General Manager, Policy and Government Engagement

Position details

• Location: Central Office, Richmond, Victoria
• Salary: $178,000 per annum
• Employment arrangement: Full-time 3 years
• Application contact: Kit McMahon - Kit.McMahon@jss.org.au 
• Travel: Some interstate travel is required

About the organisation

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.

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 clear, consistent voice.

You will report to the Executive Director – Practice Insights and Advocacy. You will lead a small policy and advocacy team, including a Government Engagement Coordinator placement and volunteers.

What you will do

• Shape and lead a government engagement strategy across the Commonwealth, Victorian, New South Wales and Northern Territory governments, timed to parliamentary, budget and election cycles.

• Build direct, trusted, non-partisan relationships with ministers, shadow ministers, crossbench members, advisers and senior officials. Represent Jesuit Social Services in meetings, consultations, inquiries and sector forums.

• Work with program teams to bring forward the issues emerging from practice, and turn them into clear policy solutions focused on prevention, early intervention and systemic change.

• Lead submissions, policy positions and briefings that bring together evidence, practice wisdom and lived experience, and that name who can act and how.

• Create opportunities for people with lived experience to engage directly with decision makers on their own terms, and support approaches led by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.

• Coordinate engagement across the organisation through shared relationship records, briefings and key messages. Keep our advocacy independent of our funding and contractual relationships with government.

• Partner with Communications, Events and Campaigns colleagues, peak bodies, coalitions and research partners to amplify our advocacy at the moments that matter.

• Track and report on our policy influence, and bring what you learn from government back into practice, programs and workforce development.

• Lead and develop your team.

Competitive remuneration, plus salary packaging benefit, is offered together with ongoing professional and career development as well as opportunities for personal growth.

Why join us?

Few policy roles let you see so directly how the work changes lives. Here, the evidence you take to a minister comes from programs you can visit, colleagues you work beside, and people who have trusted us with their experience. When a recommendation is adopted, you will know who it was for.

You will join an organisation that both delivers services and advocates for change. We are deliberately bringing practice, research, policy and advocacy closer together, and you will help shape how that works.

What Jesuit Social Services can offer you:

• An organisation that lives its values, through its day to day work
• A welcoming and supportive relational environment
• A comprehensive Induction and Orientation program
• Ongoing training and development related to your role
• Employee assistance program
• A competitive salary plus salary packaging benefits
• Generous leave

About you

You know that good policy is measured in people’s lives. You bring a deep commitment to social justice and sound political judgement. You have the credibility to be trusted by decision makers across the political spectrum, and you never lose sight of the people and communities the work is for.

You will bring:

• A track record of achieving social change through policy and advocacy, drawing agendas from practice and bringing together evidence, practice wisdom and lived experience.
• Demonstrated success in government relations, with established networks across government and the community sector and a record of policy influence.
• Sound understanding of parliamentary, budget and policy-making processes at Commonwealth and state or territory levels, and the judgement to work within them while protecting our independence.
• The ability to coordinate and influence across an organisation without direct authority, and to build shared systems for tracking relationships and impact.
• Excellent writing skills, including concise, persuasive submissions and briefings for senior decision makers.
• Experience leading and developing a small team and working closely with senior management.
• Relevant tertiary qualifications and/or equivalent experience, and a commitment to our mission, values and ethos

How to apply

• Please review the position description for full details of the role and the selection criteria. Position description can be found here.
• For more information about the role, or help with your application, please contact Executive Director Practice, Insights and Advocacy Kit McMahon at Kit.McMahon@jss.org.au
• Applications will be reviewed as they are received the closing date may be subject to change without notice. 

• Applications close on 10 November 2026

Jesuit Social Services takes child safety seriously. Appointment is subject to the mandatory requirements in the position description:

• a National Police Check, and an International Police Check where required
• a current Employee Working with Children Check
• a valid Australian driver’s licence
• proof of eligibility to work in Australia.

Jesuit Social Services is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. We celebrate and welcome all people regardless of ethnicity, cultural background, age, gender, sexuality, disability or religious affiliation.

We strongly encourage applications from all community members including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, members of the LGBTIQA+ community, people with a disability, people of culturally diverse backgrounds and working parents.

Jesuit Social Services is a Child Safe organisation and is committed to protecting children and young people from harm. We require all applicants to undergo an extensive screening process prior to appointment.