General Manager, Policy and Government Engagement

Since 1977, Jesuit Social Services has worked to build a just society where all people can live to their full potential. We go where the need is greatest, and where others won’t or can’t go, across Victoria, New South Wales and the Northern Territory. Our work spans:

- justice and reconciliation
- mental health and wellbeing
- education, training and employment
- housing and community connection
- gender justice, through The Men’s Project
- place-based social and ecological justice, through the Centre for Just Places.

We do and we influence. Because we work alongside people every day, we can speak with authority about the policies, practices and ideas that perpetuate inequality, prejudice and exclusion, and we work to change them. We see the wellbeing of people, place and planet as bound together.

Our values (welcoming, discerning and courageous) shape how we work. Our advocacy is grounded in our Jesuit tradition. It begins from the dignity of every person and stands in solidarity with people experiencing poverty, marginalisation and exclusion. It is independent, rigorous and constructive.

Where policy meets people’s lives

Every day, Jesuit Social Services staff work alongside:

- young people caught up in the justice system
- people leaving prison
- families seeking asylum
- people living with mental ill-health and complex needs
- boys and men whose behaviour is hurting themselves and others

Our staff see what people are capable of, and the systems that too often hold them back.

This role connects that knowledge with the people who make decisions, so it shapes what they decide. A youth justice worker sees the same children return to remand time and again.



A community knows what it needs to stay safe in extreme heat. When that insight becomes a recommendation, and those who hold power act on it, people’s lives get better.

Since 1977, Jesuit Social Services has worked to build a just society where all people can live to their full potential. We go where the need is greatest, and where others won’t or can’t go, across Victoria, New South Wales and the Northern Territory. Our work spans:

- justice and reconciliation
- mental health and wellbeing
- education, training and employment
- housing and community connection
- gender justice, through The Men’s Project
- place-based social and ecological justice, through the Centre for Just Places.

We do and we influence. Because we work alongside people every day, we can speak with authority about the policies, practices and ideas that perpetuate inequality, prejudice and exclusion, and we work to change them. We see the wellbeing of people, place and planet as bound together.

Our values (welcoming, discerning and courageous) shape how we work. Our advocacy is grounded in our Jesuit tradition. It begins from the dignity of every person and stands in solidarity with people experiencing poverty, marginalisation and exclusion. It is independent, rigorous and constructive.

Where policy meets people’s lives

Every day,



Jesuit Social Services staff work alongside:

- young people caught up in the justice system
- people leaving prison
- families seeking asylum
- people living with mental ill-health and complex needs
- boys and men whose behaviour is hurting themselves and others
- communities facing entrenched disadvantage.

Our staff see what people are capable of, and the systems that too often hold them back.

This role connects that knowledge with the people who make decisions, so it shapes what they decide. A youth justice worker sees the same children return to remand time and again. A community knows what it needs to stay safe in extreme heat. When that insight becomes a recommendation, and those who hold power act on it, people’s lives get better.

Job Description

About the role

As General Manager – Policy and Government Engagement, you will lead how Jesuit Social Services engages with governments, parliaments and the public service, and the policy work that underpins it. You will sit within Practice Insights and Advocacy. This directorate was created to connect three things: what we learn in practice, what research tells us, and what people with lived experience tell us they need. Its job is to turn that into influence.

You will build your own trusted relationships with ministers, members of parliament across the political spectrum, advisers and senior public servants. You will also coordinate the many relationships held across the organisation, so we speak to government with one transparent, consistent voice.

You will report to the Executive Director – Practice Insights and Advocacy. You will lead a small policy an

📌 General Manager, Policy and Government Engagement (Melbourne)
🏢 Jesuit Social Services
📍 Melbourne