Start-Up & Acquisition Operations Lead

Connect, Learn & Grow with Aspire

Aspire Early Education & Kindergarten is a proudly Australian-owned organisation delivering exceptional care and education across Victoria and Western Australia — and soon, New South Wales. Since opening our first centre in 2017, we've grown to 34 open centres, with more than 80 additional centres planned over the next few years.

We're now seeking a Start-Up & Acquisition Operations Lead to drive the successful launch of Aspire's new centres across Australia. Based at our Support Office in South Yarra, this leadership role oversees a dedicated team of Start-Up Area Managers and Coordinators, ensuring every centre opens with operational excellence, strong community engagement, and compliance with all regulatory standards.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the future growth of a rapidly expanding organisation, embedding scalable processes and ensuring a seamless handover from start-up to established operations. At Aspire, we believe in empowering our people to grow alongside our centres.

What You'll Do

• Lead start-up strategy - Provide oversight for Aspire's national start-up and acquisition plans, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and to the highest compliance and operational standards.
• Manage a high-performing team - Coach and develop Start-Up Managers and Coordinators, building capability, consistency, and ownership across all new centres.
• Drive operational readiness - Oversee pre-opening audits, licensing, staffing, and risk management to guarantee centres are compliant and set up for success.
• Strengthen cross-functional collaboration - Act as the central liaison across Property, Compliance, HR, Marketing, Enquiry, and Executive Leadership, ensuring alignment and proactive risk management.
• Monitor performance & handover - Implement a structured five-month tracking framework post-opening, using key data points to evaluate centre readiness before transition to established operations.
• Embed continuous improvement - Refine start-up frameworks, handover processes, and best-practice toolkits based on evaluation and team feedback.

About You

• Proven experience in senior operations or start-up leadership within the childcare sector.
• Minimum 4 years' experience in an operations role or start-up leadership, ideally with more than 5 services.
• Strong track record managing large, complex projects and leading multi-site operations.
• In-depth knowledge of the National Quality Framework (NQF), ACECQA standards, Child Safe Standards, and relevant regulations.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement skills — confident working with regulators, executives, centre leaders, and external partners.
• Tertiary qualification in Early Childhood, Business Management, or related field (required).
• Current Working with Children Check, Police Check, and First Aid certification.
• Flexibility to travel regularly across Victoria and other states (as required) to support new centre sites.

Why Join Aspire?

• Up to 50% childcare discount at any Aspire centre.
• Paid birthday leave - celebrate your day, your way.
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Genuine career growth and progression opportunities.
• A supportive, inclusive, values-led culture.

At Aspire, we believe in creating a safe, inclusive, and empowering environment for both children and employees. We actively encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Aspire Early Education has zero tolerance for child abuse and a strong commitment to child safety and wellbeing in both physical and digital environments.