Associate Director, South West

About this role

• Full time ongoing position (part-time applications considered)
• Salary range: $157,341 - $180,991 (pro rata) plus super plus salary packaging
• Up to $15,900 in salary packaging and hybrid WFH & office model
• Flexible location: Ballarat, Sunshine or Geelong

About the role
Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) is seeking an experienced Associate Director (AD), North to lead and shape legal services across South West Victoria. You'll oversee service delivery in both suburban and outer regional areas, ensuring services effectively meet the diverse needs of communities in South West region.

As the AD, South West, you will lead a regional leadership team, managing Regional Managers and the Operations Manager, South West, to deliver high-quality services across suburban, regional, and remote communities. You will support coordinated service delivery within a mixed model, involving staff practice, private practitioners, and community legal centres, with a focus on building strong relationships and addressing local service gaps.

This role requires a flexible thinker who can adapt to changing demands and a problem solver who can identify and implement innovative solutions. You will need strong management capability to lead high performing teams and maintain high standards of service across multiple sites. 

This role can be based at one of our regional offices in Ballarat or Geelong on (Wathaurung Country), or Sunshine on (Wurundjeri Country).

About you
As our ideal candidate, you will bring:

• Proven leadership experience in the public or legal sector, with the ability to develop strategic priorities, add value to a large organisation and contribute to a highly collaborative and effective regional leadership team.
• Demonstrated management experience, including leading high-performing teams, managing budgets, evaluating services, identifying trends and assessing risks.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with the ability to balance competing demands. influence senior decision-makers and champion the needs of regional communities.
• Excellent communication skills, including information sharing to support collective problem resolution and decision making.
• A commitment to inclusion, with an understanding of First Nations Australians' cultural norms, communication styles, and challenges.
• A current Australian practising certificate which entitles you to practise in Victoria as a government legal practitioner (mandatory).
• Tertiary qualification in law, public policy or a related field or equivalent relevant experience where appropriate (mandatory)
• Strong understanding of the legal assistance sector and/or issues and key challenges affecting access to justice for outer-suburban or regional communities (mandatory)

Don't meet every requirement? At VLA, we understand that your work and life experiences can be just as valuable. If you're excited about this role but your CV doesn't align perfectly with our job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or one of our many other opportunities.

About Victoria Legal Aid
We provide legal representation to those who need it most. With over 1300 staff employed in 16 offices across Victoria, we help people with their legal problems by providing information, advice and education with a focus on the prevention and early resolution of legal problems.

Our clients come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds and foster a work culture that's inclusive as well as diverse. Your unique ideas and perspectives are valued so that we best represent the people we serve.

Employee benefits

• Focus on work-life balance including flexible working arrangements
• Hybrid work from home & office model
• Training and professional development opportunities
• Excellent salary packaging options including General Expenses up to $15,900, Meals & Entertainment up to $2,650 and Novated Leasing
• Access to discounted Private Health Insurance

How to apply
To be considered for this role, please submit your current resume and a candidate application form (listed within the file attachments).

If you require adjustments to the recruitment and selection process or need an alternative format to any of the application material, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our team.

For further information, please review the attached position description or contact Peter Noble, Executive Director, Regions and Service Delivery on recruitment@vla.vic.gov.au.

No agency applications will be accepted.

Applications close by 11.59pm on Monday 11 March 2025.

Other relevant information
It is a requirement that staff attend for office-based days at their primary work location. In line with this requirement, interstate applications will be considered only where the candidate is able and willing to relocate to Victoria, unless part of a border community.

VLA is committed to putting the safety and wellbeing of children first.