Area Manager

Connect, Learn & Grow with Aspire Early Education & Kindergarten

At Aspire Early Education & Kindergarten, we are passionate about creating exceptional early learning environments where children, families and educators thrive.

Since opening our first service in 2017, Aspire has grown to 45 early learning centres across Victoria, Western Australia and the ACT, with an exciting pipeline of future growth. As one of Australia's fastest growing early education providers, we are committed to delivering high quality education and care while developing exceptional leaders.

We are seeking an experienced and passionate Area Manager to join our Victorian Operations team, supporting a portfolio of centres across Melbourne's Western suburbs, Regional Melbourne and Bendigo, VIC.

Regular travel across the portfolio will be an important part of this position.

The Opportunity
As an Area Manager, you will provide operational leadership across multiple early learning services, partnering closely with Centre Managers to drive quality, compliance, team engagement and commercial success.

This is an exciting opportunity to work across both established and growing services, coaching leaders, building high performing teams and ensuring every centre delivers exceptional outcomes for children, families and educators.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and support a portfolio of early learning centres across Melbourne's Western suburbs, Regional Melbourne and Bendigo.
• Coach, mentor and develop Centre Managers to achieve operational excellence.
• Drive occupancy growth and build strong community partnerships.
• Monitor financial performance, staffing and operational targets.
• Ensure compliance with the National Quality Framework, National Regulations and Education and Care Services National Law.
• Support Centre Managers to build engaged, high performing teams and positive workplace cultures.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition to attract, recruit and retain exceptional educators and leaders.
• Work collaboratively with internal departments including People & Talent, Marketing, Property and Finance.
• Support new centre openings and centre transitions as required.
• Drive continuous improvement and quality outcomes across your portfolio.
• Travel regularly between centres across Western Melbourne, Regional Victoria and Bendigo, as well as Aspire's South Yarra Support Office.

About You

You are an experienced operational leader who is passionate about developing people, driving performance and creating exceptional early learning environments.
You will bring:
• Previous experience as an Area Manager or experienced multi site Centre Manager within Early Childhood Education.
• Demonstrated success leading multiple childcare services and developing Centre Managers.
• Strong knowledge of the National Quality Framework, National Regulations and Education and Care Services National Law.
• Proven ability to coach, mentor and inspire high performing leadership teams.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience managing occupancy, staffing, budgets and financial performance.
• Excellent communication, relationship building and stakeholder management skills.
• Outstanding organisational and time management skills.
• Flexibility and willingness to travel regularly across Melbourne's Western suburbs, Regional Victoria and Bendigo.
• Current Working with Children Check.
• Current Driver Licence.
• Relevant Early Childhood qualification.

Why Aspire?
At Aspire, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We invest in our leaders and provide genuine opportunities to grow your career within a rapidly expanding organisation.
We offer:
• Company vehicle and phone.
• Attractive salary package with performance incentives.
• Paid Birthday Leave.
• Employee Assistance Program available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• 50% childcare gap fee discount at Aspire centres.
• Ongoing professional development and leadership training.
• Career progression within one of Australia's fastest growing early education providers.
• The opportunity to make a meaningful impact across a diverse portfolio of metropolitan and regional services.

Join Aspire
If you are an experienced operational leader looking to take the next step in your career with a growing organisation, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply now and become part of Aspire's exciting journey as we continue to grow and shape the future of early childhood education.

Our Commitment Aspire Early Education & Kindergarten is committed to providing a child safe environment where children are protected and feel safe, valued and empowered.

We embrace diversity and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all cultures, backgrounds and experiences, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels respected, supported and empowered to succeed.