Senior Manager Field Change and Readiness

NBN Co ltd.; Adelaide; On-site; AUD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working arrangements

Paid parental leave

Job summary

nbn is seeking a Senior Manager, Field Change & Readiness to lead a national team responsible for making change practical, safe and achievable across a dispersed frontline workforce. You will govern change intake, sequencing and readiness, translating complex changes into clear, actionable messages for technicians, depots and partners.

This leadership role focuses on communications, standards, and two-way feedback to improve adoption, safety and performance.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading complex organisational change, business readiness and communications in operational environments.
• Demonstrated success delivering communications and change for distributed, frontline or blue-collar workforces and partner organisations.
• Strong knowledge of impact assessment, stakeholder planning, readiness, adoption, communications strategy, channel planning and measurement.
• Experience leading people, setting priorities, allocating work and building capability across a multidisciplinary team.
• Excellent plain-English writing skills and the ability to simplify technical, process, safety and business information without losing accuracy.
• Strong executive influencing, facilitation, negotiation, conflict resolution and decision-making skills.
• Ability to balance strategic direction with hands-on delivery in a fast-moving, high-accountability environment.
• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline or equivalent professional experience; recognised change management and/or communications qualifications are highly regarded.

Responsibilities

• Lead the function: Set a clear vision, operating model, priorities, standards and performance expectations for a team of approximately 5–10 direct reports.
• Build capability: Lead recruitment, onboarding, coaching, performance, succession planning and cross-skilling to create an inclusive, accountable and high-performing team.
• Own strategy and governance: Maintain the Field Services change and communications strategy, frameworks, templates, quality controls, governance routines and escalation pathways.
• Manage the change portfolio: Govern intake, prioritisation, sequencing and resourcing; maintain an integrated roadmap; and identify cumulative impacts, dependencies, operational peaks and change collisions.
• Assure operational readiness: Ensure impacts on safety, fatigue, workflows, dispatch, systems, tools, skills, personal protective equipment, customers and delivery partners are understood and addressed.
• Guide decisions: Establish readiness gates, provide decision-ready reporting and escalates material risks to sponsors and senior leaders.
• Align stakeholders: Clarify sponsorship, decision rights, roles and expectations across Field Services, project teams and enterprise functions.
• Deliver critical change: Personally lead or support complex, sensitive or high-risk change, readiness and communications activity when required.
• Improve outcomes: Use operational data, stakeholder feedback and post-implementation insights to strengthen adoption, reduce defects and rework, and improve the workforce experience.

Skills

Leadership

Change management

Communication strategy

Stakeholder planning

Executive influencing

Plain-English writing

People management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline

Job description

Job Expectations

Build your career and Australia’s future. Not many people can say they are working on building Australia’s future. With us you’ll be doing just that, leaving a legacy for all Australians. Plus, there’s equal employment, great training, and true flexible working arrangements.

A bit about your role

As Senior Manager, Field Change & Readiness, you will lead a national team responsible for making change practical, safe and achievable across a geographically dispersed, blue‑collar and frontline workforce. Your audiences include technicians, field leaders, depot and shift‑based teams, the Control Tower and Service Delivery Partners—many of whom work remotely or have limited access to desktop communication channels. You will own the Field Services change, readiness and communications strategy, operating framework and standards. You will govern the intake, prioritisation and sequencing of change, maintain an integrated view of impacts across the portfolio, and provide senior leaders with clear advice on readiness, risk and go‑live decisions. This is both a leadership and delivery role. You will set direction and build team capability while remaining close enough to the work to lead or support priority, sensitive or high‑risk change and communication activity. A major focus: communications and change for a blue‑collar workforce.

Success in this role depends on understanding that frontline change cannot rely on email alone. You will ensure communications are plain English, audience‑led and designed around how field teams actually work—including depots, shifts, remote locations, safety‑critical environments and operational time pressures. Set and assure communication standards across leader briefings, toolbox talks, shift and depot briefings, Field Bulletins, visual job aids, FAQs, reinforcement messages and approved mobile channels. Translate complex business, technology, process and policy change into clear messages that explain what is changing, when it is happening, why it matters and the action required. Design channel and engagement plans that reach technicians, leaders, partners and professional service groups at the right time. Build two‑way feedback into change delivery so frontline concerns are heard, answered and visibly acted on before and after implementation. Measure reach, understanding, confidence, training completion, readiness, adoption and compliance, and use evidence to improve future delivery.

