Area Director

Friendsofkerhonkson; Newcastle City Council; Hybrid; AUD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company vehicle

Mobile phone provided

Childcare discounts

Professional development

Employee assistance program

Job summary

Busy Bees NSW – Central Coast & Hunter Region is seeking an Area Director to lead nine early learning centres with a focus on quality, safety, and financial sustainability. You will coach Centre Directors, drive occupancy and budgets, and partner with central teams to shape governance and culture.

The role requires commercial capability, senior leadership experience in a regulated environment, and a genuine commitment to child safety and wellbeing.

Qualifications

• Experience leading multiple centres within early learning or a regulated environment.
• Strong budgeting, forecasting and occupancy management capabilities.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach a portfolio of nine centres to deliver high-quality, compliant and financially sustainable services.
• Drive occupancy, workforce, budgets and key business metrics.
• Embed governance and child safety practices.
• Develop Centre Director teams through coaching and performance management.
• Partner with People & Culture and central support teams to drive capability and culture.
• Build strong community and stakeholder relationships to support growth and enrolments.

Skills

Multi-site leadership

Stakeholder management

People & culture collaboration

Commercial capability

Coaching & development

Regulated environment experience

Education

Bachelor’s or higher in Early Childhood / Education / Business or related

Job description

Area Director | NSW – Central Coast & Hunter RegionBusy Bees is a leading global early learning provider, offering high-quality education in nurturing, purpose-built centres where leaders are supported to grow, lead and make a real difference in children’s lives, with over 130 centres across Australia and around 3,000 employees.Our Bee Safe Commitment: Child safety is at the heart of everything we do and is embedded in our people, places and processes. Help us give every child the Best Start in Life.We’re seeking an experienced and commercially minded Area Director to lead a portfolio of early learning centres across the Newcastle and Central Coast region of NSW . This is a senior leadership role with real autonomy and influence, driving quality, compliance, people and performance while developing strong Centre Director teams.What you’ll doLead, coach and support a portfolio of 9 Centres to deliver high-quality, compliant and financially sustainable services.Drive performance across occupancy, workforce, budgets and key business metrics.Embed strong compliance, governance and child safety practices.Develop high-performing Centre Director teams through coaching and performance management.Partner with People & Culture and central support teams to drive capability and culture.Build strong community and stakeholder relationships to support growth and enrolments.Identify opportunities for continuous improvement across your portfolio.What you’ll bringGenuine commitment to child safety, wellbeing and quality outcomes.Proven multi-site leadership experience, ideally within early learning or another regulated environment.Strong commercial capability across budgets, forecasting, occupancy and performance.Demonstrated ability to coach, develop and manage leaders.Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.Calm, confident and solutions-focused leadership style.Relevant tertiary qualification in Early Childhood, Education, Business or a related discipline.Current NSW Working with Children Check and driver's licence.Why Busy Bees?Because we offer the B.E.E.S. advantage:Better pay. Everyday balance. Education for growth. Support you can rely on.We live by our values of Care, Quality, Service, and Value to make a real impact on child safety and quality.The opportunity to make a meaningful impact across your portfolio of services and shape centre performance, leadership capability and growth across the region.50% childcare gap-fee discounts for permanent staff, because your family should benefit too.First Aid, CPR & mandatory training covered, ongoing professional development, and access to our Busy Bees learning platform and ACCCO RTO pathways.A supportive executive and peer leadership network, hands-on leadership, strong tenure and a culture built on trust, respect and collaboration.Opportunities to develop your leadership career across operations, management and senior leadership roles.Connect with leaders across Australia and apply for our Global Talent Exchange Program (UK, Canada and Asia).Company vehicle and mobile phone provided to support you in travelling across and managing your portfolio.Free, confidential EAP access for you and your immediate family, when you need it most.Employment is conditional on satisfactory, rigorous pre-employment checks (including WWCC, ID, Qualifications, Gecko Training, Work Rights, NQAITS register/Prohibited Persons & References) and child safety training, reflecting our strong commitment to safeguarding, equity, diversity and inclusion.We are proud to be a child safe organisation, with clear, consistent and transparent processes that place children at the centre of everything we do through our Bee Safe commitment.Why Work for Busy Bees?If you’re passionate about early learning, Busy Bees is the place to be. Although we are part of a global organisation, our company was founded by three families looking for better, more enriching childcare. Three decades later, we still keep the same values at heart.We know that we couldn’t do what we do without the important people in our teams. We invest in our people and work with them to build career pathways that inspire.