Bellarine Bayside has retained Fruition Recruitment on an exclusive basis to appoint its next Manager Planning and Environment.

Employer Bio:
Bellarine Bayside is a not-for-profit public entity entrusted with the care of approximately 200 hectares of coastal Crown land across a 17 kilometre stretch of the northern Bellarine Peninsula. Its remit extends from Point Richards through Portarlington and Indented Head to St Leonards, bringing together natural and cultural values, public open space and nearly $30 million in built assets including six holiday parks, the Bellarine Coastal Trail, recreation facilities, community halls, boat ramps and historic boatsheds.

The organisation operates through a distinctive self-funded model, unusual among Victoria’s coastal land managers. Its six holiday parks generate approximately 96% of Bellarine Bayside’s operational revenue, which is reinvested into the coastal reserves, public infrastructure, environmental initiatives and community places it manages. With no recurrent government funding, Bellarine Bayside combines the accountability and long-term purpose of a public entity with the commercial discipline required to sustain that work.

Overseen by a skills-based Committee of Management appointed by the Victorian Minister for Environment, Bellarine Bayside works in partnership with Wadawurrung Traditional Owners, government agencies, community organisations, volunteers and the people who live in and visit the northern Bellarine.

The Job:
Bellarine Bayside is seeking an experienced public-land leader to join its senior management team as Manager Planning and Environment. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), this role provides strategic leadership and operational management across planning, environmental management, climate adaptation, risk and compliance, cultural values, community participation and key stakeholder relationships relevant to these disciplines.

You will inherit a portfolio with strong operational foundations and a capable team bringing genuine depth to the work. The opportunity is to build on that base by strengthening the systems, monitoring and reporting disciplines that make good day-to-day delivery more consistently measurable, and by embedding sustainability into Bellarine Bayside’s strategy and planning, including practical measures to reduce its carbon footprint.

An immediate priority will be carrying the draft Coastal and Marine Management Plan through consultation, approval by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) and finalisation, working closely with the CEO and relevant partners to maintain momentum while keeping the wider portfolio moving. You will also lead site and precinct master planning, climate adaptation and environmental programs, scope and manage specialist consultants to deliver complex work, and negotiate community-based leases, licences and permits.

Leading two direct-report coordinators and a multidisciplinary planning and conservation team, together with casual and contract resources where required, you will provide genuine people leadership: setting clear priorities, developing capability and creating the conditions in which already-capable specialists can do their best work.

A defining part of the role will be the quality of the relationships you build. You will need strong government fluency and the ability to establish durable relationships across DEECA, maintaining continuity and momentum as structures, personnel and priorities evolve. You will also take carriage of Bellarine Bayside’s senior partnership with Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, engaging with the credibility and seniority the relationship warrants, and navigate matters where environmental, cultural, social, commercial and reputational considerations do not always point in the same direction.

Why You Should Apply:
This is a rare opportunity to lead an entire planning and environment portfolio within a geography compact enough to know deeply and complex enough to carry genuine consequence.

Bellarine Bayside has set a clear ambition for its next stage: to do more than follow established coastal-management practice and become an organisation its peers look to. Over the next twelve months in particular,



it wants to build sustainability more deliberately into its strategy and planning, with a particular focus on reducing its carbon footprint, and is looking for someone who wants to help shape that shift rather than simply administer an existing program.

Rather than owning one specialist part of a much larger institutional system, you will remain close to the full life of the decision, from strategic and place-based planning through to negotiation, investment, implementation and the outcome visible on the ground. The role offers direct access to the CEO, contribution to Committee-level conversations and genuine scope to build the systems and relationships that will define Bellarine Bayside’s next chapter.

The appointment also carries influence beyond its functional boundaries. You will contribute strategic thinking, help strengthen organisational systems and reporting, and broaden the capability of a compact senior team building toward an ambition greater than the organisation’s size might suggest.

For someone who combines strategic range with genuine people leadership, someone who wants to build a team as much as lead a portfolio, Bellarine Bayside offers a particularly compelling opportunity to make a visible contribution.

Culture Snapshot:
Bellarine Bayside is a stable, values-led and down-to-earth organisation whose work provides a visible benefit to the community. Its values of respect, care, teamwork, acting ethically and leading by example are reflected in the expectation that people work constructively, remain accountable and think beyond the immediate boundaries of their own role.

The organisation is deliberately ambitious about its next stage. It wants to build stronger systems, embed sustainability more deliberately in strategy and planning, reduce its carbon footprint and lift the standard of how work is planned, measured and delivered, visibly enough that peers take notice. Senior leaders are expected to contribute to that broader development, bringing ideas, constructive challenge and practical follow-through rather than operating only within their own portfolios.

