Experienced Centre Director | Lower North Shore | Supportive Ownership

Firefly HR; Sydney; On-site; AUD 100,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Autonomy to lead your service

Performance-based bonus

Established team and supportive owners

Job summary

Firefly HR is seeking an experienced Centre Director to lead an established early learning service in Sydney's North. The role offers autonomy across daily operations, with supportive ownership and a team around you.

You will drive quality, compliance and strong community engagement while overseeing staffing and budgets. Ideal candidates are seasoned ECE leaders who communicate clearly, build trust with families and staff, and balance educational outcomes with operational thinking for

Qualifications

• An experienced Centre Director or senior ECE leader with a track record in leading teams.
• Passionate about quality and best practice in early learning.
• Strong communicator who can engage families and staff.
• Commercially aware with occupancy, staffing and budgets.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop educator teams to deliver quality outcomes.
• Drive a culture of quality, best practice and continuous improvement.
• Maintain high standards across compliance and child safeguarding.
• Build strong relationships with children, families and the community.
• Create an accountable, collaborative team culture and oversee tours for prospective families.
• Manage staffing, rostering and operational requirements within budgets.
• Support professional development and career progression within the team.

Skills

Centre Director experience

Leadership

Communication

Job description

Experienced Centre Director | Lower North Shore | Supportive Ownership

About Firefly HR

At Firefly HR, we specialise in Early Childhood Education and OSHC and partner with organisations that genuinely value quality, strong leadership and positive outcomes for children.

We’re conducting a confidential search for an experienced Centre Director to lead an established early learning service in Sydney's North.

We're looking for more than someone who can keep a service running. We want a leader who lives and breathes quality, communicates exceptionally well and takes genuine ownership of their service.

About the Opportunity

This role will suit a Director who enjoys being trusted to lead.

You’ll have autonomy across the day‑to‑day operation of the service, while working with supportive and engaged owners who value regular communication, transparency and collaboration.

There is an established team around you, together with broader operational and administrative support.

Your role is to bring everything together – people, quality, families, compliance and commercial performance – and continue moving the service forward.

What You’ll Own

You’ll have genuine responsibility for the performance and direction of your service, including:

• Leading, mentoring and developing your educator team
• Driving a culture of quality, best practice and continuous improvement
• Maintaining high standards across compliance and child safeguarding
• Building strong relationships with children and families
• Creating a positive, accountable and supportive team culture
• Engaging with the local community and building the service's profile
• Conducting tours and creating a welcoming experience for prospective families
• Developing initiatives that strengthen family and community engagement
• Managing staffing, rostering and operational requirements
• Understanding your numbers and working within agreed budgets
• Supporting professional development and career progression within your team
• Communicating openly and regularly with ownership

This is a hands‑on leadership position. You’ll be visible across the service and comfortable supporting the team wherever required, while still maintaining oversight of the bigger picture.

About You

We’re looking for an experienced Director who doesn't need to be micromanaged.

You’ll see what needs doing, take initiative and follow things through – while understanding that autonomy also comes with communication and accountability.

You’ll ideally be:

• An experienced Centre Director or highly capable senior ECE leader
• Passionate about quality and best practice
• A strong, clear and confident communicator
• Warm, approachable and able to build trust quickly
• A leader who develops people while maintaining clear expectations
• Confident addressing difficult conversations when required
• Commercially aware and comfortable with occupancy, staffing and budgets
• Engaging with families and confident conducting centre tours
• Proactive, creative and willing to bring new ideas
• Highly organised and accountable
• Someone who genuinely enjoys being part of the wider community

We’re particularly interested in leaders who can balance great educational outcomes with great people leadership and sound operational thinking.

Why Consider This Opportunity?

• $100,000-$115,000 plus super, depending on experience
• Additional performance‑based bonus opportunity
• Genuine autonomy to lead your service
• Supportive and accessible ownership
• Established team and positive workplace culture
• Broader administrative and operational support
• Opportunity to bring your own ideas and initiatives
• Genuine influence across quality, culture and commercial performance
• Potential longer‑term progression into broader multi‑site leadership
• Opportunity to grow alongside an organisation with future expansion plans

Child Safeguarding

We’re looking for a leader who understands that child safeguarding is much more than a compliance requirement.

You’ll be expected to actively promote a culture where the safety, rights and wellbeing of children are embedded in everyday decisions, behaviours and practice.

Pre‑employment screening will include:

• NSW Working With Children Check
• Thorough candidate screening
• Reference checks
• National criminal history check

A Confidential Search

This recruitment process is being managed exclusively and confidentially by Firefly HR.

We’ve deliberately kept identifying information about the organisation and service out of this advertisement.

If your experience aligns, we’ll have a confidential conversation with you first and provide further information about the opportunity before progressing.

What Now?

If you’re a strong ECE Director who wants to take genuine ownership of a service, drive quality, build an exceptional team and become part of the community around you, we’d love to hear from you.

This could also suit an ambitious Director thinking beyond their next role, with the potential for broader leadership opportunities as the organisation grows.

Firefly HR – Great leaders. Better services. Brighter futures.

We partner with services that value quality, relationships and genuine care for children, families and educators.