Current vacancies

Senior Advisor – Practice Development

Emerging Minds

• Location: Level 1, 107 Sir Donald Bradman Drive, Hilton SA 5033
• Salary $117,000.00 per annum (adjusted to hours worked)
• Fixed Term Contract Position (0.8 – 1.0 FTE – 60.8 – 76 hours per fortnight until 30 June 2027)

Emerging Minds is dedicated to advancing the mental health and emotional wellbeing of infants, children, adolescents and their families in Australia.  Emerging Minds develops mental health policy, services, interventions, training, programs and resources in response to the needs of professionals, children and their families Emerging Minds partners with family members and national and international organisations to implement evidence based practice into the Australian context.  Emerging Minds strives to build and nurture a culture where inclusiveness is a reflex, not an initiative. Different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative work environment.

Reporting to the Manager, Workforce Development, the Senior Advisor – Practice Development provides national systems leadership to support the implementation of workforce and practice development strategies that improve infant and child mental health outcomes. This includes shaping and stewarding the design, development, and dissemination of practice development resources, learning activities, events, and guidance for practitioners, organisations, and service systems, ensuring alignment with broader workforce and service system priorities. The Senior Advisor – Practice Development provides leadership, supervision, and mentoring to staff within the Practice Development portfolio to build systems thinking, sector leadership capability, and confidence in complex policy and reform environments. The role works closely and collaboratively with the Manager, Workforce Development and other senior leaders across Emerging Minds to ensure practice development activity is aligned, integrated, and leveraged for impact at national and state levels.

Key duties include but are not limited to:

• Shape, steward, and operationalise elements of national practice development strategies, contributing expert leadership, sector insight, and system influence.
• Provide oversight of the design, development, and dissemination of scalable learning resources, guidance, and practice frameworks, ensuring alignment with system priorities and emerging evidence.
• Ensure practice development initiatives integrate research evidence, lived and living experience, cultural knowledge, and frontline practice wisdom.
• Provide national systems leadership and influence to advance workforce capability and service system reform relevant to infant and child mental health.
• Support staff to build and maintain strong sector-based partnerships, including with health, social services, education, emergency management and community organisations.
• Shape and progress system‑level approaches that respond to structural barriers and enablers across health, education, social services, and community sectors.
• Provide strategic supervision, mentoring, and leadership to staff within the Practice Development portfolio, with a focus on building systems thinking, sector leadership capability, and confidence operating in complex policy and reform environments
• Enable staff to translate evidence into practice across diverse contexts while maintaining high standards of quality, cultural responsiveness, and reflective practice.
• Plan, coordinate, and deliver scalable professional development and learning activities, both in-person and online, tailored to a range of workforces across health, education, and social services sectors.
• Coordinate thorough and timely review of all learning products and practice resources, ensuring content is current, evidence-informed, and aligned with sector needs.
• Contribute to budgeting, timeline management, and performance monitoring across all assigned projects.

To be successful in this position you will have:

• An appropriate degree level qualification in health, behavioural or social sciences.
• Demonstrated experience in working with infants and/or children, and parents.
• Demonstrated experience working in an infant and child mental health or child health and development role, and an understanding of practice strategies to improve child mental health, development and resilience.
• Demonstrated experience in the development, delivery, and evaluation of capacity building activities in relation to the mental health of infants, children, and their families.
• Demonstrated ability to provide high quality consultancy and advisory services to management, staff, and external bodies and to establish and maintain both integrity and confidentiality in dealing with issues of a sensitive nature.
• Ability to communicate, both verbally and in writing, to a wide range of people across National jurisdictions on a range of sensitive and complex issues.
• Ability to present at public forums and conferences on behaviours, practices, evidence, and strategies to support improved mental health outcomes for infants, children, and their families. Demonstrated understanding of mental health promotion, mental illness prevention, early intervention, and treatment as it relates to infants, children, adolescence, and families.
• Demonstrated understanding of the impact of social determinants of health and their impact on adults, families, parenting and mental health outcomes for infants and children (0-12 years).

Special conditions:

• This position may require intra/interstate travel which may necessitate overnight absences.
• A current National Police Certificate and Working with Children Check are required.
• This is a fixed term contract position until 30th June 2027, with the possibility of a further contract extension.
• This position is subject to a 6-month probationary period.

Employee benefits:

What does Emerging Minds offer:

• The ability to contribute to National strategies to improve the wellbeing of infants, children and families.
• A modern, friendly work environment.
• 2 Days of Paid Wellbeing Leave per calendar year.
• 3 Days of Paid Christmas Leave per calendar year.
• Generous Superannuation (additional 3% employer contribution).
• Salary and Entertainment Packaging.
• Flexible and balanced working from home arrangements.
• Access to our Employee Assistance Provider.

HOW TO APPLY

Additional enquiries can be directed to Kathy Moar, Manager, Workforce Development via email at: [email protected]

Please provide a cover letter outlining your skills and experience together with your resume and the name and email contact details of 3 referees and send to Karen McGregor, HR & Business Advisor at [email protected] using the subject line:  Senior Advisor – Practice Development application. Only applications sent to this address will be accepted.

Download a copy of the position description.

Applications close Sunday, 29 March 2026 at 4:00 pm. Applications received after the closing date and time will not be accepted. Please note, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Emerging Minds are committed to building a diverse workforce, and strongly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples or people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds to apply.