The environment is close-working and personable, with team social occasions throughout the year, including family-inclusive events. The successful person will combine intelligence and strategic range with warmth, pragmatism and an absence of unnecessary hierarchy. They will be comfortable partnering closely with an involved CEO, leading capable specialists with clarity and contributing to an organisation at a deliberate point of development, one that sees the work still to be built as part of the opportunity.

Benefits On Offer:
Alongside the chance to shape the long-term stewardship of one of Victoria’s highly valued coastal environments, the position offers:

- $152,000 plus superannuation

- Full time, ongoing individual contract

- A paid fortnightly day off

- Up to two days working from home each week and flexibility around start and finish times

- Onsite parking in an exceptional coastal setting

- Discounts across selected Bellarine Bayside-managed parks and local accommodation

- Direct reporting relationship with the CEO and contribution as a member of the senior management team

- Leadership of an established multidisciplinary planning and conservation team

- A broad mandate spanning strategy, sustainability, environment, risk, partnerships and delivery

- A Portarlington base approximately 30 minutes from central Geelong, with work across the northern Bellarine foreshore

- The chance to help set a standard for coastal stewardship that other organisations look to

Skills Required:
You will bring substantial experience in public-land, environmental, natural-resource, coastal or place-based management, together with the leadership range to guide specialists, advise senior decision-makers and navigate matters carrying competing public interests.

You will also require:

- Genuine,



hands-on people leadership, with the proven ability to develop, motivate and draw the best from a capable technical team

- Strong strategic and place-based planning capability, including policy development and implementation

- Experience leading environmental programs and improving public-land management outcomes

- Strong government fluency, including the ability to build durable relationships across DEECA and navigate public-sector approval processes

- Knowledge of public-sector governance, relevant legislation, natural-resource management, coastal adaptation and organisational risk

- A relevant tertiary qualification

- Proven success building trusted partnerships with Traditional Owners, government agencies, community groups and other significant stakeholders

- The ability to lead complex negotiations where environmental, cultural, community, commercial and reputational considerations compete

- Sound financial, project and program management capability, including budgets, procurement, priorities and resource allocation

- Strong experience engaging and managing specialist consultants to deliver planning, environmental or organisational work

- The ability to strengthen systems, monitoring and performance reporting, bringing greater structure, visibility and organisational learning to an established operational portfolio

- Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to make complex matters clear and support informed decisions

- A current Australian driver licence and capacity to satisfy the role’s National Police Check, Working with Children Check and pre-employment requirements

How To Be Considered:
A comprehensive Candidate Information Pack containing further detail about Bellarine Bayside, the portfolio, leadership mandate, organisational culture and selection process is available from Fruition Recruitment on request. Applications should include a current CV and a considered cover letter outlining your interest in the opportunity and the experience you would bring to Bellarine Bayside. A separate response addressing every key selection criterion is not required at the initial application stage.

Please follow the application links or email ••••@fruitionrecruitment.com.au. For a confidential discussion, or if you require an alternative application method or reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, contact Lauren Hogan on 04•• ••• 629 or ••••@fruitionrecruitment.com.au.

Applications will be reviewed progressively. Shortlisted candidates will first meet with Fruition Recruitment before progressing to formal interview with Bellarine Bayside. Reference checking and relevant pre-employment checks will be completed for the preferred candidate.

Who Are We:
Fruition Recruitment is a founder led search and talent advisory practice operating across specialist, senior and executive hiring. Working through a deliberately high touch model, every engagement is led directly, combining disciplined search methodology, meaningful market reach, and structured in person assessment to identify and secure high performing talent. The approach is underpinned by a deeply connected off market network, long standing industry relationships, and a reputation led candidate community built over years of trusted engagement within the Geelong market and beyond. This vacancy is being managed exclusively on behalf of our client.

Having a workforce that reflects the community we serve is important to both us, and our clients. Our clients want to attract and retain people of all genders, ages, religions, disability, sexual orientation, family and caring responsibilities, and cultures including people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage. If you are interested in a position, we encourage you to apply as we celebrate the benefit that diversity brings to organisations, and to our community.

Please note, due to the large volume of applications responses we receive to our advertised roles, we’re only able to contact shortlisted candidates. If it has been more than 7 business days since the date of your application and you haven’t heard from us but would like some specific feedback on your application, please feel free to contact us directly and we’d be happy to discuss with you.

📌 Manager Planning and Environment (Portarlington)
🏢 Fruition Recruitment
📍 Portarlington