Social Work Team Lead

• Role Title: Social Work Team Lead - Palliative Care
• Role Type: Max-term full-time (11 Months)
• Role Grade: Social Worker Level 3
• Department and Location: Social Work, St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst
• Salary: $112,396 - $116,038 + super + salary packaging

Better and fairer care. Always.

We are St Vincent's Health Australia, Australia's largest not-for-profit provider of health and aged care services.

Founded by The Sisters of Charity in 1857, our +30,000 healthcare superheroes operate public and private hospitals, residential aged care, community and virtual care, and outreach programs.

About the Role

• Lead the Social Work team across inpatient and community palliative care services at St Vincent's Hospital. Provide advanced clinical social work interventions while fostering a compassionate, high-performing multidisciplinary team environment committed to delivering person-centred, holistic end-of-life care.
• Provide clinical leadership and guidance to ensure the delivery of comprehensive psychosocial and risk assessments that address the emotional, social, and practical needs of patients, families, and carers across hospital and community settings.
• Lead complex care planning and coordination by collaborating with medical, nursing, and allied health teams to ensure seamless transitions of care, supporting patient dignity, choice, and access to relevant community, government, and non-government services.
• Provide expert supervision, mentoring, and professional development for social work staff and students, fostering clinical excellence in counselling, grief and bereavement support, advocacy, and complex case management.
• Oversee participation in the 24-hour on-call social work crisis service, ensuring timely and effective emotional and practical support is delivered to patients and families during acute or crisis situations outside regular hours.
• Drive quality improvement initiatives, contribute to research, and promote best practice aligned with contemporary palliative care standards and the mission, values, and strategic goals of St Vincent's Hospital.

About You

• Qualified Social Worker with tertiary qualifications in Social Work and eligibility for membership with the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), holding a Full Class C Driver's Licence.
• Bring advanced clinical expertise in palliative care, end-of-life, or chronic and complex illness, with a deep understanding of the emotional, social, and spiritual challenges experienced by patients and families.
• Demonstrated leadership experience providing clinical supervision, guidance, and support to social work staff within healthcare or community-based settings.
• Highly developed skills in psychosocial assessment, therapeutic counselling, case management, and advocacy, particularly in contexts involving grief, loss, and end-of-life support.
• Recognised as a collaborative clinical leader, able to work effectively within multidisciplinary teams to drive service excellence, patient advocacy, and coordinated care planning.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and organisational skills, with a commitment to professional development, reflective practice, and fostering a supportive and compassionate team culture.
• Willingness to participate in the on-call crisis service, ensuring responsive and empathetic care during times of acute need

Why work at St Vincent's?

• Join us on our mission to provide care to all, including the most at-risk people in our community
• Discounted access to many gyms for you and your family with Fitness Passport
• Access to discounted private health insurance with Medibank
• Access to a government salary sacrifice program. Make a proportion of your salary tax-free
• Committed to financial support for educational development, scholarship programs, paid study leave

About the hospital

In this role you will be based at St Vincent's hospital, Darlinghurst.

• A busy inner-city hospital in a beautiful location
• Surrounded by great cafes, galleries and theatres, parks, nightlife, and nearby glorious beaches
• A place of expert clinical care for at-risk people
• Closely partnered with universities & affiliated research institutes, many of which are located on campus
• Centres of excellence include heart & lung transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, cardiology, cancer care, AIDS/HIV, respiratory medicine, mental health, homeless health, drug & alcohol services, and correctional health

Sponsorship / work rights for Australia

Please note, visa sponsorship is not available for this position. For this role you must be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or have an Australia visa that grants you the work rights necessary for the role.

Pre-employment checks

Your employment is conditional upon the completion of all role-required pre-employment checks, including relevant immunisations.

Equal opportunity

We celebrate diversity & inclusion and are committed to equal employment opportunity for everyone.

As part of our commitment to reconciliation we encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to apply and join us in delivering care that heals body, mind, spirit and community.

How to apply

The closing date for applications is 3 November 2025

Please submit your resume and a brief cover letter highlighting how your interest, skills, and experience align with each of the things listed in the About You section of this job advert.

For more information, please contact

Respectfully, this role is not open to recruitment agencies.

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