Executive Director Corporate Services

Lead the corporate foundations that enable City of Newcastle to perform, evolve and deliver lasting value for its community.

• Lead approximately 240 employees across five multidisciplinary service units.
• Strengthen financial sustainability, governance and organisational performance.
• Advise the CEO, Executive Leadership Team and Council on complex strategic matters.
• Shape the systems, capability and culture that enable City of Newcastle to deliver for its community.

As Executive Director Corporate Services, you will shape how the organisation serves the people who live, work, invest in and visit Newcastle. While the impact of our work is visible across the city’s parks, roads, libraries, public spaces and essential services, the foundations that make these outcomes possible are built through strong leadership, sound decisions, capable people and effective systems.

Newcastle is the cultural and economic centre of the Hunter region and one of Australia’s fastest-growing regional cities. Employing more than 1,400 people, City of Newcastle delivers the services, infrastructure and public spaces that support its diverse and growing community.

Guided by the Newcastle 2040 Community Strategic Plan and the values of Collaboration, Respect, Excellence and Wellbeing, City of Newcastle is committed to creating a liveable, sustainable and inclusive global city.

The Opportunity

At City of Newcastle, you don’t just work for the city – you co-create it.

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer and contributing as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, the Executive Director Corporate Services will lead one of the organisation’s most influential portfolios.

This is a role where your decisions, leadership and ideas will shape what happens behind the scenes so the community can experience the differences. You will lead the corporate functions that enable the organisation to think big, act local and turn ambitious plans into meaningful outcomes.

The portfolio encompasses:

• People & Culture
• Customer Experience
• Information Technology
• Finance & Property
• Legal & Governance

Your leadership will strengthen organisational capability, support informed decision-making, build confidence in the organisation and contribute to long-term financial sustainability.

Working alongside the CEO, Executive Leadership Team and elected Council, you will help shape the future of the organisation that shows up for neighbours, not stakeholders.

The key priorities will include:

• Aligning Corporate Services with the Newcastle 2040 strategic direction.
• Overseeing operational and capital budgets, resources and financial sustainability.
• Strengthening governance, enterprise risk, compliance and internal controls.
• Sponsoring significant organisational, technology and service transformation.
• Improving customer experience and organisation-wide business partnering.
• Building leadership capability, workforce performance and accountability.
• Championing safety, wellbeing, ethical conduct and a positive organisational culture.
• Providing clear, trusted advice to the CEO, Executive Leadership Team and Council.
• Maintaining constructive relationships across government, industry and the community.

About You

As an accomplished executive leader with extensive experience in a large, diverse and complex organisation, you have successfully led broad corporate or enabling functions through senior specialist leaders, and can align competing priorities within a highly regulated, publicly accountable and politically sensitive environment.

Bringing strong financial and commercial acumen, sound judgement and a thorough understanding of governance, risk and organisational accountability, you can move confidently between strategy and execution. You are comfortable leading significant transformation, navigating complexity and providing pragmatic advice at the highest organisational level.

To be successful, you will demonstrate:

• Significant executive leadership experience within a large, complex organisation.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary corporate or enabling portfolios at scale.
• Strong financial, commercial, budgeting and resource management capability.
• Expertise in governance, enterprise risk, compliance and accountability.
• Experience delivering significant organisational, technology or service transformation.
• A record of strengthening leadership capability, performance and culture.
• Highly developed political acumen, including demonstrated experienceworking effectively with elected representatives, Boards or equivalent bodies.
• Highly developed communication, stakeholder engagement and influencing skills.
• Sound judgement and a visible, inclusive and ethical leadership approach.

Relevant tertiary qualifications and/or extensive experience in a related discipline are essential.

Postgraduate qualifications and a thorough understanding of NSW local government legislative and reporting requirements will be highly regarded.

How to Apply

To learn more about the responsibilities, organisation, and associated benefits, please view the Candidate Information Brief by clicking here , which also contains the mandatory responses to include in your application.

For any additional questions, please contact Ali Kimmorley on 02 4927 2006 or Sign in to view email for a confidential discussion.

Applications close 5 August 2026.

At peoplefusion we don’t just accept diversity and inclusion - we celebrate it! We strive to create an environment of equal opportunity regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, lifestyle, age, religion or physical ability, and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. If you require any assistance with your application, please don’t hesitate to contact us.