Helpline Services Manager

Helpline Services Manager 

1.0 FTE | Ongoing | Remote | SCHADS Level 8 ($68.49 Hourly)

We’re looking for someone who leads people with heart, makes confident operational decisions, and creates the conditions for exceptional care to thrive. 

This is a significant leadership opportunity for someone who believes outstanding mental health services are built through strong people, safe practice, thoughtful systems and genuine collaboration. 

You’ll lead a multidisciplinary workforce of clinical, peer and volunteer practitioners, ensuring our national helpline remains responsive, high quality and deeply person-centred. You’ll be as comfortable supporting your people through complexity, as you are using data to guide operational decisions, and partnering across PANDA to continuously strengthen how we deliver care. 

If you’re an experienced operational leader who can balance strategy with day-to-day service delivery and build a culture where people feel supported to do their very best work, we’d love to meet you. 

About us 

PANDA is a values-driven, national mental health organisation committed to supporting families through the perinatal period. For over 40 years, everything we do has been shaped by lived experience, practice expertise and evidence. 

Our work is grounded in lived experience, compassion and continuous improvement 

Who you are 

You’re a calm, authentic and emotionally intelligent leader who enjoys bringing out the best in others. 

You understand great service delivery is built through trust, coaching, accountability and strong operational leadership. You enjoy solving complex problems, working collaboratively across disciplines and continually improving how services operate. 

You bring: 

• Significant leadership experience within mental health, health or community services 
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams through complexity and change 
• Confidence managing operational performance, workforce planning and service delivery 
• Strong judgement when responding to risk, escalations and complex situations 
• Experience using service data and workforce insights to drive practical improvements 
• The ability to build trusted relationships across all levels of an organisation 
• A collaborative leadership style that balances accountability with genuine care 
• Alignment with our values and commitment to improving outcomes for families 

About the Role 

As our Helpline Services Manager, you’ll lead the delivery of our national digital helpline services, ensuring they remain safe, responsive, accessible and aligned with our Model of Care, Practice Governance Framework and Lived Experience Framework. 

You’ll provide leadership across a multidisciplinary workforce of clinical practitioners, peer practitioners, senior practitioners and volunteers, partnering closely with Digital Capability, Quality, People, Safety & Compliance and other organisational leaders. 

This role combines operational leadership, workforce planning, practice quality, governance and continuous improvement, ensuring every decision contributes to better outcomes for callers and a sustainable, high-performing workforce. 

Your impact 

• Lead the day-to-day operation of a national digital helpline service 
• Build and support a high-performing multidisciplinary workforce 
• Lead workforce planning, forecasting and service capacity management 
• Strengthen practice quality, governance and safe service delivery 
• Support operational responses to complex presentations, escalations and critical incidents 
• Use service data, workforce insights and quality findings to drive continuous improvement 
• Partner across the organisation to improve systems, workflows and service performance 
• Represent Service Delivery in organisational projects, committees and sector partnerships 

What You Bring (Essential) 

• Significant operational or service leadership experience within mental health, health, community services or a related sector 
• Tertiary qualifications and at least seven years’ experience in mental health, psychology, counselling, social work, peer work, health, leadership or a related discipline 
• Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams 
• Strong workforce planning, operational management and service delivery capability 
• Experience leading quality improvement and managing risk within service environments 
• Experience using service performance data to inform operational decisions 
• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship-building skills 
• Experience working within digital service environments and using reporting systems 
• Experience contributing to contract performance, service planning or operational reporting 
• Strong alignment with PANDA’s values 
• To support effective remote work, you’ll need a reliable internet connection with minimum speeds of 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. 

Desirable 

• Experience in perinatal mental health, crisis support or digital mental health services 
• Experience working within the not-for-profit sector 
• Experience supporting lived experience practice, co-design or service innovation 

What’s in it for you 

• Lead a national multidisciplinary mental health service 
• Influence how care is delivered to families across Australia 
• Work alongside passionate, values-driven professionals 
• Flexible remote working 
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) 
• NFP salary packaging & Portable Long Service Leave 
• Learning and development opportunities 
• A collaborative culture that genuinely values people, quality and continuous improvement 

Applications close: 5pm, Wednesday 19th August 2026.

Want to know more about us? 

Check out what we do and how we work: 

Website: www.panda.org.au

LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/company/post-and-antenatal-depression-association

Inclusion matters 

We strongly encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, dads, young parents, people in rural or regional areas, people with disability, and LGBTIQA+ communities. 

We encourage you to reach out if you require any adjustments or assistance during the recruitment process to ensure you have every opportunity to showcase your talent, skills and potential. Please contact us if you need any adjustments to our application and recruitment process. 

Interested? 

If this role feels aligned with your strengths, leadership style and passion for building exceptional services, hit apply. We’ll be reviewing applications soon and connecting with candidates who look like a great fit. 

We look forward to meeting you. 

As a not-for-profit organisation working with limited resources, we genuinely appreciate the time and care involved in every application. Please apply through SEEK, as applications received through other channels cannot be considered. Unfortunately, we’re unable to respond to every applicant individually. Applications will be carefully reviewed, and shortlisted candidates will be contacted.  

Thank you for considering joining our team and contributing to our purpose.