Head of Community Development - Active Wellbeing
Newly created roleSydney CBD & Inner Suburbs (Field-based)
About the Organisation
Our client is exclusively partnering with Johnson Recruitment in their search for the newly created Head of Community Development role with a focus on Active Wellbeing.
Our client is Australia's fastest-growing community management and active leisure organisation, currently piloting a pioneering 'Active Wellbeing' framework that leads the industry.
Partnering exclusively with a premier local government authority on a major contract secured until ****, they steward a flagship portfolio of six world-class community, aquatic, and fitness hubs.
This progressive organisation is moving far beyond traditional facilities management to embed an outcomes-focused, preventative health model transforming physical spaces into inclusive community hubs that champion social connection, health equity, and grassroots impact.
About the Role
This is a newly created, strategic, and field-based leadership role designed purely to drive community outreach and social impact outcomes.
Strategic restructuring has separated this position from commercial programming (such as fitness memberships and learn-to-swim operations), allowing the incoming leader to focus entirely on community equity and external engagement.
Leading and building a small team you will be operating at the intersection of strategy, macro-level change management, and grassroots engagement.
You will ensure that the voices and lived experiences of diverse populations directly shape localised service delivery.
Key Responsibilities
Drive Strategic Active Wellbeing:



Lead the development, implementation, and continuous evolution of place-based, community-centred initiatives across a portfolio of premier city sites.
Embed Community Voice & Co-Design: Champion robust consultation and co-design frameworks, ensuring lived experience actively guides programming for priority populations, with a critical focus on diverse and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Cultivate Cross-Sector Partnerships: Build, influence, and leverage high-level relationships across the broader health and community ecosystems, including public health networks, primary health organisations, and community-controlled entities.
Change Management & Cultural Leadership: Partner with operational leadership to shift organisational culture toward an outcomes-focused model, guiding internal and external stakeholders through collaboration and influence rather than direct authority.
Measure Social Impact: Oversee sophisticated evaluation and reporting frameworks that look beyond simple participation numbers to capture genuine social, health, and equity outcomes.
Team Building & Capability Development: Mentor, coach, and scale the community outreach team, fostering an inclusive, psychologically safe, and trauma-informed work environment.




About You
This role demands an experienced leader with the emotional intelligence to balance complex community outcomes with commercial realities.
This is not a "step-up" position; it requires an established qualified who knows which operational and strategic levers to pull to achieve cultural change.
Proven Senior Leadership: Extensive experience within community development, public health, social impact, active communities, or related sectors.
Systems-Level Thinker: Demonstrated success translating high-level policy and strategy into practical, localised delivery models, with a proven ability to build service frameworks from the ground up.
Master Collaborator & Change Agent: Exceptional relationship management skills with a track record of driving cultural change and bringing people along on a journey toward a new way of operating.
Passion for Equity & Adaptability: Deep experience breaking down participation barriers and tailoring engagement to diverse groups facing systemic hurdles.
Qualifications & Compliance: Ideally you will have tertiary qualifications in Public Health, Community Development, Social Sciences, or a related field are preferred (though equivalent senior experience will be highly valued).
A current Working with Children Check (WWCC), National Police Check, and First Aid/CPR certifications are mandatory prior to commencement.
Johnson Recruitment actively embraces diversity in the workforce through inclusive community representation of gender, culture, thought, and work arrangements.
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📌 Head Of Community Development - Active Wellbeing (New South Wales)
🏢 Johnson Recruitment
📍 New South Wales