Social Worker

Sonder is an Australian-founded employee care platform that gives organisations a single place to support their people’s health, mental wellbeing, and personal safety. Rather than routing employees through fragmented services. Sonder unifies medical advice, mental health support, and safety assistance in one 24/7 mobile app. Employees access the platform directly from their phone. When they reach out, they are connected to real clinicians, nurses, psychologists, and social workers via live chat or phone, typically within 30 seconds. The platform is available around the clock, every day of the year.

Sonder is headquartered in Sydney and also operates in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It is the first technology company to have achieved accreditation from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), placing it alongside leading hospitals and healthcare institutions in Australia and globally.

An Exciting Time to Join Sonder!

Since our founding in 2017, Sonder has experienced rapid growth, expanding operations across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Backed by Australia’s leading venture capital firms, Seek and Blackbird, we are well-capitalised and on a mission to scale globally, partnering with corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies to transform workplace wellbeing at scale.
That ambition extends to how we run the business. Sonder is actively building toward an AI-native organisation, where automation and intelligent tooling are embedded into how every function operates.

Our impact and scale:
●         1,000,000+ members across multiple countries
●         250+ team members, plus an extensive network of on-the-ground responders

If you’re passionate about using technology and human expertise to drive meaningful change, join us in shaping the future of workplace wellbeing!

Our Company Values
●         We focus on impact
●         We choose action over perfection
●         We navigate the minefields
●         We deliver a four-quarter effort
●         We are on the journey together

Join Sonder’s mission to deliver timely and effective global support, and contribute to empowering people to be at their best.

About the role

The Social Worker delivers brief, short-term clinical social work to Sonder Members in Australia whose wellbeing is significantly affected by social, systemic, or practical issues. The role focuses on stabilisation, safety planning, and linkage to external services rather than long-term case management.

Core presentations include domestic and family violence (DFV), child protection, homelessness, financial crisis, family and relationship issues, grief and bereavement, supportive counselling, and complex psychosocial presentations. All practice is delivered through a trauma-informed lens.

Clinical decisions, scope of practice, and Model of Care matters are owned by the Senior Social Worker. The Social Worker works in close partnership with the Senior Social Worker on any matter that crosses into specialist clinical or governance territory.

What you’ll be doing

• Direct clinical practice: Psychosocial assessment, DFV risk assessment and safety planning, brief solution-focused intervention. Sessions are 55 minutes, delivered by video or phone, up to 4 sessions per referral with documented extension pathway where clinically warranted. Linkage to external services and community resources.
• Mandatory reporting and child protection: Apply jurisdiction-specific decision frameworks. Lodge statutory reports where threshold is met. Document threshold reasoning and outcomes per Sonder template.
• Team practice and supervision: Work under the clinical leadership and supervision of the Senior Social Worker. Participate in social work team forums, Multidisciplinary Team Meeting (MDT), Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioner Team (MH&WPT) forum, case reviews, and quality assurance. Contribute to team education when required.
• Cross-team clinical consultation: Provide demand-driven, in-the-moment clinical consultation to Care Specialist, Nursing, and Response Network teams on social presentations, mandatory reporting decisions, DFV cases, and acute risk escalation. Ad-hoc, not a scheduled caseload.

Who are we looking for?

The ideal candidate has a growth mindset and is passionate, self-motivated, and takes pride in producing high-quality work every day. Above all else, you - the ideal candidate - will embody the Sonder values and love working in a fast-paced, dynamic workplace.

What you bring to the team;

• Clinical Practice: Trauma-informed psychosocial assessment, intervention, and safety planning across DFV, child protection, and complex psychosocial presentations.
• Risk Identification and Escalation: Capacity to assess dynamic and evolving risk, and safely escalate acute or imminent risk to mental health, medical, or emergency services.
• Effective Communication: Highly developed verbal and written communication, including clinical documentation that meets best practice and governance standards.
• Time Management: Highly organised, able to prioritise caseload and manage competing demands in a fast-paced environment.
• Technical Proficiency: Confidence with telehealth clinical delivery, multiple software platforms, and electronic clinical documentation.
• Collaborative Practice: Effective in multidisciplinary settings, with active engagement in clinical supervision, critical reflection, and team learning.
• Cultural Responsiveness: Affirming and responsive practice across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, CALD, LGBTQI+, and disability-affirmative contexts.

Essential Criteria

• AASW-accredited tertiary qualification in social work, with current eligibility for membership of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW).
• Demonstrated experience in psychosocial assessment, brief intervention, DFV risk assessment, safety planning, and intervention.
• Demonstrated experience in child protection assessment, threshold decision-making, statutory reporting, and engagement with Child Protection Services.
• Demonstrated ability to identify, assess, and safely escalate acute risk to self or others (including suicidality, self-harm, and homicidal ideation), and to assess dynamic and evolving risk presentations. This is a risk identification and escalation role, not a primary mental health clinical role.
• Working knowledge of recognised DFV risk assessment frameworks: MARAM (Vic), DVSAT (NSW), and equivalent jurisdictional frameworks. Capacity to apply Sonder's unified approach.
• Working knowledge of mandatory reporting and child protection thresholds in own Australian jurisdiction, with capacity and willingness to extend to other Australian jurisdictions using Sonder's internal frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate community services in own jurisdiction with capacity to extend nationally using Sonder's resource library.
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously while contributing effectively to a multidisciplinary team.
• Desirable: experience in homelessness, financial counselling adjacent practice, grief and bereavement, supportive counselling, and complex psychosocial presentations.
• Desirable: experience delivering social work in a fully digital or telehealth environment.

Why join Sonder?

At Sonder, we thrive in a fast-paced, high-performance environment with a strong commitment to our people. Our team is a collaborative, vibrant group of passionate professionals, dedicated to making a real impact on people’s lives every day.

• Hybrid and flexible working environment. Enjoy the perfect balance of in-office collaboration and work from home flexibility, empowering you to optimise your productivity and work-life balance.
• Gain free access to the Sonder app for you and your family, offering 24/7 on-demand support for health, wellbeing, and safety.
• $1000 annual contribution as part of your development plan + 2 days of study leave
• Paid parental leave with an attractive return to work policy, 12 weeks for Primary Carers and 4 weeks for Secondary Carers, plus our Primary Carers return to work at 80% for the first 3 months at full pay.
• Participate in our Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP) for you to be a part of Sonder’s success. 
• Salary packaging novated leasing.
• ​​Access $250 annually to fund to invest in your wellbeing, empowering you to choose the support that best fits your needs.
• Free coffee on Tuesdays and catered lunch on Thursdays.
• Team social fund to connect with your team, plus monthly company wide social events. 
• Dog-friendly office. 
• Volunteer leave. 2 days per year to participate in meaningful causes and contribute back to the community.

Check out our life page for more info - https://www.linkedin.com/company/sondersafe/life/

Sonder is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace for everyone. We offer equal opportunities to all, regardless of race, gender, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or any protected status. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and join us in fostering a respectful and empowering environment.

Due to the nature of our industry, all Sonder employees are required to complete a National Police Check and WWCC

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