Our client is one of Australia’s leading and contemporary industry membership organisations. The organisation’s primary role is to set and maintain the highest standards of professional practice, education, ethics and professional conduct for its 8000 members and the broader profession and industry. The organisation is committed to building and maintaining a strong base for the future of the profession through broadening the expertise and knowledge of its members.

The Role:

The Chief Operations Officer is a full-time, permanent role that will be based in either Sydney or Melbourne, dependent on the candidate’s location.

1. Operations: overseeing the end to end operations of the business, ensuring effective processes, systems, people and financial procedures are in place to manage financial success, optimise internal capabilities, build and grow our culture, thus maximizing the delivery of strategic initiatives set by the Board. The COO will have oversight of budget, and strategies to safeguard assets via management of financial reports, and control of financial policies and procedures.

2. Strategic Initiatives: The role is vital to provide the operational foundations of support to the strategic development and implementation of strategic initiatives.

3. Risk Management: The role will be responsible for identifying, assessing, and managing potential risks associated with the business.

4. Resource Allocation: The role will ensure that resources are efficiently allocated within the operations and finance teams to allow strategic initiatives and projects to be delivered on time and within budget.

Key Areas of Accountability:

• Work with the Executive Leadership Team to develop the strategic plan and to generate (and support delivery of) the operational plan.
• Drive continuous improvement with operating capabilities to deliver strong employee & member satisfaction and retention.
• Overview of and responsibility for business continuity, compliance with laws and regulations within business services and operations more broadly.
• Oversee member engagement activity and service delivery through its shared services function.
• People management responsibility for the finance, membership and operations teams. Ensure the team have the tools, skills and capabilities to successfully execute their roles to the quality expected and in alignment with operational plan.
• Delegate responsibilities and employ initiatives to coach the team to optimise their capabilities and grow as capable participants.
• Lead the preparation of timely and quality reporting to the Board.

Position Requirements:

• Strong operations experience, financial, HR/people, business and commercial acumen and attention to detail, balancing commercial outcomes, organizational and member needs.
• Detailed understanding of Board Governance and Australian company legislative and regulatory requirements.
• Strong relationship building, networking and membership liaison skills
• Effective written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrated strategic thinking, honesty, and ethics in all dealings.
• Ability to identify the key challenges affecting the organisation, sector and industry and provide advice as to systems, processes and skill sets to solve.
• Ability to exercise judgement under pressure and to manage complex projects
• Well-developed interpersonal, presentation and negotiation skills.
• Strong financial, risk and change management skills, with the ability to oversee the management of Operations – i.e all the financial and human resources, including budgeting, IT and member service type functions.

Experience & Qualifications:

• Relevant tertiary qualifications in operations, business administration, finance or relevant field
• Demonstrated experience in successfully managing a complex organisation’s finances, operations, and strategies.
• Proven experience in successfully leading, motivating and developing teams to reach organisational objectives.
• Experience in stakeholder engagement and relationship management
• MBA and CPA are a strong advantage
• Understanding or experience of the property industry or associated profession would be advantageous