Manager – Compliance and Child Safety

The Y Australia; Ballarat; On-site; AUD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

The Y Ballarat is seeking an experienced Manager – Compliance and Child Safety to lead a significant improvement program for 110 services over a 12-month fixed-term appointment. Reporting to the Executive Manager – Child Safety and Compliance, you will strengthen compliance systems, embed safeguarding into everyday practice and build organisational capability.

This role blends strategic leadership with practical support, delivering education, coaching and practical resources to teams and leaders

Qualifications

• Tertiary qualifications in education, compliance, risk, governance, quality management, law, business or related discipline.
• Experience in compliance, child safety, quality assurance, regulatory operations, risk or governance.
• Experience leading organisational improvement and developing compliance frameworks.
• Ability to integrate safeguarding into systems and practice.
• Experience in incident review and root-cause analysis.
• Proven ability to influence leaders and build staff capability through education and coaching.
• Strong communication with executive and governance audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead a compliance and child safety improvement program across approximately 110 services.
• Assess current compliance performance and coordinate targeted improvements.
• Develop practical frameworks, tools, assurance processes and escalation pathways.
• Embed Child Safe Standards and safeguarding considerations into compliance monitoring and incident reviews.
• Coordinate Assessment and Rating preparation, support and follow-up.
• Strengthen regulatory notifications and responses to serious and reportable incidents.
• Facilitate incident reviews and root-cause analysis, sharing learning to reduce recurrence.
• Develop and deliver education, coaching and guidance for leaders and staff.
• Analyse compliance, incident and safeguarding data to identify emerging risks and systemic issues.
• Report on performance and improvement priorities and monitor corrective actions through to completion.

Skills

Collaborative leadership

Strong analytical skills

Excellent communication skills

Influence leaders

Coaching and training

Education

Relevant tertiary qualifications in education/compliance/risk/governance/quality management/law/business

Job description

Help shape safer services and stronger practice for children and young people.

Lead compliance and child safety improvement across approximately 110 services.

Build staff capability through education, coaching and practical resources.

Make a meaningful contribution across early childhood, OSHC and youth services.

About Y Ballarat

At the Y, we believe in the power of inspired young people. Y Ballarat provides early childhood education and care, Outside School Hours Care and youth services across Victoria.

Our vision is a better world, with and for young people. Our values of Honesty, Respect, Caring and Responsibility guide our commitment to safe, high-quality services and supporting our people.

The opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Manager – Compliance and Child Safety to lead a significant, organisation-wide improvement program over a 12-month fixed-term appointment.

Reporting to the Executive Manager – Child Safety and Compliance, you will work alongside operational leaders and service teams to strengthen compliance systems, embed safeguarding into everyday practice and build sustainable organisational capability.

This role combines strategic leadership with practical support. You will identify risks, develop clear processes and help teams understand and meet their responsibilities. Education is central to the role, with opportunities to develop training, deliver coaching and create resources that translate complex requirements into achievable actions.

Your key responsibilities

Lead a compliance and child safety improvement program across approximately 110 services.

Assess current compliance performance and coordinate targeted improvements.

Develop practical frameworks, tools, assurance processes and escalation pathways.

Embed Child Safe Standards and safeguarding considerations into compliance monitoring and incident reviews.

Coordinate Assessment and Rating preparation, support and follow-up.

Strengthen regulatory notifications and responses to serious and reportable incidents.

Facilitate incident reviews and root-cause analysis, sharing learning to reduce recurrence.

Develop and deliver education, coaching and guidance for leaders and staff.

Analyse compliance, incident and safeguarding data to identify emerging risks and systemic issues.

Report on performance and improvement priorities and monitor corrective actions through to completion.

About you

You are a collaborative leader who builds trusted relationships and turns complex requirements into clear, practical guidance. You bring sound judgement, strong analytical skills and a commitment to helping teams improve.

You will have:

Relevant tertiary qualifications in education, compliance, risk, governance, quality management, law, business or a related discipline.

Demonstrated experience in compliance, child safety, quality assurance, regulatory operations, risk or governance in a complex, highly regulated environment.

Experience leading organisational improvement and developing compliance frameworks, assurance systems and corrective action processes.

The ability to integrate safeguarding and child safety into systems and operational practice.

Experience in incident review, root-cause analysis and translating findings into organisational learning.

Proven ability to influence leaders and build staff capability through education, training and coaching.

Strong communication skills, including preparing clear reports and recommendations for executive and governance audiences.

Experience in early childhood education and care, the National Quality Framework, Child Safe Standards, Assessment and Rating and regulatory incident management is highly desirable.

This is an opportunity to shape a significant improvement program with a clear purpose. You will work across a substantial service portfolio, helping create safer environments and equipping teams with the systems, knowledge and resources to deliver high-quality services.

Employment requirements

The successful applicant will be required to undertake a National Police Check, maintain a valid employment Working with Children Check and hold a current Victorian Driver’s Licence.

Y Ballarat is committed to safeguarding children and young people. Their safety, wellbeing and best interests are central to this role and everything we do.