Senior Business Partner, People & Culture

Senior Business Partner, Organisational Development & Culture 

Plan International Australia | Permanent, Full-Time | Melbourne | Hybrid Working | SCHADS Level 6 

Who are we?

We are the world’s leading organisation dedicated to girls’ equality. And we’re evolving. 

At Plan International Australia, we believe that when you invest in girls, everything changes – their families, communities and entire nations rise. For decades, we’ve worked to tackle the root causes of inequality, support communities through crisis, and shift money, power and influence toward girls and the local organisations closest to them. 

Now, we’re stepping into a bold new chapter. Our Girls Rise strategy is transforming Plan International Australia from a place-based program implementer into a bridge builder – mobilising evidence, influence and investment so locally-led organisations can drive change for girls at scale. We’re building a strategic flywheel where thought leadership, advocacy and resource mobilisation reinforce each other, creating compounding impact for girls worldwide. 

A bridge doesn’t carry itself – it carries others. And the people who build that bridge matter enormously. 

That’s where you come in. 

The Opportunity 

We’re looking for a Senior Business Partner, People & Culture to join our team, reporting directly to our Chief Operating Officer. 

This is a senior people leadership role at the heart of our transformation. You won’t sit on the sidelines of our strategy – you’ll be the person who ensures our people practices, capability and connected ways of working actually make it real. 

Our new structure is built around four portfolios, not departments – Engagement, Impact, Fundraising and Operations – designed to keep our work facing outward, toward the girls and communities we exist to serve. Every join in our flywheel depends on people working across boundaries, sharing power, and holding each other accountable to shared goals. 

Your role is to make that way of working stick. 

You’ll be the senior partner to the COO and Executive on organisational development – designing and embedding the coaching, performance and collaboration practices that turn strategy into how we actually work, day to day. You’ll own our people policy framework, provide expert advice on employment matters, and coach managers across the organisation to lead with confidence, clarity and care. 

By strengthening how our teams connect, how our people grow, and how we hold each other accountable, you’ll free colleagues across Plan International Australia to focus on the influence, investment and impact that changes girls’ lives. 

What You’ll Do 

Coach and build manager capability 

• Provide expert coaching to people managers across the organisation — building their confidence to lead teams, hold accountability, have courageous conversations, and develop their people. 
• Partner with the COO and Executive on senior leadership matters, offering trusted, discreet advice on team dynamics, capability and people risk. 
• Coordinate external consultants engaged for leadership development and culture programs, ensuring they connect meaningfully with our context and reinforce our ways of working. 
• Support managers to apply feminist leadership principles in practice — shared power, care, clarity and accountability. 

Own performance and development 

• Design, implement and continuously improve our performance review process — ensuring it is fair, useful, aligned to strategy and free of bias. 
• Drive an uplift in the quality of performance conversations across the organisation, including goal setting, feedback and development planning. 
• Partner with managers to embed a clear, shared performance management system aligned with our strategic goals. 

Design connected ways of working 

• Shape and embed the collaboration practices, team rhythms and cross-portfolio connections that make our flywheel turn. 
• Hold and strengthen the key organisational joins — ensuring handoffs are clean, contributions are timely, and colleagues experience you as a strong and generous connector. 

Steward people policy and employee relations 

• Own Plan International Australia’s people policy framework, including drafting, consultation and implementation. 
• Provide sound, considered advice on complex employee relations matters with judgment and discretion. 
• Interpret people data and translate it into insight for decision-makers. 

Champion safeguarding, gender equality and inclusion 

• Ensure safeguarding requirements are embedded in recruitment, onboarding and people policies. 
• Apply gender-responsive, inclusive and anti-racist practice across all people processes. 
• Model and hold others accountable for safeguarding and GEDSI standards in leadership behaviour. 

What You’ll Bring 

Skills and experience 

• A degree in Human Resources, Organisational Development or equivalent, and substantial experience in a senior HR, OD or people partnering role. 
• Deep working knowledge of the Fair Work Act, National Employment Standards and modern awards (SCHADS award experience highly regarded). 
• Proven experience coaching managers and senior leaders — with the credibility and judgment to challenge and support in equal measure. 
• Demonstrated experience designing performance review and development processes that are fair, useful and strategy-aligned. 
• A track record of designing and embedding new ways of working, team rhythms or collaboration practices at an organisational level. 
• Experience advising on complex employee relations matters with sound judgment and discretion. 
• Skill in interpreting people data and translating it into actionable insight. 
• Experience leading or supervising others, and coordinating external consultants or specialist providers. 

Connection and collaboration 

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across team boundaries and join up work between functions. 
• Experience holding shared accountabilities and managing handoffs between teams. 
• Openness to using AI and new technology responsibly and ethically to help us work smarter and deliver greater impact for girls. 

Mindset 

• You share power naturally and seek out the strengths of others. 
• You model feminist leadership — not as a slogan, but as a daily practice of care, clarity, accountability and shared decision-making. 
• You are committed to shifting power and resources toward girls and local partners. 
• You hold confidentiality and handle sensitive information with the seriousness it demands. 

What It Feels Like to Work Here 

• You will get up each day knowing your work helps create justice and equality for girls. 
• Hybrid working: We do some of our work in the office and some at home – and honour true flexibility. 
• You’ll find strength in our diversity, inclusiveness and mutual respect. 
• Salary packaging: up to $15,900 in pre-tax salary packaging plus $2,650 meals and entertainment packaging, increasing your take-home pay 
• You’ll be part of a bold strategic shift – helping build an organisation that is smarter and more impactful. 
• Access to wellbeing support and EAP. 
• Connection: regular team events, offsites, and active staff-led communities including our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Working Group, Reconciliation Action Plan Group, Pride Network Committee and Social Committee 

How to apply? 

If you’re a senior people and OD professional who wants to use your expertise in service of girls’ equality – and you’re energised by the challenge of helping an organisation transform how it works, not just what it does – we’d love to hear from you. 

Review the position description and apply now by submitting your CV and a cover letter that tells us how your experience in organisational development and people capability would support our bridge-builder strategy.    We’ll be reviewing applications and conducting interviews on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. We don’t want to miss connecting with the right person. 

Plan International Australia is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and identities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and LGBTIQ+ individuals are encouraged to apply.

Safeguarding, Gender Equality & Inclusion 

Plan International believes that in a world where children and program participants face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we do everything we can to keep children and program participants safe. As part of our efforts to create safe environments for children and program participants, candidates will be required to complete a satisfactory National police Check, sign our Safeguarding policies and code of conduct, and where necessary complete a Working with Children Check.