Associate Director for Operations, Culture, and Strategy

The Centre for Population Genomics (CPG) is a non-profit joint venture of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI). Our mission is to harness large-scale genomic medicine technologies to improve diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease for all Australians. We operate at the intersection of academic discovery and translational genomics, with a focus on projects with direct pathways to real-world clinical impact.

Our team leads multiple programs of national significance, including:

- the OurDNA program, which is currently recruiting 10,000 individuals from under-represented Australian communities, including those of Pacific, South-East Asian, Middle Eastern, and East African ancestry, establishing a long-term resource to drive new research discoveries and improve the diagnosis and prediction of disease for all Australians;- the CaRDinal rare disease program, which has assembled Australia’s largest collection of genomic and clinical data from families affected by severe, undiagnosed genetic disorders, and has worked with clinical partners around Australia to return more than 450 new diagnoses to date; and- the AASGARD consortium, a newly established partnership of research and clinical teams in Australia, the US, and the UK, led by CPG, focused on the development, validation, and deployment of AI tools to improve the diagnosis of severe genetic diseases.

Over the last five years the Centre has raised over $28M in grant and industry funding and rapidly scaled our team - we are now a fifty-person, remote-first team distributed across Sydney, Melbourne, and New Zealand, with a culture that values operational excellence, technical leadership, and equitable impact.

We are also encountering a variety of new cultural, communication, and operational challenges as we scale past the 50-person mark, and need someone who can help drive the implementation of our strategic priorities, and build operational and cultural glue to hold our team and systems together as we grow and pivot.

THE OPPORTUNITY

We’re looking for an experienced operations leader who is comfortable operating in a fast-moving, rapidly scaling, for-purpose environment to join CPG’s leadership team as Associate Director for Operations, Culture, and Strategy.

This role will ensure that CPG’s strategy is translated into action, that our teams and culture thrive, and that our operations run smoothly in partnership with our founding institutes. You will lift organisational maturity across multiple areas, including financial management, reliable delivery of program and cross-program goals, effective leadership and decision making, strong staff engagement, and disciplined risk management.

This is a unique opportunity to join a fast-growing, mission-driven organisation at a formative stage. The role requires exceptional judgement, senior operational experience in a high-growth environment (ideally biotech or technology), and the ability to design organisational systems that will scale with CPG’s ambitious goals.

The AD will also oversee two operational teams spanning at least 8 reports (each already led by a senior manager with deep domain expertise); provide high-level operational and cultural leadership across the organisation; and act as a key liaison with professional teams at our founding institutions, Garvan and MCRI.

Salary: $180,000+ + 12% superannuation + salary packaging (depending on experience)

Employment Type: 2-year fixed-term

SNAPSHOT OF BENEFITS- Generous salary packaging to save you income tax on your wages thereby boosting your monthly take home pay (max. $15,900 general expenses + $2,650 meals/accom)- Ample opportunities for on-going training and development- Stimulating, diverse and highly international research environment- Flexible work arrangements e.g. start / finish times- 18 weeks paid parental leave for both parents including paid superannuation- A range of additional leave types to meet your personal needs including cultural leave, conference leave, community service and study leave- Discounted Health Insurance- Lifestyle discounts with our community partners

WHAT YOU WILL DO

As Associate Director for Operations, Culture, and Strategy, you will be a member of CPG’s leadership team, reporting to the Director. In this role you will play a key role in organisation-wide leadership, contributing to executive decision-making, taking accountability for outcomes, and leading cross-team
initiatives.

You will oversee activities for two of the Centre’s foundational teams - our Business Administration and Operations and Project Management teams - directly managing the team leads responsible for internal operations and project coordination. You will also engage closely with leadership and team
members across the organisation, influencing organisation-wide culture, communications, and program delivery. This role will also involve regular interactions with executive directors, B