Service Director | Full Time | Croydon

Choklits Child Care; Melbourne; In loco; AUD 110.000 - 150.000; Tempo pieno

Vantaggi offerti da questo lavoro

Onsite doctor

Extensive onboarding

Choklits Academy access

Professional development

Leadership support

Descrizione del lavoro

Choklits is seeking an experienced Service Director to lead our Croydon early childhood service in Melbourne. You will drive performance, mentor a large team, manage enrolments and occupancy, and uphold quality, safety and regulatory standards while delivering outstanding family experiences.

You will partner with the Area Manager and leadership team, oversee budgets and CRM workflows, support pedagogical leadership, and champion community engagement and marketing.

Competenze

• Minimum three years' experience as a Service/Centre Director within Early Childhood Education and Care.
• Proven ability to lead a large educator team and drive occupancy.
• Strong commercial understanding of running an ECEC service.
• Strong pedagogical leadership and commitment to quality practice.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with families and staff.

Mansioni

• Lead and mentor a large team of educators and leaders.
• Maintain high occupancy and manage enrolments, waitlists and retention.
• Conduct tours and convert enquiries to enrolments with strong customer service.
• Oversee CRM, data review and financial/budgetary performance.
• Ensure compliance with NQF, NQS, EYLF and regulatory standards.

Conoscenze

Service Director experience

Leadership of large teams

Occupancy management

Commercial mindset

Pedagogical leadership

Strumenti

CRM systems

Descrizione del lavoro

Lead an established, high-performing early childhood service with a strong team, strong culture and the support to succeed.

Want to put your communication, leadership and educational skills to the test, challenge yourself to make a real difference, and support those shaping our next generation? Come be part of the future, today!

We’re not your typical childcare centres; we’re a group of innovative thinkers and committed lifelong learners. We’re on a mission to do things a bit differently (and better) than the rest, and we’re looking for a help lead the charge. We are looking for an experienced and commercially minded Service Director to lead our Croydon service and continue building on its strong foundations.

We don’t just offer a job; we’re offering a rare opportunity for you to thrive, grow, and make a meaningful impact on the lives of children as part of our incredible team. At Choklits, we’re not just about childcare, we’re about building something truly special in early childhood education. We’re pushing the boundaries of what quality early learning looks and feels like, building careers and creating a brighter future along the way.

If you’re ready to take your coaching and leadership skills to new heights, then read on, we could be redefining what’s possible in early childhood education, together.

Croydon is a large, established service with strong occupancy, an experienced educator team, high family and educator retention, established systems and processes, and a strong reputation within its community.

We are looking for an experienced Director who can confidently lead a large team, understand the operational and commercial side of early childhood education and care, and maintain high standards across people, pedagogy, compliance, family experience and business performance.

You won't be expected to walk in and figure everything out yourself. A comprehensive onboarding and handover process will be provided with our existing Service Director, alongside ongoing support from our Area Manager and broader leadership team.

About the Role

As Service Director, you will have overall responsibility for the leadership and performance of the Croydon service.

This is a hands‑on leadership role requiring someone who is equally comfortable supporting educators, engaging with families and children, analysing service performance, conducting tours, managing a CRM, reviewing financial and occupancy data, supporting educational quality and ensuring regulatory compliance.

You will be responsible for maintaining the strong culture and performance already established at Croydon while identifying opportunities for continued improvement.

Key Responsibilities

You will be responsible for:

• Leading, mentoring and developing a large team of educators and leaders.
• Maintaining strong occupancy and proactively managing enrolments, enquiries, waitlists and retention.
• Conducting high‑quality service tours and supporting strong enquiry‑to‑enrolment conversion.
• Managing and using CRM systems to track enquiries, tours, follow‑ups, conversion and family engagement.
• Reading and interpreting service data to inform operational decisions.
• Managing labour costs, rostering and operational budgets while maintaining quality and compliance.
• Maintaining strong educator retention and a positive workplace culture.
• Supporting family retention and maintaining strong relationships with children, families and the wider community.
• Maintaining high standards of compliance across the NQF, NQS, Child Safe Standards, service policies and regulatory requirements.
• Leading continuous improvement and maintaining an active, meaningful QIP.
• Supporting strong pedagogical leadership, curriculum quality and reflective practice.
• Ensuring mandatory training and professional development requirements are maintained.
• Managing incidents, risks, complaints and family concerns confidently and professionally.
• Supporting leadership development and building capability across Room Leaders, Educational Leaders and emerging leaders.
• Working closely with the Area Manager and broader Choklits leadership team.
• Supporting community engagement, events and partnerships.
• Contributing to social media and service marketing, including being comfortable appearing on camera and showcasing the service.
• Monitoring family feedback, service reputation and opportunities for continuous improvement.

