Director of Engagement

About this Role

Are you an experienced community sector leader who knows how to build strong teams, foster meaningful engagement and create opportunities for people to work together to achieve lasting change?

Youth Action is looking for a Director of Engagement to lead our engagement strategy and help shape how we connect with young people, members, partners and the NSW youth sector. As a member of the senior leadership team, you will lead a diverse portfolio spanning youth participation, membership, funded programs and sector relationships, ensuring our engagement is purposeful, influential and delivers lasting impact.

This is an opportunity for someone who thrives on connecting strategy with action. You will guide and support a multidisciplinary team, build trusted relationships with government, funders, members and sector leaders, and use insights from engagement to inform Youth Action's advocacy, organisational priorities and future direction.

This is your chance to:

• Lead a high-performing team delivering engagement-focused programs and initiatives across NSW.
• Build trusted relationships with young people, members, government, funders and strategic partners.
• Shape how Youth Action engages with the youth sector to strengthen collaboration, participation and collective action.
• Contribute to Youth Action's strategic leadership and long-term impact.

Working closely with the CEO and Director of Development and Impact, you will represent Youth Action in key forums, contribute to organisational strategy and help ensure Youth Action remains a trusted and influential voice for young people and the youth sector in NSW.

Position Purpose

The Director of Engagement is a senior leader responsible for strengthening Youth Action's engagement with young people, members and the NSW youth sector. The role embeds meaningful youth participation across the organisation, builds sector capability and collective action, and ensures young people's voices, expertise and leadership shape our engagement, advocacy and sector development. 

The role provides strategic oversight of engagement-focused programs, supporting high-quality delivery while translating learning from practice into stronger advocacy, sector capability and organisational improvement.

This role contributes to Youth Action’s strategic objectives:

• Ensure young people influence decisions: Strengthen opportunities for young people to shape decisions, systems and policies that affect their lives.
• Shift community narratives: Connect engagement and youth participation with communications and advocacy to strengthen public understanding and influence.
• Build the sector’s collective strength: Strengthen connection, capability, collaboration and collective action across the NSW youth sector.
• Build a strong, accountable and independent organisation: Contribute to distributed leadership, effective people management and sustainable delivery.

Key Performance Areas

Youth Participation

• Create opportunities for an increasing number of young people to join Youth Action.
• Develop the confidence and skills of young people to participate in policy advocacy and the processes that inform the decisions that affect their lives.
• Actively look for new ways for young people to connect with each other, build purposeful relationships and take action on the shared interests, priorities and values.
  

Sector Engagement and Capability

• Grow and strengthen Youth Action’s membership by attracting youth work professionals, youth organisations and young people from across NSW.
• Help develop a sector-wide commitment to youth participation and relational action.
• Translate emerging sector needs, practice wisdom and learning from funded programs into training, resources, Communities of Practice, advocacy and other initiatives that strengthen the youth sector.
• Develop the confidence and skills of members to participate in policy advocacy that responds to their own needs as well as those the young people we all serve have identified as priorities.
• Actively look for new ways for members to connect with each other, develop purposeful relationships and take action on shared interests, priorities and values.

Planning & Delivery

• Develop operational plans to implement Youth Action’s strategic plan.
• Support all staff to ensure Youth Action is oriented towards youth participation.
• Participate in making, revising and improving the Youth Action Strategic Plan.
• Help identify program opportunities and risks and recommend measures to ensure Youth Action is responsive to its operating environment.
• Accountable for the delivery of commitments made in funding agreements, including oversight of workplans.
• Identify emerging trends, practice insights and opportunities from program delivery, stakeholder engagement and sector relationships, and use these to inform organisational planning, advocacy priorities, sector development and future initiatives.

Team Leadership

• Direct the day-to-day activities of team members and take responsibility for day-to-day supervisory issues within the team including leave approvals, compliance with policies and being first point of contact for staff issues.
• Coach, mentor and inspire staff to achieve high performance in their areas of responsibility.
• Support staff to deliver funded programs to a high standard, ensuring contractual commitments, outcomes and reporting requirements are met.
• Facilitate quality communication and coordination between team members and with other Youth Action staff.
• Create & maintain systems, support, focus and accountability for team members to meet their work plan objectives and do their best work.

Organisational Leadership

• Participate as a member of the senior leadership team, contributing insights from engagement, program delivery and sector relationships to organisational strategy, planning and decision-making.
• Help foster a relational, inclusive and impact-oriented organisational culture within Youth Action.
• Support the CEO as required, including representing the CEO and Youth Action in external forums and acting as the CEO’s proxy when delegated to do so.
• Use learning, evidence and emerging issues from program delivery to identify opportunities to strengthen Youth Action's advocacy, training, resources and sector development activities.
• Produce high quality reports for the Youth Action board, funders and other bodies as required.

Skills & Experience Required

• Significant experience in the community service sector, youth work, community development, community organising or social movements.
• A strong track record of designing and facilitating meaningful participation, strengthening collective action and supporting communities or sectors to influence decisions that affect them.
• Demonstrated ability to lead high performing teams, cultivate cultures of accountability and continuous improvement that draw out and grow the talents of team members.
• Strong commitment to relational practice, with the ability to build trust, navigate difficult relationships and manage conflict constructively to achieve meaningful outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships and partnerships across government, funding bodies, community organisations and people with lived experience, and translate stakeholder insights into advocacy, sector development and organisational improvement.
• Strong project and operational management skills, including leading teams to deliver funded programs, meeting contractual obligations and managing competing priorities.
• Strong public speaking, facilitation and communication skills, with the ability to engage diverse audiences and represent an organisation with credibility.
• Relevant tertiary qualifications in social work, youth work, community development, social sciences or a related field, or equivalent substantial professional experience.
• Sound judgement and the ability to effectively navigate complexity, ambiguity and competing priorities.
• A current Working with Children Check and National Police Check, or willingness to obtain both. 

Highly Desirable

• Strong knowledge of the NSW youth sector, including its service system, workforce and networks.
• Experience in community organising, movement building, network development or collective impact approaches.
• Experience leading major conferences, forums or complex multi-stakeholder events.
• Experience in grant management and preparing high-quality narrative reports for funding bodies or partners.
• Experience working within a peak body, membership, advocacy or statewide community organisation.

Working at Youth Action 

Youth Action is the peak organisation representing young people and the services that support them in NSW. We have represented young people and the Youth Sector for over 30 years and are supported by over 150 Member organisations. 

We have a safe, progressive, and equitable culture. We encourage all to apply, including LGBTIQA+, First Nations people, people with disability, and those from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. 

You will be part of a team that values learning, collaboration, accountability and purpose-driven work. We support professional development and progression, and all staff have access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), four weeks of annual leave and additional end-of-year leave. 

Contact 

Please send any queries to our General Manager at recruitment@youthaction.org.au using the subject line: Director of Engagement enquiry via EthicalJobs.

next steps

To submit your application, please click ‘Apply Now’ by the closing date.

A position description is attached.