Let's be honest.
You've read a hundred job ads that sound exactly like this one used to. Corporate language. Passive voice. A long list of responsibilities that could describe any senior comms role in any infrastructure organisation in the country.

This isn't that.
This is a genuine conversation about one of the most significant infrastructure communications roles to come up in Australia this year - and whether it might be the right move for you.

Here's what's happening.
One of Australia's most important trade and logistics gateways is progressing a major long-term capacity enhancement program. We're talking about the kind of program that shapes Victoria's economic future - port land, marine assets, infrastructure investment, future trade demand. The scale is real.
As the program moves through planning, regulatory approvals and into delivery, they need someone to own the narrative. Not just manage the comms plan - build it. Create the integrated communications and stakeholder strategy from the ground up. Shape how government, community, media and internal stakeholders understand and engage with this program at every stage.

That's not a comms manager job. That's a strategic leadership seat at the table.

What you'll be doing.
You'll report to the Executive General Manager, Corporate Relations, with a direct operational line to the Program Director. In practice, this is the 2IC of the Corporate Relations function - and you'll be the senior strategic communications and stakeholder adviser for the entire capacity enhancement program.

Day to day, you'll be:

- Building and owning the integrated communications and stakeholder strategy across every phase - planning, approvals, consultation, construction, major milestones. The whole lifecycle.
- Acting as the trusted strategic adviser to the EGM, Program Director, project leadership team and Board committee. When they need counsel on reputation, stakeholder risk or how to land a difficult message - they'll come to you.




- Leading a matrix team of communications, stakeholder, government relations and community specialists. You won't have direct authority over all of them - so your ability to lead through influence, clarity and credibility is everything.
- Managing reputational, stakeholder and political risk - not reactively, but embedded into program planning and governance from the start.
- Coordinating government, regulatory, community and council engagement across State and Federal approval processes.
- Overseeing media strategy, key messaging, digital content, public statements, submissions and major announcements.
- Establishing the operating rhythm - integrated work plans, transparent accountabilities, a single source of truth across the program.
- Managing external advisers, agencies and specialist consultants supporting the communications effort.

Now - is this you?
You're a senior in-house corporate affairs or major projects communications leader. You've done this before - maybe in infrastructure, utilities, development or regulated assets. You know what a complex, politically sensitive environment feels like, and you don't flinch.
You're the person who walks into a room full of building blocks, existing strategies, inherited plans and competing priorities - and turns it into something coherent, executable and aligned. You bring calm. You bring structure. And you bring the kind of commercial judgement that earns trust at Board level.

Specifically, you'll bring:

- 12+ years in communications and stakeholder engagement across major infrastructure, development, utilities or regulated assets - including senior leadership responsibilities.




- A track record across stakeholder engagement, government relations, community affairs, media and issues management in high-profile or politically complex environments.
- Experience across multiple phases of the major project lifecycle - planning, statutory and regulatory approvals, consultation, construction.
- Proven success leading matrix or dotted-line teams and coordinating multiple specialist workstreams without direct authority.
- Strong corporate governance instincts, with the confidence to advise executives and Board-level stakeholders directly.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills - executive briefs, government submissions, media materials, public statements. The lot.
- Commercial acumen and the ability to balance project, government, community, regulatory and shareholder considerations.
- A tertiary qualification in communications, public affairs, PR, journalism or a related discipline.

Bonus points: experience in ports, freight, logistics, transport infrastructure or Victorian planning and environmental approvals.

Why this role. Why now.
Roles like this don't come around often. You're not stepping into someone else's strategy and maintaining it. You're building the strategy. You'll have the mandate, the executive sponsorship and the program complexity to make this one of the defining pieces of work in your career.
You'll have visibility at Board, executive, government and community level. You'll work across one of the most significant proposed infrastructure programs in this organisation's history. And you'll do it with an attractive salary package that reflects the seniority and complexity of the role.

If you've been waiting for the right moment to step into something bigger - this might be it. Interested? Let's talk.
Click the link to apply, or for a confidential conversation about the role, reach out directly: Cameron Kenna - Founder & CEO, Ampersand International
0411 046 024

📌 Senior Manager - Communications & Stakeholder Engagement (Melbourne)
🏢 Ampersand
📍 Melbourne