HCPA is looking for an experienced Residential Care / Child Protection SME to join our consulting team and bring real-world operational expertise into the organisations we support across regulated child and family services.

This is an opportunity for someone who has worked deeply within Residential Care, Therapeutic Residential Care or OOHC and understands what it takes to deliver safe, compliant and high-quality services for children and young people.

What you'll be doing

You'll work with organisations to:

- Review and improve residential care operations, policies and procedures
- Strengthen safeguarding, risk and incident management
- Assess governance, quality and compliance frameworks
- Support implementation of Child Safe Standards
- Translate legislation and regulatory requirements into practical systems
- Conduct compliance and quality reviews
- Identify operational gaps and develop practical improvement plans
- Advise leaders on workforce, practice and service delivery
- Support organisations preparing for audits, reviews and regulatory requirements

You don't need to have been a consultant before.

We're looking for someone who has lived and breathed residential care and can now bring that experience to multiple organisations.

You'll be a strong fit if you have:





- Significant experience in Residential Care, Therapeutic Residential Care or OOHC
- Senior operational or practice leadership experience
- Robust understanding of safeguarding and child protection
- Experience with policies, procedures, quality or compliance
- Understanding of the Victorian Child Safe Standards and relevant child protection requirements
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills
- The ability to turn complex requirements into practical solutions
- A genuine commitment to improving outcomes for children and young people

Why HCPA?

Take your residential-care expertise beyond a single service and use your experience to make an impact across multiple organisations, teams and projects.

If you're an experienced residential-care leader looking for a new challenge — with the opportunity to share your expertise, influence better practice and help strengthen services across the sector — we'd love to hear from you.

? Melbourne | Hybrid

? Full-time | Long-term | No travel required | Strong work-life balance

Ready to take the next step in your career? Apply now or reach out for a confidential conversation about the role.

📌 Residential Care SME - Child Protection (Melbourne)
🏢 HCPA
📍 Melbourne