What you will be accountable for

• Lead the function: Set a clear vision, operating model, priorities, standards and performance expectations for a team of approximately 5–10 direct reports.
• Build capability: Lead recruitment, onboarding, coaching, performance, succession planning and cross‑skilling to create an inclusive, accountable and high‑performing team.
• Own strategy and governance: Maintain the Field Services change and communications strategy, frameworks, templates, quality controls, governance routines and escalation pathways.
• Manage the change portfolio: Govern intake, prioritisation, sequencing and resourcing; maintain an integrated roadmap; and identify cumulative impacts, dependencies, operational peaks and change collisions.
• Assure operational readiness: Ensure impacts on safety, fatigue, workflows, dispatch, systems, tools, skills, personal protective equipment, customers and delivery partners are understood and addressed.
• Guide decisions: Establish readiness gates, provide decision‑ready reporting and escalates material risks to sponsors and senior leaders.
• Align stakeholders: Clarify sponsorship, decision rights, roles and expectations across Field Services, project teams and enterprise functions.
• Deliver critical change: Personally lead or support complex, sensitive or high‑risk change, readiness and communications activity when required.
• Improve outcomes: Use operational data, stakeholder feedback and post‑implementation insights to strengthen adoption, reduce defects and rework, and improve the workforce experience.

A bit about you

• Extensive experience leading complex organisational change, business readiness and communications in operational environments.
• Demonstrated success delivering communications and change for distributed, frontline or blue‑collar workforces and partner organisations.
• Strong knowledge of impact assessment, stakeholder planning, readiness, adoption, communications strategy, channel planning and measurement.
• Experience leading people, setting priorities, allocating work and building capability across a multidisciplinary team.
• Excellent plain‑English writing skills and the ability to simplify technical, process, safety and business information without losing accuracy.
• Strong executive influencing, facilitation, negotiation, conflict resolution and decision‑making skills.
• Ability to balance strategic direction with hands‑on delivery in a fast‑moving, high‑accountability environment.

A bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline or equivalent professional experience; recognised change management and/or communications qualifications are highly regarded.

What success will look like

Your team has clear priorities and delivers high‑quality work; leaders receive timely and useful information; change is properly sequenced and operational risks are addressed early; communications reach the right people through the right channels; frontline employees understand what is changing and what is expected; and new ways of working are adopted safely and sustained over time.

Life at nbn

To be part of nbn is to be part of something bigger. There’s so much more from here. Our pioneering spirit drives us forward every day. Together, we help lift the digital capability of the nation by building and connecting Australia’s best fibre infrastructure into homes and businesses, plus places and things, everywhere. We’re continuing to create Australia’s network—a network made for more. Not just a way for everyone to do the things they love but transforming the way they do them. A more inclusive working world nbn is committed to an inclusive, flexible, and supportive workplace where everyone can feel heard, valued, and respected. We believe diverse perspectives are the key to unlocking greater outcomes and encourage applications from people of all ages, nationalities, abilities, and cultures. That’s why we have a Reconciliation Action Plan, Accessibility & Inclusion Plan, offer 18 weeks of paid parental leave, are a Pride in Diversity Platinum Employer, and have active employee‑led diversity pillars. Click here to see our list of employee benefits and why we’re recognised as a WORK180 Endorsed Employer for Women.

Equal Opportunities for All

We champion equal opportunities for all employees. If you have any accessibility requirements and would like to discuss adjustments for the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to contact us by emailing [e-mail] or calling our Recruitment Accessibility Enquiry Line at [phone]. Please note, this line is dedicated to accessibility‑related enquiries for the purposes of recruitment, and only enquiries related to accessibility adjustments will be answered. For other matters, please visit our Contact Us page on our website. Please note that this role is a permanent opportunity and applications will close at midnight on Tuesday, 22nd September. To be eligible for this role, you must have full working rights in Australia.

Worker Type: Permanent; Time Type: Full time.

nbn is the team behind the design, build and operation of the nbn™ network – one of Australia’s largest technology infrastructure projects, which will help better connect Australians with each other and the rest of the world, no matter where you live. But the nbn™ network is so much more than access to fast internet. A state‑of‑the‑art communications network opens up a world of possibilities in areas such as education, business, innovation, healthcare, flexibility, and entertainment. It will help ensure our digital future, and give Australians benefits we can all enjoy, for decades to come. At nbn, you’ll work with inspirational leaders and innovators in their field, help take on engaging and exciting work, and seek original solutions to new challenges every day. Things move quickly at nbn, and opportunities present themselves all the time. At nbn, you have an incredible chance to broaden your skills and widen your horizons. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to accelerate your career, and shape your own future, along with Australia’s.