People & Performance Manager

Elite Australia; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Elite Trades Australia in Laverton North, Victoria, is seeking a commercially minded, people-first People & Performance Manager to build the workforce and leadership capability needed for growth. This hands-on role works with directors to clarify roles, expectations and performance conversations.

You will design onboarding, training and development pathways across office, field-support and trade-based roles, strengthen culture with clear standards and fair escalation, and use workforce data to

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a senior HR, People & Culture, People & Performance, or workforce development role.
• Experience improving leadership, performance, training, culture or workforce systems with practical outcomes.
• Ability to move between strategy and delivery, building plans and making them real.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the directors to translate business growth plans into a clear workforce, capability and people plan
• Build leadership capability across supervisors, coordinators and emerging leaders, turning leadership expectations into practical on the job behaviours
• Create simple, consistent performance rhythms: role clarity, expectations, useful KPIs, feedback, development check-ins and fair escalation pathways
• Design practical onboarding, training and development pathways for office, field-support and trade-based roles
• Strengthen culture through clear standards, recognition, accountability, psychological safety and respectful communication
• Improve people processes, documentation, systems and workforce data so the business can scale without unnecessary friction
• Coach leaders through real people issues and know when to elevate or seek specialist workplace-relations advice
• Use workforce insights to identify patterns in capability, retention, absenteeism, engagement, workload and performance and turn those insights into action

Job description

Industry: Trades / Construction / Field Services

Work arrangement: On-site with WFH flexibility negotiable

About us

Elite Trades Australia is a fast-growing, multi-trade services business based in Laverton North, Victoria. We work across commercial and residential markets, delivering reliable trade and maintenance solutions to our customers. As we continue to grow, we're building the people, systems and culture needed to support our next stage. This is an opportunity to join a business where your work will have genuine impact, working closely with our directors and leadership team to help shape how Elite Trades grows.

About the role

We are looking for a commercially minded, people-first People & Performance Manager to help us build the workforce and leadership capability needed for the next stage of growth.

This is a hands-on role with genuine scope to build. You will work closely with our directors and leaders to make the people side of the business clearer, stronger and more consistent: better leaders, better performance conversations, practical training, useful workforce data, cleaner systems and a culture people want to be part of.

This is not a sit back and write policies role. You will be equally comfortable in a strategic conversation about business growth and in a practical conversation with a supervisor who needs help setting expectations, addressing an issue or getting their team back on track.

A blank canvas and an opportunity to build

This is a genuine build from the ground up opportunity. The foundations of the people and performance function are still being developed, so you will not be stepping into a finished system with everything already mapped out.

You will need the resilience, confidence and ownership mindset to build, improve and sometimes challenge the way things are done. There will be ambiguity, competing priorities and plenty to figure out along the way.

For the right person, that is the opportunity. You will have the autonomy to shape the function, build practical systems, establish standards and make a lasting impact on how Elite Trades operates and grows.

Key responsibilities

• Partner with the directors to translate business growth plans into a clear workforce, capability and people plan
• Build leadership capability across supervisors, coordinators and emerging leaders, turning leadership expectations into practical on the job behaviours
• Create simple, consistent performance rhythms: role clarity, expectations, useful KPIs, feedback, development check-ins and fair escalation pathways
• Design practical onboarding, training and development pathways for office, field-support and trade-based roles
• Strengthen culture through clear standards, recognition, accountability, psychological safety and respectful communication
• Improve people processes, documentation, systems and workforce data so the business can scale without unnecessary friction
• Coach leaders through real people issues and know when to elevate or seek specialist workplace-relations advice
• Use workforce insights to identify patterns in capability, retention, absenteeism, engagement, workload and performance and turn those insights into action

About you

• Proven experience in a senior HR, People & Culture, People & Performance, Workforce Development or operational leadership role, ideally within the construction, trades or service industry
• Have helped a growing business improve leadership, performance, training, culture or workforce systems and can point to the practical outcomes
• Can move comfortably between strategy and delivery. You enjoy building the plan, but you also enjoy making it real
• Know how to coach leaders, challenge respectfully and hold a clear line when people practices need to be fair, consistent and commercially sensible
• Can interpret people and performance data without losing sight of the human, operational and system factors behind it
• Communicate with warmth, confidence and straight talk. You can build trust with directors, office staff, supervisors and field teams
• Organised, self-directed and comfortable taking ownership in a fast-moving environment where priorities can change
• Comfortable working with ambiguity and building structure where systems and processes are still evolving
• Have the resilience and confidence to take ownership, make decisions and constructively challenge when required

Highly regarded

• Experience in trades, construction, field service, manufacturing or another operationally fast-paced environment
• Experience developing frontline leaders or working with a mixed office-and-field workforce
• Practical understanding of Australian workplace relations, employee relations, workplace health and safety and respectful-workplace obligations, with the judgment to seek specialist advice when required
• Small business leadership experience or understanding of small business operations

Why join Elite Australia?

This is an opportunity to join a growing business at an important stage of its journey. You won't simply inherit an existing people function; you'll help build it. You'll work directly with the directors, have genuine influence over how the business develops its people and leaders, and see the results of what you put in place. If you enjoy building, solving problems, having honest conversations, and creating practical solutions that make a business better, we'd like to hear from you.