Director: Thriving Families in the Thriving Families SA Initiative Full-time NEW

Director: Thriving Families in the Thriving Families SA Initiative

The BetterStart Group at Adelaide University's School of Public Health is seeking a dynamic Director to lead the Thriving Families SA Initiative. A leader passionate about collaboration, innovation, and social justice—someone who can guide multi-sector partnerships and champion a culture of learning and adaptation. If you are ready to make a meaningful impact by supporting system reform to enable families and communities to thrive, join us in driving lasting change for South Australia's future.

Thriving Families brings together nearly 60 non-government organisations committed to transforming how South Australia supports the wellbeing of children, young people, families, and communities. The Director will provide strategic leadership to support system change focused on prevention and early support. You will work closely with the Thriving Families Director of Aboriginal Leadership to embed Aboriginal leadership and shared decision making – affirming the cultural authority of Aboriginal communities in shaping solutions for their children and families.

BetterStart is an interdisciplinary team based in the School of Public Health at Adelaide University, with expertise spanning epidemiology, psychology, social work, and public health. Our focus is on improving wellbeing across the first 1000 days of life, early childhood education, child protection, mental health, and social equity, generating evidence to inform policy and practice that benefits children, young people, families, and communities.

To be successful you will need:

To be a bold, strategic leader with the vision, courage, and credibility to drive long-term change in the systems that support children, young people, families and communities. You will bring:

• Proven ability to steward and lead system change – designing, planning, and delivering cross-sector reforms that shift the system toward prevention and early support. You will champion cultural safety, trauma-informed and strengths-based approaches, and establish robust governance and accountability to support adaptive delivery.
• Strong collaboration and partnership skills – able to build trust and work authentically across government, NGOs, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, philanthropy, academia, and with people with lived experience. You know how to navigate complexity, balance diverse perspectives, and guide co-design and place-based innovation.
• A track record of driving innovation – fostering a culture of experimentation, learning, and adaptation across programs, policy, and practice. You can draw on evidence and practice wisdom to test and refine new approaches that improve outcomes for children, young people, families, and communities.
• The ability to influence and advocate – representing Thriving Families at the highest levels, aligning policy, funding, service delivery, and community activation to achieve systemic change at scale.
• Experience in securing and growing resources – with the skills to identify and pursue funding opportunities, develop compelling proposals, and build sustainable partnerships to strengthen Thriving Families' impact.