About the role
The Chief Strategy & Performance Officer plays a key role in shaping the future of the City of Greater Geelong by leading the development and delivery of the City’s strategic direction. Focused on creating value for the community, the role promotes a customer-first mindset and ensures priorities reflect community needs. It leads critical functions including Strategy and Effectiveness, Organisational Planning and Performance, Change, and the Corporate Program Management Office. The role drives innovation, improvement, and joined-up planning across the organisation. As a trusted advisor to the executive leadership team and a key collaborator with senior leaders, the Chief Strategy & Performance Officer ensures alignment across people, processes, and technology to improve organisational performance and deliver positive outcomes for the community.

Work type: 5-year contract, Full Time Opportunity
Classification: SPL - $231,314 pa plus super

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading the strategic direction of the department by developing a compelling vision, setting clear goals, and ensuring alignment with the City's broader strategic and community priorities.
• Building and leading a high-performing leadership team, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and customer-focused culture that lives the City’s values and drives continuous improvement.
• Strengthening departmental capability and culture by coaching leaders, holding them accountable for team performance.
• Overseeing strategic workforce planning to ensure the department has the resourcing, skills and readiness required to deliver current and future strategic initiatives.
• Driving excellence in strategic and operational planning, including leading enterprise-wide processes such as annual business planning, service reviews, and strategic alignment of programs and projects.
• Developing, governing and continuously improving service delivery models and the City’s Strategy & Performance service catalogue, supported by KPIs, SLAs.
• Leading the development of enterprise-wide strategy, change and transformation capabilities, overseeing the Corporate PMO, embedding a centre of excellence for project and change maturity, and ensuring delivery of strategically aligned outcomes.
• Acting as a trusted advisor and advocate, providing strategic insight to the CEO, ELT and Council, drawing on best practice, sector intelligence and performance data to shape decisions and influence organisational outcomes.
• Fostering a culture of integrated governance, accountability and innovation by collaborating across the executive, maintaining strong relationships with key leaders and stakeholders, and overseeing risk, budget, and performance frameworks that deliver sustainable value to the community.
  
  

About you
To be successful in this role, you will have a tertiary qualification in Public Administration, Business Administration, Management, Commerce, Human Resources or a related discipline, along with extensive senior leadership experience in managing a Strategy and Performance function in a similarly complex organisation.

Essential Experience:

• Demonstrated senior leadership experience in managing high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams and fostering a positive, values-aligned culture.
• Proven strategic thinking and problem-solving capability with a track record of delivering innovative, long-term organisational outcomes.
• Extensive experience in leading and delivering business transformation, organisational change, and strategic improvement initiatives in complex environments.
• Strong internal consulting capability with expertise across corporate strategy, business planning, change management, and program/project delivery.
• Proven ability to manage strategic business planning, budgets, financial resources, and complex reporting aligned to organisational KPIs and priorities.
• Demonstrated proficiency in applying structured project and change methodologies to deliver enterprise-wide outcomes on time and within budget.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including negotiation, consultation, and presentation, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and secure support for strategic initiatives.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship management skills, with the ability to build strategic partnerships and navigate competing priorities.
• Experience operating in fast-paced, politically aware environments, with the ability to lead through ambiguity and drive innovation and future-focused strategies.
• Preferred candidates will be required to undergo a National Police Check and a pre-employment medical assessment as part of the recruitment process (funded by the City).

If this sounds like the role for you, then click apply now! 

Child Safety Responsibilities   
We are committed to being a child-safe organisation and have zero-tolerance for child abuse. We have specific policies, procedures, and mandatory training in place to support employees, volunteers, and contractors to achieve and adhere to these commitments. Please read our Child Safe Standards Management Policy.  

Diversity and Inclusion  
At the City we want a workforce that reflects the community we live in. We welcome and embrace everyone, all people with their own unique experiences, and support and encourage all our employees to do their best work, have equal access to opportunities and a just working environment. For this reason, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from First Nations people, people with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, from the LGBTQIA+ community, people with disability and people of all genders, ages and diverse experience.  

We are the City
From parks to offices, childcare centres to works depots, leisure facilities to the Wool Museum and waterfront, our team plays a vital role in shaping our vibrant and growing community. Our community counts on us to get the essentials right while looking for ways to go beyond. By listening, collaborating, and focusing on sustainability, we strive to do the basics brilliantly and create a lasting impact. If you’re ready to be part of something bigger, join us in shaping the future of Geelong.

We support accessibility and encourage discussions about any adjustments or support you may need during the recruitment process.

Applications and Enquiries

Click the Position Description link to view more information about this position.

Enquiries: Sonia Cheema | Coordinator, Talent Acquisition | sonia.cheema@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

Click the Apply button to submit your application or find out more about this opportunity. If we can assist you with any reasonable adjustments in order to submit your application for this role, please contact the Talent Acquisition team via email at careers@geelongcity.vic.gov.au noting your preferred method of communication and contact details and a member of the team will be in touch.

We collect demographic data to help us learn who our advertisements are reaching and how we can reach an even more diverse audience.  We are committed to building a more diverse team. Your responses to our demographic questions are strictly confidential and will not be individually shared.

#LI-DNI