13th February, 2026
About our Client:
The Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide positively impacts the lives of its members through the development and delivery of human services related programs and offerings. With the head office in the Adelaide CBD and multiple sites throughout South Australia, a rewarding senior opportunity for a Director - Catholic Safety & Injury Management is now available.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide in South Australia employs over 10,500 people working across education, health, social services and parishes, with many volunteers who assist and support our parishes. The Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide is committed to providing a safe work environment for its staff, volunteers and anyone who engages in contract work or visits our worksites.
The Catholic Safety, and Injury Management Business Unit acts as the pivotal centralised function responsible for leading work health and safety, injury prevention and injury management to all worksites in the church, including the Catholic Diocese of Adelaide, Catholic Education South Australia and Centacare. The team provides expert advice, guidance and practical support, ensuring safety and wellbeing are embedded across all environments.
This business unit also manages the daily activity of the Catholic Church Endowment Society (CCES), which is a Self-Insured Employer with ReturnToWorkSA. This self-insurance registration (licence) granted by the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia, covers approximately 300 entities and around 12,500 employees across the state.
CCES plays a vital role in enabling the Church's mission by providing governance, administration and specialist services that support worship and sacraments, pastoral care, education, social services and community engagement.
To learn more, please visit www.adelaide.catholic.org.au
About the Opportunity: A rare senior leadership opportunity created by long-term service and thoughtful succession.
Following the retirement of a long-standing and highly respected leader, the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide is seeking an experienced and purpose-driven Director, Catholic Safety and Injury Management to build on a strong foundation and lead the next chapter, focussing on the safety, wellbeing and injury management across the Catholic Church in South Australia.
This is a senior, system-wide leadership role with significant influence. Reporting to the Diocesan Financial Administrator (DFA), you will shape strategy, provide governance oversight and partner closely with senior executives, schools, other entities and departments, regulators and key stakeholders across the organisation to ensure strong safety outcomes and the long-term sustainability of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide's self-insurance arrangements.
With established frameworks already in place, this role offers an outstanding opportunity to steward a mature function while also leading safety, culture, and continuous improvement initiatives across diverse Catholic organisations and entities.
Key Responsibilities: - Provide overall governance and strategic oversight of the Catholic Church's self-insurance, safety and injury management functions.
- Lead, develop and mentor a multidisciplinary team fostering capability, accountability and a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement, ensuring the highest quality of standards are met.
- Set clear direction and priorities for work health and safety, and injury management across Catholic entities, ensuring safety is embedded as core business across the Catholic Church's organisations in South Australia.
- Partner with senior executive leaders and senior managers to provide expert advice, influence decision-making and manage risks, both current and emerging.
- Oversee claims performance, emerging trends and financial risk drivers, ensuring sustainable, fair and collaborative outcomes.
- Drive and encourage early intervention strategies and effective return-to-work outcomes for injured workers.
- Provide leadership oversight of internal injury management processes, including the management and resolution of complex or sensitive matters, as required.
- Maintain excellent working relationships with regulators, claims agents and external partners.
- Lead audit readiness, assurance frameworks and self-insurance licence retention activities.
- Champion cultural and systemic improvements that further strengthen safety, wellbeing and organisational resilience.
To be successful in this role: You will bring a blend of strategic insight, technical credibility and people leadership, underpinned by strong professional judgement and values alignment.
Specifically, you will offer:
- Relevant tertiary qualifications and/or substantial senior-level experience across WHS, and injury management disciplines, within a similar working environment.
- Deep, practical knowledge of South Australian Return to Work legislation, regulations and self-insurance requirements.
- Proven experience operating in large, complex or self-insured environments, with the ability to navigate scale, risk and competing priorities.
- Demonstrated success engaging with religious entities, schools, key stakeholders and Executive Committees, including the ability to present clearly, influence effectively and provide trusted advice.
- Strong leadership capability, with experience leading, mentoring and developing multidisciplinary teams, with a consultative and collaborative approach.
- A track record in designing, implementing and continuously improving injury management and safety systems.
- Strong analytical, financial and business planning skills, with attention to detail and an ability to interpret trends, data and actuarial insights.
- Sound understanding of technology and systems that support contemporary safety and injury management practices.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, enabling you to build trust, coach leaders and work collaboratively across diverse stakeholders.
- High levels of professionalism, discretion and integrity, with the ability to manage sensitive matters confidentially and thoughtfully.
- A proactive, improvement-focused mindset, with the initiative to innovate and strengthen systems, culture and capability over time.
A current driver's licence and the ability to travel both inter and intra state as required is essential, along with a commitment to ongoing professional development, as approved.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a Child Safe Organisation. All employees and volunteers of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide are required to undergo and retain a valid Working with Children Check, as outlined in the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016, and are required to fulfil their legal and ethical obligations as Mandated Notifiers under the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017.
Why join Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide? - Meaningful work that protects people, strengthens culture and supports community.
- A senior leadership role with genuine autonomy, trust and influence.
- The opportunity to lead, mentor and grow a high performing, multidisciplinary team.
- A stable organisation with a strong record of staff longevity and commitment.
- A values-led environment grounded in dignity, care, responsibility and respect.
- Flexible working arrangements appropriate to a senior leadership role.
- Excellent terms and conditions offered, including car parking.
- The chance to build on a strong legacy while shaping future strategy and impact.
If you are a senior safety and injury management leader motivated by purpose, people leadership and the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution, we would love to hear from you.
Sound like you? If you'd like to learn more or receive a copy of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide candidate pack, please don't hesitate to reach out to Selina on 0435 843 155 . To apply, please submit a cover letter outlining your relevant experience as detailed in the advertisement, along with your resume and at least two current referees. Please submit as one document.
We maintain the discretion to extend an offer at any stage of the recruitment process. If you are interested in the position submit your application as soon as possible!
To streamline the process, we kindly request that recruiters and candidates refrain from directly contacting the client. The client has enlisted the services of BespokeHR exclusively for this role. If you or any potential candidates are interested in applying, kindly utilise the provided 'apply' button.
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