Area / Operations Early Childhood Manager & Services Lead

Lead great people. Influence better services. Make a genuine impact for children and families.

Some Early Childhood leadership roles are about keeping services running.

This one gives you the opportunity to help shape where they go next.

We’re looking for an experienced Early Childhood leader who knows how to bring out the best in people, build strong services and turn good ideas into practical improvements.

You’ll lead and support a multidisciplinary group of Early Years leaders and professionals responsible for delivering high-quality childcare and kindergarten services to the community.

But this isn't a role where you'll simply oversee operations from the sidelines.

You’ll be visible, involved and influential — working alongside your leaders, helping them navigate challenges, developing their capability and identifying opportunities to make already important services even better.

If you're passionate about Early Childhood and ready for a leadership role where your experience, ideas and judgement will genuinely matter, this is an opportunity worth exploring.

What you'll have the opportunity to do

You’ll create an environment where leaders and their teams feel supported to do their best work, while maintaining the accountability, standards and focus needed to deliver outstanding services for children and families.

You’ll:

- Lead, coach and develop Early Years leaders, helping them grow their capability and confidence
- Build a positive, collaborative and accountable culture across multiple Early Childhood services
- Support the delivery of high-quality, inclusive and child-focused childcare and kindergarten programs
- Work with leaders to identify what's working,



what could be better and where services can continue to evolve
- Influence the future direction of Early Years and Family Services
- Build strong relationships across the organisation, community, sector and external stakeholder groups
- Identify service gaps and turn them into practical improvement strategies
- Contribute to new programs, initiatives, policies and approaches to service delivery
- Bring contemporary Early Childhood thinking, pedagogy and sector knowledge into operational decision-making
- Translate broader organisational priorities into meaningful outcomes for your teams, children and families

Why this role?

Because your leadership will actually have an impact.

You'll be joining an organisation that recognises the importance of Early Childhood services and the people who deliver them.

You'll have the opportunity to lead experienced professionals, work collaboratively with senior leaders and contribute ideas about how services can continue to improve and respond to the changing needs of the community.

There is scope to influence, improve, develop people and help shape services — rather than simply maintain what already exists.

For an Early Childhood professional who has built strong operational and leadership experience and is now looking for greater influence and responsibility, this could be an exciting next career move.

What you'll bring

Your qualifications and sector knowledge are important,



but how you lead people will be just as important.

We're looking for someone who can build trust, provide direction, have the right conversations when needed and create an workplace where people want to perform at their best.

You'll bring:

- Leadership experience across Early Childhood, Early Years or a closely related community services environment
- Experience leading or supporting multiple services, teams or service leaders
- Strong contemporary knowledge of Early Childhood Education and service delivery
- A sound understanding of the regulatory, quality and policy environment
- The ability to coach, mentor and develop other leaders
- Strong relationship-building and stakeholder engagement skills
- The ability to see opportunities for improvement and, importantly, make them happen
- A collaborative leadership style combined with the confidence to make decisions and provide clear direction
- A genuine commitment to delivering exceptional outcomes for children, families and communities

You may be ready for this role if...

You're already leading within Early Childhood and know you're capable of having a broader impact.

Ple... corrected to full sentence: Perhaps you've successfully managed a service and are ready to lead other leaders.

Or you're already responsible for multiple services and want an opportunity where you'll have greater influence over people, quality, operations and future service delivery.

Either way, we're interested in the leader you've become and where you want to take your career next.

If you care deeply about Early Childhood, enjoy developing people and believe great leadership can make great services even better, we'd love to hear from you.

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📌 Early Childhood Operations & Services Lead (Melbourne)
🏢 Harrison Mcmillan
📍 Melbourne