Title: Leadership Programs Director
Reports to: Strategic Director
Location: Negotiable, with a strong preference for an east coast capital city. The WELA team works remotely from home, within AEST hours
Job Type: 0.8 FTE or full time, negotiable. Permanent position.
Salary: $120,000 per annum (pro rata), plus superannuation.
Job Requirements: Occasional after-hours work, ability for domestic overnight travel and easy access to a major capital city. Staff provide their own laptop and phone.
Benefits: Flexible working location, work / life balance, supportive and empowering culture, mentoring opportunities, employee benefits include leave loading of 17.5%.
Applications Close: Monday, 2 October at 9am AEST
Do you want to contribute to saving the environment, solving climate change and making the patriarchy a thing of the past?
Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia (WELA) is empowering, supporting and funding women’s and gender diverse leadership for our environment and climate action, to transform Australia’s response to our environmental and climate crises. We’re a small, growing and passionate team taking on some big challenges – and doing it with a good sense of fun and personal sustainability.
Leadership development is core to our work. Since 2016, over 230 women and gender diverse people have participated in WELA’s transformative leadership programs. Participants in WELA programs come from grassroots communities, NGOs, government, business and industry. They’ve gone on to stop new coal mines; end native forest logging in WA and Victoria; win major legal challenges for nature and climate through the courts; be elected to state and local government; and step into formal and informal leadership roles for greater impact and influence.
Today, demand for WELA leadership programs is growing. For every person who participates in a WELA program, 2 other applicants miss out. So we’re investing to grow our capacity, and support more women than ever before into environmental and climate leadership at this critical time.
This new position for a WELA Leadership Programs Director is a central role in the growth and success of this important work.
Reporting to and working with the Strategic Director, you’ll be responsible for overseeing and expanding WELA’s suite of impactful and transformative leadership development programs for women and gender diverse people working for our environment and climate.
You’ll join a small but growing team, including the Strategic Director, Operations and Administration Manager, Communication Manager, National Programs Lead Facilitator, Learning Experience Designer, Program Logistics Coordinator, Program Facilitators, Giving Circle Manager, several volunteers and an active Board. We embody a vibrant and caring culture where we know what we’re doing, but are constantly learning, reflecting and innovating to maximise our impact.
– Oversee and expand WELA’s suite of leadership development programs, including our National Leadership Program, and the WELA Intensive Programs
– Initiate and secure new Program Partnership for additional Intensive programs
– Contribute to program delivery as a lead facilitator of leadership retreats and online sessions
– Lead the Programs strategy, including managing and evolving the business and revenue model
– Work with the Strategic Director to secure funding partners for long term sustainability
– Oversee the evolution of the program structure, curriculum and delivery with the program team, in line with the needs of our growing community and increasingly diverse audience
– Manage monitoring and evaluation to ensure our programs are delivering for greatest impact
– Manage the WELA programs staff team, including our National Program Lead Facilitator, Learning Experience Designer, Program Logistics Coordinator, and a growing pool of Program Facilitators.
As a small team, we support each other in our work so you’ll be expected to jump in and help out wherever needed. Likewise, you can count on the support of the team when you need it.
Image description: Participants at WELA x Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action (NAGA)’s Victorian Local Government Leadership Intensive in 2023. Photo: Ula Majewski
You’re passionate about our environment, and the important role of women’s leadership in creating a genuinely sustainable future in which people and the planet thrive.
You love working with people, and are dedicated to capacity building to support a growing and thriving movement for change.
You have demonstrated experience developing and delivering leadership development programs, and supporting the training and development needs of women across the community and professional settings. You have a clear understanding of how gender and intersectional issues impact leadership expectations, the workplace and our communities.
You have experience working in and with environmental issues and organisations, and with people from a variety of backgrounds and communities.
You’re an experienced innovator who has successfully developed and launched new partnerships, initiatives or business models. You understand and can balance the pressures of a not-for-profit community organisation with the need for financial viability and long term sustainability.
You love working as part of a collaborative team, and bring that approach into your management relationships.
You don’t mind getting your hands dirty, and you’ll do what it takes to get the outcome needed.
WELA is committed to creating a diverse and thriving community of women working for our environment and climate action. Women and gender diverse people from Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities, communities of colour, or culturally and linguistically diverse communities are encouraged to apply.
– Extensive experience in developing and delivering leadership development programs or similar capability development
– Demonstrated understanding of the intersection between gender and leadership
– Experience working with environmental and climate advocates and professionals across a variety of sectors, including grassroots communities
– Excellent program management experience including budget management
– Experienced in developing new partnerships and managing stakeholder and funder relationships
– Strong sense of initiative, including having developed and launched successful new programs or initiatives
– Experience in evaluation and measurement
– Builds strong collaborative teams, and has excellent working relationships with people from diverse backgrounds, communities, ages etc.
– Demonstrated passion for our environment, climate, sustainability or intersectional feminist issues
Not sure if you’ve got 100% of the requirements? No-one does. If you’re interested and you believe you can meaningfully contribute to this role, we’d welcome your application.
Please email applications to info@wela.org.au using the subject line: Leadership Programs Director – Application or for a brief discussion about the position, please book a time with WELA Strategic Director Victoria McKenzie-McHarg here.
Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia (WELA) is empowering, supporting, funding and diversifying women’s and gender diverse leadership for our environment and climate action, in order to transform Australia’s response to our environmental and climate crises.
Overwhelmingly, our existing political, business and societal leadership has failed to adequately address the climate and environmental crises at hand. It’s time for a leadership change. Put simply, we will not get out of this by relying on the same leadership that got us into it. The evidence is clear – more women in decision making roles equals better environmental outcomes. We need more of it.
We’re a small and empowering team, with a big vision for change. We work hard, but have a healthy commitment to work/life balance, and enable the flexibility to support this. We support one another to grow, develop, and bring joy and creativity to our work each day.
