Senior Manager Support Services (6 Month Contract)

What Reachout Does

At ReachOut we are guided by a clear, simple ambition – helping young people feel better. This means that everything we do is designed to help young people feel:

• better in the moments when they most need help
• better about who they are and their place in the world.

And Be:

• better able to cope with the challenges they’re facing today
• better set up and equipped to manage when life doesn’t go as planned.

Anonymous and confidential, ReachOut is a safe place where young people can openly express themselves, get a deeper understanding and perspective on what’s happening in their lives, connect with people who will provide judgement-free support, and build the resilience to manage their challenges now and in the future.

100 per cent online and designed specifically for – and with – young people, ReachOut lets young people connect on their terms at anytime from anywhere. From one-to-one support from experienced peer workers to online communities, as well as tips, stories, and resources, ReachOut offers a wide range of high quality and safe support options that allow young people to engage in the ways they want to, when they want to.

And, ReachOut Parents and ReachOut Schools provide valuable information, resources and advice to help parents, carers and educators to better understand the young people in their lives and to play an active role in their wellbeing.

About The Role

The Senior Manager – Support Services is a key senior leadership role at RO, pivotal in providing strategic, trauma-informed leadership to our mental health support programs and services. This position is responsible for exercising managerial responsibility across service streams, leading, guiding, and empowering early-career managers and their teams, building a culture aligned with our values, enabling a thriving lived experience workforce, and ensuring our services are impactful, responsive, and innovative.

Working closely with Product and Service Design, this role will be a dynamic and responsive leader, shaping the direction and the future of our mental health services. Our goal is to ensure our services reflect best practice, the voices of those we serve, and the evolving needs of the sector. The Senior Manager will also represent ReachOut externally, fostering strategic partnerships at a sector and government level to increase reach, collaboration, and impact across the mental health ecosystem. In addition, this role will partner with funders to deliver and report on key contracts.

Key Tasks

Coaching and People Leadership

• Provide proactive mentoring and coaching to early career managers to build capability, confidence, and leadership skills, enabling them to support their teams effectively, while ensuring alignment with ReachOut objectives
• Create and maintain a supportive environment where managers feel empowered to share ideas, take initiative, learn from experience, and align their teams’ work with ReachOut goals
• Support and enable a thriving lived experience workforce - creating opportunities for their voices to be heard alongside setting clear expectations and boundaries, and ensuring they remain connected to the broader organisation
• Build trust through clear, open, and consistent communication, modeling leadership in alignment to ReachOut values

Service Delivery and Development

• Partner with the Service Managers, Product and Service Design to provide strategic direction for service innovation and evolution across multiple service streams, including the development of new service models , in line with ReachOut’s overall strategic roadmap
• Translate strategic priorities into operational objectives and outcomes and support the Team Managers, as the Service Owners, to partner across the organisation to operationalise these goals
• Manage Government contracts and reporting, ensuring organisational and strategic compliance
• Lead strategic planning, operational modelling, workforce planning, budgeting and contract reporting for the Peer Support and Parents 1-1 Coaching services in line with organisational timelines
• Monitor performance and outcomes across services, using insights to drive continuous improvement and organisational impact.
• Ensure services are evidence-informed, culturally responsive, and meet relevant quality and compliance standards across the division

Collaboration And Partnerships

• Foster strong internal collaboration across teams to deliver integrated and effective services
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with stakeholders across the mental health sector, including community organisations, researchers, and service providers, with a focus on building integrated referral pathways and organisational impact
• Represent the organisation at sector forums and contribute to thought leadership in service innovation

Risk Management

• Provide senior support in crisis response and clinical incidents (including infrequent on call support where required), with delegated authority to make organisational decisions when required
• Develop and implement policies and procedures that safeguard service quality, organisational risk, and compliance frameworks.
• Ensure the organisation’s duty of care framework and supporting risk systems for service delivery are well implemented in the Support Services team and remain fit for purpose
• Liaise with ReachOut’s Clinical Advisory Group, to seek advice on best practice and service improvements relating to delivering online mental health content

Selection Criteria

To be successful in the role, you need:

• At least 10 years’ professional experience with 5 years’ leading and managing a mental health, public health or human services program, including trauma-informed, recovery-based practice
• Mental health qualifications (e.g. Psychology or Counselling, with registration or eligibility for membership of the relevant professional association) or a Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work
• Extensive experience in managing and developing managers and teams across multiple services, ideally with experience in coaching or supporting early career managers
• Experience leading a lived experience workforce, with the ability to balance responsiveness, connection and clear boundaries
• Strong relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence, negotiate, and foster trust and collaboration internally and externally
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to listen deeply, communicate clearly, lead discussions, and influence positively
• Applied skills and experience in mental health risk management, including crisis response and clinical incidents, with delegated authority for decision-making where required
• A comprehensive knowledge of, and demonstrated experience in, service operations including workforce planning
• Adaptable and flexible – comfortable dealing with ambiguity, handling risk and implementing change; able to influence organisational strategy while managing operational outcomes
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and centering the voices of those with lived experience.
• Demonstration of alignment and contribution to ReachOut's Values

ReachOut is an inclusive workplace, committed to providing opportunities for people from diverse and often marginalised groups. We encourage applications from people of all ages, backgrounds, and identities. This includes but is not limited to people with living experience of mental health issues and/or recovery, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people who identify as LGBTQIA+ and people with disability.