Job description
- Become part of our family and make a difference to young Australians through supporting their education
- Be a leader in a multidisciplinary team who specialise in different innovation domains to deliver innovation projects that work towards deepening our impact and sustainably growing.
- Temporary Full Time Position Until December 2025
- Flexible Location / Hybrid Flexibility
We are seeking a Senior Innovation Specialist to join our family. Reporting to the Innovation Manager and working alongside dedicated, energised, and passionate team members, this role will work on a diversity of projects – such as working alongside community and people with lived experience to design new services, designing business models and strategies, or working on system change innovations.
About our role
The role sits in the Innovation Team who support all functional areas of The Smith Family progress prioritised innovation projects. It is a multidisciplinary team who specialise in different innovation domains – e.g. HCD, Service Design, Community Development, Social Innovation, Strategy. An Innovation Specialist will provide subject matter expertise in their innovation domain while partnering with experts in other domains (e.g. digital, marketing, policy) to guide and deliver innovation projects. While every project will look different, an Innovation Specialist will primarily:
- Collaborate with teams to plan, scope and lead the delivery of innovation projects. From understanding the problem / challenge area, using participatory methods to work alongside community and other stakeholders, gather actionable insights, facilitate ideation and test prototypes and MVPs.
- Assesses and develops businesses cases for new and emerging innovations to inform future investment including strategy alignment, social impact, business feasibility and viability.
- Communicate and socialise promising innovation cases.
- Provide strategic guidance and advice to internal teams on innovation practice.
About you
Given the diversity of the team and the projects that we work on you do not need to fit into a particular box. You are a generalist but have a deeper practice in a domain of innovation such as HCD, Social Innovation, Strategy Design, or Innovation for Systems Change. You could come from a variety of backgrounds including service design, management consulting, or community development. You come from a senior role in a consulting or consulting-like environment – i.e. managing multiple, concurrent, complex, and dynamic projects. You have a deep passion and curiosity for how things might be. Your human-centric perspective and empathy means you put others in the centre of design and decision making – particularly those who are often underrepresented. Given this some key competencies and experiences you would bring to role include:
- Application of innovation methodologies such as ideation workshop facilitation, system mapping, experience mapping, prototyping, theory of change, testing and developmental evaluation.
- Application of a variety or qualitative and quantitative research techniques.
- Coaching and mentoring team members through innovation projects.
- Working with senior leadership and executive to understand innovation project outcomes to inform strategic decision making.
- Complex problem solving, systems thinking and analytical capability.
- Communicating complex concepts, experiences and processes in accessible ways.
- Have or willing to obtain an employee Working With Children’s Check
About our culture
The Smith Family has employees at the centre of its values and operations. We nurture a supportive and inclusive culture that enables people to achieve personal and professional goals, through collaboration and innovation. With a proven work-life balance, wellbeing and health are our top priorities. Enjoy many other benefits, such as tax concessions and flexible working arrangements.
If you are passionate about what you do, committed to make a difference and this sounds like your next role, please click ‘Apply Now’ by the closing date, we’d love to hear from you. You may view the position description attached.
Due to the nature of this role, the successful candidate must be prepared to undertake a National Police Check and a Working with Children’s Check. We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to principles of cultural diversity. Applications from people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent are encouraged.
A position description is attached.