Head of Research, Service and Practice Development

About Us

At Baptcare, we care. Our Mission and Vision are lived through our WE CARE Values: for our residents, customers, clients, partners, and supporters; with the very young through to the very old, the vulnerable, with families through all of life’s stages and challenges.

Baptcare is a purpose driven organisation working across Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia. Focused on providing residential and community care for older people and support to children, families, and people with disability, financially disadvantaged people and people seeking asylum.

Our Values are Wellbeing, Ethics, Co-creating, Accountability, Respect and Effectiveness.

About the Role

This leadership role is a Part Time Permanent position who is the head of Baptcare’s research unit. The incumbent has a clear focus on pioneering and research for Baptcare’s services and is responsible for leading, developing and managing Baptcare’s strategic research partnerships.

The Head of Research, Service and Practice Development fosters a culture of evidence-based best practice across Baptcare. This role will further the development of research capacity across Baptcare, assist in the identification, development and delivery of the research initiatives and reporting. It is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of research programs, from initial grant funding to designing the implementation program to evaluation. The role will work closely with the Strategy and Policy Head to ensure that research is aligned with other business agendas and the Service Operations teams to embed the research into the business to achieve outcomes for Baptcare’s customers.

The key objective of this role is to grow the business in a sustainable way and ensure that it remains central to Baptcare’s missional focus. Growth is expected to come from the broad range of evidence informed services offered by Baptcare but central to this, will be a shift towards co-design with internal stakeholders, tertiary institutions, and strategic external stakeholders (e.g., Peak organisations).

**The key accountabilities for this role includes**:
Research

Project Management

People management

Stakeholder engagement

Financial management

Workplace health and safety responsibilities

About You

Post-graduate qualifications in social sciences or similar

Post graduate qualifications in management

Extensive research experience (minimum 10 years) with record of securing competitive research grant funding and publication

Wholeheartedly aligned with Baptcare’s Mission, Vision and Values

Excellent ability to form research partnerships with community service organisations and universities to conduct robust, ethically based research and/or program evaluation.

Significant experience in dissemination of research findings through high impact journals and conferences.

Demonstrated experience and ability in the implementation of research findings and change management processes

Superior stakeholder engagement and advocacy skills including the ability to identifying and secure additional research funding opportunities

For You

Baptcare is focused on living our values, not just talking about them. You’ll find the culture at Baptcare is one of genuine respect, support, and positive intention. We work hard to achieve results through change, continuous improvement, and ongoing focus on providing the best service delivery to our stakeholders.

A competitive salary, plus access to the tax benefits of salary packaging and novated leasing.

Hybrid working arrangements, where we predominantly work from home, attending the Camberwell office or sites as required.

Access to confidential counselling and support services.

Be part of an organisation and a team that is driven to make a difference to the lives of our vulnerable community members.

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

Applicants must have the right to work in Australia.

The successful applicant will be required to undergo a National Criminal History check.

Must have had or be willing to get a Flu vaccination and COVID vaccination

Baptcare is committed to building a respectful and inclusive workplace, appointing the best person for the role, and supporting diversity. We welcome applicants who may require adjustments.