Emergency Service Leader

About Our Emergency Services Agency
We provide critical links between the community and state emergency services agencies. Our agency offers 24-hour emergency call-taking and dispatch services for Police, Fire, Ambulance and VICSES.

This integration of emergency services communications is unique in Australia and rare worldwide. Our team is deeply committed to serving the community and is among the most dedicated and highly skilled in its field.

The Senior Director is a senior leadership position within our Emergency Communication Service (ECS), reporting directly to the Executive Director, Operations / Chief Operations Officer (COO). This role provides strategic and enterprise-level support to ensure the delivery of high-performing, resilient, and community-focused emergency and non-emergency communication services across Victoria.

Leading a large, specialized workforce, this role is responsible for service performance, operational enablement, workforce and demand planning, and transformation initiatives. The role also plays a sector leadership function in emergency management and call-taking and dispatch services, ensuring ECS officers are equipped to deliver critical public safety outcomes.

Working collaboratively across the ECS Senior Leadership Team and with external partners, the Senior Director helps drive innovation, quality, and performance standards, while building strong strategic relationships across the broader emergency management sector.

• Lead and drive operational support for ECS to ensure effective delivery of Victoria's emergency response functions, aligned with performance standards and protocols.
• Provide strategic guidance to the ELT, COO, and ECS Senior Leadership Team, influencing key decisions on policy, emergency service communications, and organizational priorities.
• Build and maintain high-level relationships with emergency services agencies, government bodies, and national partners, representing us on interagency committees, task forces, and emergency forums.
• Implement enterprise-wide operational strategy aligned with sector-wide objectives, ensuring contemporary systems, doctrines, and policies support emergency readiness and coordination.
• Oversee a large, multi-disciplinary workforce and ensure operational enablement through workforce planning, performance oversight, and implementation of change initiatives.
• Ensure strong governance, compliance, and performance oversight, including risk management, quality improvement, audit response, legislative compliance, and monitoring of service metrics and technology.

To be successful in this role, you will bring a combination of relevant qualifications and demonstrated experience, including:

• Tertiary qualifications in Leadership, Emergency Management, Communications, Business, or Management are essential, with postgraduate qualifications desirable.
• Extensive senior leadership experience within emergency management or critical communication services, with experience leading large, diverse, and multi-site operational teams, ideally within government or similarly regulated environments.
• Strong understanding of emergency management legislation, frameworks (including AIIMS), and experience delivering strategic plans, governance, risk management, and compliance in complex operational settings.
• Advanced engagement, negotiation, and communication skills with demonstrated ability to influence across agencies, government, and community stakeholders at an executive level.
• Demonstrated capability in workforce planning, team building, supporting welfare and performance in 24/7 environments, with a strong commitment to public sector values and ethical leadership.
• Understanding of digital transformation, ICT uplift, and emerging technologies to support future-ready, user-focused emergency communication services.

You will be supporting a critical service to the Victorian community and will be rewarded with a competitive salary, flexible working arrangements, and employee benefits including:

• Employee assistance program for employees and eligible family members
• Discounted health insurance, banking services, and gym membership
• 'Memberlink' discount card, accepted by thousands of retailers and services providers
• Free staff parking at all our sites
• Salary packaging options after an initial service period

We are committed to the principles of equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion for all. We value the unique backgrounds, experiences, and contributions that each person brings to our workplace. We encourage and celebrate diversity in all forms - gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTQIA+, disability, and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for our roles.