AddressAbout the Role
We are seeking a Chief Safety Officer (CSO) to oversee all aspects of operational safety, health, wellbeing and safeguarding. The Chief Safety Officer is a pivotal role overseeing Goodstart’s extensive network of over 650 Early Learning Centres, and Centre Support teams, ensuring the health safety and wellbeing of every child in our care and Goodstarter in our organisation.
As a key member of Goodstart’s Operations leadership team, the role reports to our Chief Operations Officer (COO), partnering also with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and with the Goodstart Safety Health and Wellbeing Board Committee.
This role presents an exciting opportunity to lead and inspire geographically dispersed early learning centre teams and service professionals across Australia to meet their safety, health, wellbeing, and safeguarding responsibility to our children and families, and similarly to themselves and their colleagues.
This position represents a dynamic and influential opportunity for an executive leader to contribute significantly to our organisational excellence and commitment to safety.
This role is based in our Brisbane Centre Support Office however we will consider exceptional candidates located elsewhere.
About Us
We’re Goodstart – a not-for-profit with a vision for Australia’s children to have the best possible start in life.
We are Australia’s largest provider of early learning and care with nearly 16,000 “Goodstarter” team members across more than 650 centres nurturing over 60,000 children. We are all about laying the foundation for better lives through amazing early learning experiences and we know that we can’t achieve that without great people!
We exist purely to improve the lives of Australia's children and their families. From our centre teams to our support teams, we work together to make a real difference for children in those crucial early years. We recognise that each Centre, community, family and child are different and it’s only in our Centres that the best decisions for each child and family can be made.
Looking ahead, Goodstart is determined to lead in innovative teaching and inclusion practices, adapting to the evolving needs of children, families, and our workforce. Our ambitious strategy and goals involve embracing flexibility, fostering a sense of belonging, realising human potential, and leveraging our scale to create positive impacts within Goodstart, the ECEC sector and the community.
Safety and Reconciliation are present in who we are and what we do.
Our safety commitment is a shared understanding that “Safety starts with each of us – but at Goodstart it is more than that – Empowering all children and Goodstarters to feel safe and be safe is who we are and what we do. Safety is part of being a Goodstarter.”
About You
- Our ideal candidate will strong technical expertise with exceptional leadership qualities. Skills and experience we are looking for include:
- Demonstrated deep experience in safety principles, regulation, and best practice, across a complex, large, distributed network.
- Proven experience in developing and implementing safety management systems in dynamic fast paced environments.
- Proficiency in conducting comprehensive risk assessments and building enterprise risk assessment systems.
- Demonstrated skills and experience in crisis management and critical incidents review processes.
- Strong leadership skills to motivate and engage a team of safety professionals, with influencing a broader organisational strategy.
- Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, ranging from Board-facing engagement and influencing skills as well as engaging throughout the organisation at all levels.
- Demonstrated critical and strategic thinking, time management, communication, and multi-tasking skills.
We have a strong preference for experience within highly regulated sectors (ideally within Human Services); and experience in safeguarding or safeguarding related responsibilities and leadership.
Key Responsibilities:
- You will lead the centralised Safety Health Wellbeing and Safeguarding team to support, challenge and improve safety performance across our network.
- You will develop enterprise-wide safety standards and strategies, and, importantly, develop and champion the organisation’s safety culture.
- You will develop, implement, and embed Goodstart safety, health, wellbeing and safeguarding strategy and improvement plans.
- You will work closely with the Head of Risk and Assurance to assess risk and manage significant events and major incidents.
- You will lead and oversee our enterprise-wide network of Safety Champions and safety governance committees.
To apply:
If this sounds like you, please apply by submitting your CV together with a cover letter outlining how your skills and experience align to this incredible change making opportunity. To obtain a copy of the Position Description, or for confidential enquiries about the role, please contact *********@goodstart.org.au.
Applications close 5pm on Friday 24 May 2024.
Please note that we are not currently seeking outreach from recruitment agencies.
