Job Description

Mornington Peninsula Shire is Victoria's destination municipality, characterised by unique townships, highly productive agriculture, world-renowned landscapes, tourist regions, and areas of national and international conservation significance within a vital Green Wedge. Council’s workforce of approximately 1000 staff is responsible for the delivery of a broad range of infrastructure and community services that support the wellbeing and prosperity of a diverse community. We have an annual budget of nearly $300m and are the fifth largest Authority in Victoria.

Reporting to the Director Corporate Strategy and Business Improvement, this is one of the organisation’s most critical and high-profile senior management roles. Tasked with providing exemplary Governance advice and corporate support to both an engaged Councillor group and the whole of Council, the Manager will also lead and enhance a contemporary, high-performing function that is relied on and respected, with a renewed focus on relationship management and continuous improvement of processes around decision making, compliance and reporting. You will have the opportunity to be at the forefront of transparency in decision-making.

Key deliverables for the role will include:

• Managing legislative governance, Council operations, Councillor support, freedom of information, privacy, public interest disclosures
• Providing strategic advice in relation to governance, council support and risk management to enable the achievement of the community and the Council Plan objectives.
• Review and development of policies and strategies to promote enhanced governance, continuous improvement and quality assurance
• Driving a strategic focus on risk management across the organisation congruent with Council’s objectives
• Providing leadership and strategic direction to the Governance and Risk team and motivating staff to achieve optimum results.
• Attending Council meetings and briefings as required; ensuring Council decisions are executed promptly and effectively

We are seeking applications from proven governance leaders who bring exemplary relationship and stakeholder management skills, with demonstrated experience driving contemporary governance and regulatory strategies in a large, complex service delivery focused organisation. Applicants will bring demonstrable experience of empowering staff and have the ability to create and drive high performing teams, whilst being politically astute and resilient to changing circumstances and priorities. Practical experience of Council elections and/or onboarding Councillors would be highly regarded.

The role will require a customer centric focus in delivering governance and risk services, sound problem solving and analytical abilities with a capacity to think strategically and a sound understanding of the social, political, governance and legal frameworks within a complex service delivery sector such as Local Government. Candidates will need to be skilled communicators who bring strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to forge strong relationships at all levels.

Download the PD by copying and pasting https://bit.ly/3AMcYMP into your browser or contact Charlie Cole at charlie@camdensearch.com.au for a confidential discussion. Applications close on Friday 27th September and all enquiries will be treated with absolute confidence. Direct and third-party applications will be forwarded to Camden Search.

The Mornington Peninsula Shire is committed to creating a diverse and safe environment. We are proud to be an equal opportunity and Child Safe employer. We welcome applicants who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, have a disability, and/or a from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background.