Group General Counsel / CoSec

Save the Children; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 250,000 - 380,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Salary packaging benefits

Employee wellbeing program

Inclusive culture and diversity

Support for professional development

Safe, modern head office in Melbourne

Job summary

Save the Children Australia is seeking a Group General Counsel to lead the Legal & Governance function from our Melbourne head office. You will partner with the Board, Executive and senior leaders to drive governance, risk management and strategic legal direction across Australia, the Pacific and beyond.

You will oversee company secretariat duties, compliance frameworks, privacy and safeguarding obligations, and manage a team focused on legal excellence for a not-for-profit organisation that

Qualifications

• Qualified legal practitioner admitted in Australia.
• Extensive senior legal leadership experience in not-for-profit or international development environments.
• Strong governance, risk management and regulatory compliance knowledge.
• Proven ability to advise Boards and senior executives with pragmatic, commercial solutions.
• Experience in privacy, ACS/ACNC requirements and safeguarding considerations for vulnerable groups.

Responsibilities

• Lead Save the Children Australia's legal function, providing strategic and commercial legal advice to the Board, Executive and senior leaders.
• Oversee governance and company secretariat responsibilities across entities; ensure regulatory compliance and statutory reporting.
• Drive enterprise-wide risk, policy management, and contracting governance.
• Act as Privacy Officer and AML/CTF Compliance Officer; manage data governance and regulatory obligations.
• Lead whistleblower protections, investigations and confidentiality obligations.
• Develop and lead the Legal & Governance team, including budget management and external partnerships.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Governance

Risk management

Contracts & negotiation

Privacy & data protection

AML/CTF compliance

Not-for-profit experience

Board relations

Education

Bachelor of Laws (LLB)

Admitted Australian legal practitioner

Tools

Contract management software

Microsoft 365

Legal research databases

Job description

At Save the Children Australia, we're unapologetic about what we stand for: a world where every child has the chance to thrive. That takes good people, different perspectives and a willingness to tackle some pretty big challenges.

A place to make a difference:
In this full-time, permanent role based in our Melbourne head office, you'll lead our Legal team, helping create lasting change for children. As Group General Counsel and Company Secretary, you'll provide strategic legal and governance leadership across Save the Children Australia and its related entities. Working closely with the Board, Executive and senior leaders, you'll help ensure our organisation is well governed, manages risk effectively and is positioned to deliver on its mission for children in Australia, the Pacific and beyond.

You will make a difference by:

• Leading Save the Children Australia's legal function, providing strategic, commercial and risk-based legal advice to the Board, Executive and senior leaders across Australia and Pacific operations.
• Overseeing governance and company secretariat responsibilities, ensuring board effectiveness, regulatory compliance, statutory reporting, and adherence to governance best practice across all entities.
• Driving enterprise-wide compliance, risk and policy management, including legal risk, delegations of authority, organisational policies, compliance frameworks, insurance, and contracting governance.
• Acting as Privacy Officer and AML/CTF Compliance Officer, ensuring compliance with privacy legislation, data governance requirements, and regulatory obligations for the Save the Children Impact Fund.
• Leading whistleblower protections and investigations, maintaining whistleblower frameworks, safeguarding disclosure processes, and ensuring legal compliance and confidentiality obligations.
• Leading and developing the Legal & Governance team, managing people, budgets, external legal partnerships, organisational capability-building, and contributing to Save the Children's advocacy and mission objectives across the sector.

A place to feel valued:
In this role, you will need to be admitted as a legal practitioner in Australia (or with an overseas equivalent with progression toward Australian admission).

This role requires:

• Extensive senior legal leadership experience, with significant post-qualification practice and the ability to build trusted relationships across Boards, Executives, leadership teams and external stakeholders.
• Strong commercial and strategic legal acumen, with experience providing pragmatic, solutions-focused advice and negotiating complex government, donor and funding agreements.
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder engagement and project management skills, with a proven ability to deliver high-quality outcomes within agreed timeframes.
• Deep understanding of governance, compliance and risk management, underpinned by high personal integrity, sound judgment and ethical leadership.
• Experience in complex not-for-profit, charity, child-focused or international development environments, including knowledge of safeguarding, privacy, ACNC requirements and issues affecting vulnerable children.

A place to belong:
We are diverse personalities, backgrounds and talents, embracing our differences as one strong and united team. We see and celebrate the unique value you bring to our organisation, and offer a range of rewards for your effort, including:

• Individual learning plans to help map and deliver on your career development.
• A modern, up to date working space. Or the opportunity to work from home (WFH), or both!
• Kids are welcome! We understand the demands of working parents and we have safe, accessible spaces where our little people can relax while their mums or dads help other children and families
• Support for workplace wellness, including access to our free, confidential Employee Wellbeing Program
• Celebrate and feel supported in your diversity. We have a highly inclusive culture and diverse workforce reflecting the communities we serve, allowing you to bring your whole self to work (if that's what you want!).
• Full salary packaging benefits (please use this link to see how much this benefit could mean to you!)
• Extra leave to use in a range of ways to ensure you're able to perform at your optimum

Follow this link for the full list of our employee benefits.

We strongly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates to apply.

Position Description - Group General Counsel

We have tested our application process with diverse groups in mind, with the intent to ensure it's straightforward and accessible for all to apply. Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our culture and improve our ability to reach our most vulnerable client groups. But we also know there is no one-size fits-all when it comes to recruitment - so if we didn't quite hit the mark for you, please let us know at **************@savethechildren.org.au. We're dedicated to ensuring Save the Children Australia is a place where everyone can feel supported - no matter your race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexuality, neurodiversity, culture and beliefs.

Save the Children Australia is a child-safe organisation. All employees are required to undergo a National Police Check, a Working with Children Check, and sign our Child Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct. We also support the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.

Save the Children is committed to providing and maintaining a safe working environment for its employees and client groups, consistent with our obligations under OH&S legislation.

If you are having any issues with uploading your application for this role, please contact **************@savethechildren.org.au for further support.