About You

We are looking for an experienced leader who can demonstrate:

• A minimum of three years' experience as a Service Director/Centre Director within Early Childhood Education and Care.
• Demonstrated experience leading a large ECEC service and large educator team.
• Proven experience managing and maintaining high occupancy, ideally within a service operating at or approaching full capacity.
• Strong understanding of the commercial and operational aspects of running an ECEC service.
• Experience managing occupancy, enrolments, rostering, labour costs and operational budgets.
• Experience using CRM systems and confidence interpreting performance data.
• Strong sales, enquiry management or conversion experience is highly regarded.
• Confidence conducting tours and communicating the value of a service to prospective families.
• Social media experience and confidence being on camera when representing the service.
• Strong knowledge of the NQF, NQS, EYLF, Child Safe Standards and Victorian ECEC regulatory requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to lead continuous improvement and quality practice.
• Strong people‑management capability, including performance management, coaching, mentoring and difficult conversations.
• A track record of building positive team culture and retaining high-quality educators.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Confidence engaging with families and managing complex or sensitive conversations.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to prioritise effectively in a busy service.
• A leadership style that develops others rather than attempting to do everything independently.

Most importantly, we are looking for someone who understands that successful service leadership requires balancing children, people, quality, compliance and commercial performance -not prioritising one at the expense of the others.

What Success Looks Like

At Choklits, Service Directors are accountable for measurable outcomes across the whole service, including:

Financial & Operational Performance — occupancy, labour management and responsible budget management.

People & Culture — educator retention, family retention, professional development and building a strong and accountable team.

Quality & Leadership — NQS and continuous improvement, child safety, compliance, pedagogical leadership, reflective practice and leadership development.

Community & Growth — family experience, tour conversion, reputation, community engagement and strong relationships.

You will receive support and systems to help you understand and manage these expectations rather than being left to navigate them independently.

Why Choose Us?

Here’s the truth: opportunities like this don’t come around often.

This is not a corporate machine. You won’t be a cog in a wheel, waiting for decisions to filter down through layers of management. At Choklits, you’ll have real conversations, real influence, and real impact from day one. We’re a private, family‑run business that genuinely cares about children, about families, and about the people who show up every day to make it all happen.

We’re not just building a childcare business. We’re building something truly special in early childhood education a place where the focus is on genuine learning outcomes. If you’ve ever wanted to be part of something that matters, this is it.

Being in the early learning sector, we understand the value of nurturing and the difference a great education makes. And that absolutely applies to our team too! This is an opportunity to work directly with our educators and a breadth of knowledgeable managers in our growing organisation.

While we may be family‑owned, we pride ourselves on being progressive, innovative, and we invest in the right areas and expertise to ensure we can be nimble, agile and play to win. The person in this role will therefore have the support and the exposure to develop and grow exponentially across the many facets of the role, as we also continue to grow too.

This is an opportunity to take over an established service with strong foundations rather than having to rebuild one.

You will receive:

• Extensive onboarding and handover with the existing Service Director.
• Ongoing support from an experienced Area Manager.
• Access to Choklits Academy, our internal learning, onboarding, policy and professional development platform.
• Ongoing professional development opportunities.
• Established systems, processes and leadership frameworks.
• Support from a broader multi-service leadership team.
• Opportunities to collaborate and share practice across Choklits services.
• An established and experienced educator team.
• Strong existing family and community relationships.
• An onsite doctor.
• Opportunities for continued professional growth within Choklits.
• The opportunity to lead a service with strong occupancy, established culture and a reputation you can continue to build upon.

We know we’ve included a lot here, but we wanted to lay it all out, be transparent and seek to find the ideal person for the long‑haul. If this job overview resonates with you, we definitely want to hear your story. Yes, you’ll have to wear various hats and probably be prepared to upskill in some areas too, but we wholeheartedly believe in the power of diverse experiences and perspectives. After all, it takes a village to raise a child… and also run a child care centre.

Join us in shaping futures. Be part of our journey in nurturing the next generation while fostering a space of growth, learning, and excellence for all.

At Choklits, we actively promote diversity and inclusivity in our workplace. We strongly encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, communities, and industries. We are committed to building a team that embraces a wide range of skills, experiences, and abilities.

We extend a warm welcome to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. We also wholeheartedly encourage applications from people with both visible and non‑visible disabilities. Regardless of your age, sex, sexuality, or gender identity, we believe in fostering an environment where everyone can thrive. Your unique perspective and contributions are valued and appreciated here.