informal training product development including resources aligned with standards set by Skills Ministers to improve the quality speed-to-market and responsiveness of nationally recognised training products;
• Contributions to the implementation promotion and monitoring of VET; and
• Industry stewardship to advance education by acting as a source of intelligence on issues affecting relevant industries and national training system opportunities.

For further information please see the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations factsheet on the role of JSCs in industry engagement reforms.

We have an opportunity for a Stakeholder Engagement & Policy Manager experienced in the Early Childhood Education sector to join us on a full-time basis in an ongoing capacity subject to funding (currently funded until mid-2028). The role may be located anywhere in Australia and will involve travel with overnight stays for organisation meetings stakeholder meetings workshops and industry events.

About the Position

As a Stakeholder Engagement and Policy Manager at HumanAbility you will play a vital role in fostering meaningful connections and collaboration within the care and support industries. Focusing on a specific industry/ies you will be responsible for strategic engagement policy development and industry stewardship opportunities. You will work with members of the HumanAbility team to maximise the impact and influence of our work.

Key Accountabilities

• Stakeholder Engagement: Strategic partnership with stakeholders to strengthen relationships and identify issues and opportunities. Serve as the primary point of contact for specific groups of stakeholders building rapport to understand their perspectives and work to achieve HumanAbilitys objectives. This includes organising and coordinating engagement activities ensuring a proactive approach to engagement across the designated industry and jurisdiction.
• Industry Insight: Maintain a deep understanding of the industries landscape trends challenges and opportunities ensuring that engagement efforts remain relevant and impactful. Demonstrate and continually develop sector expertise to influence successful outcomes.
• Policy Development: A strategic focus is policy development for the designated industry which includes writing analysing and contributing to the broader work of HumanAbility (i.e. Workforce Planning consultations and submissions contributing insights for Training Products reviews as appropriate).
• Engagement Facilitation: Facilitate forums workshops and meetings aimed at gathering data and industry intelligence from -person attendance and facilitation is required utilising expertise to manage a variety of viewpoints and synthesise quantative and qualitative information.
• Strategic Communications: Distill industry insight and key information for a variety of engagement pruposes including workshop design briefing notes speeches and presentations. Collaborate with colleagues to develop and implement effective communication strategies that resonate with stakeholders delivering relevant information.
• Project Engagement: Advise on consultation strategies and provide industry intelligence to guide research strategic workforce development and training product development projects to ensure industry stakeholders are actively engaged and driving our project work.
• Process Management: Implement structured processes for engagements ensuring fairness inclusivity and adherence to established guidelines.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with other Stakeholder Engagement and Policy Advisors internal teams and external partners to ensure consistent engagement strategies that align with HumanAbilitys mission.
• Systems and tools: Ensure stakeholder engagement activities are captured in the SRM and support continuous improvement of stakeholder relationship management system (SRM) ensuring the system meets business needs and captures vital stakeholder information. Provide advice on stakeholder engagement tools to capture analyse and disseminate stakeholder insights.
• Other: Observe and follow work health safety and wellbeing policies and guidelines.

Qualifications and Experience

• Demonstrated Industry/sector expertise or the ability to build this at pace.
• Proven experience in stakeholder engagement with a demonstrated ability to coordinate and foster collaborative relationships.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to align engagement activities and policy development with overarching organisational goals.
• Demonstrated high quality communication skills both written and verbal with the ability to adapt messaging for various stakeholders.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail capable of managing multiple tasks and deadlines effectively.
• Facilitation expertise including the ability to manage diverse perspectives.
• Cross-functional collaboration skills able to work effectively within a team and liaise with various internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and prioritise tasks in a dynamic environment

Other Information

There may be times when it is required to work outside normal business hours i.e. evenings and weekends to meet operational and/or stakeholder requirements and dependant on work deliverables the role may be required to undertake travel.

We work according to a hybrid working environment. Your initial location of work is from your home with the expectation to attend in person the organisational meetings office days or equivalent as requested.

Interested

We encourage you to apply even if you dont meet every single criterion. We value diverse experiences and perspectives and your unique skills could be a great fit for our team.

We work according to a hybrid working environment. Your initial location of work is from your home with the expectation to attend in person the organisational meetings office days or equivalent as requested.

Click on Apply button to submit your cover letter and cv. Applications will be reviewed as they are received we encourage you to apply without delay. If you have any questions about this role please contact our P&C team confidentially on