_{11th September, 2026}

Centre Manager Derrimut

What if your next Centre Director role wasn't about rebuilding a service but taking an already strong one to the next level?

For experienced Centre Directors, a new opportunity can often mean inheriting staffing challenges, low occupancy, cultural issues or significant compliance work. This opportunity is different.

We are partnering with an established early childhood provider seeking an experienced Centre Director to lead a high-performing service with strong foundations already in place.

You'll be joining a stable, long-standing team with no current staffing vacancies, supported by an experienced Assistant Centre Manager/Educational Leader.

Occupancy is strong, there is an established waitlist, and the service is performing well across its operations.

The opportunity isn't to come in and fix what's broken. It's to understand what's already working, protect it and use your leadership experience to take quality, practice and people even further.

Our Client

Our client is an established early childhood provider with a strong commitment to quality education and care, child safety and creating positive environments for children, families and educators. This is a service with stability.
The team is established, the leadership structure is strong and families are actively choosing the centre. For the incoming Centre Director, this creates the space to lead differently. Rather than spending your first six months filling vacancies or addressing fundamental operational challenges, you'll have the opportunity to focus on your people, educational quality and meaningful continuous improvement.

They want an experienced leader who can recognise and respect what's already working while bringing fresh thinking and their own leadership style to the service.

The Role

As Centre Director, you'll take overall responsibility for the leadership, culture, quality and performance of the service.

You'll work closely with an experienced Assistant Centre Manager/Educational Leader and lead a team that already has strong relationships and established ways of working.

Your role will be to maintain those foundations while continuing to raise the bar.
You will:

• Lead, support and inspire an established team.
• Maintain and strengthen a positive workplace culture.
• Work collaboratively with your Assistant Centre Manager/Educational Leader.
• Coach and develop educators and emerging leaders.
• Continue to strengthen educational quality and practice.
• Lead meaningful continuous improvement.
• Maintain high standards across compliance and child safety.
• Build strong relationships with children and families.
• Bring fresh ideas and identify opportunities to further enhance the service.
• Maintain strong operational performance and occupancy.
• Create an environment where educators feel valued, supported and accountable.

What's on Offer

• Negotiable salary + super, depending on experience.
• Additional retention incentive.
• RDOs in addition to four weeks' annual leave.
• Stable, long-standing educator team.
• No current staffing vacancies.
• Experienced Assistant Centre Manager/Educational Leader already in place.
• Excellent occupancy with an established waitlist.
• Strong foundations across quality, compliance and operations.
• The opportunity to focus on leadership and quality rather than rebuilding.
• Autonomy to bring your own ideas and leadership style.
• An opportunity to inherit something strong and make it even better.

About You

We are looking for an experienced Centre Director who knows that great leadership doesn't always mean changing everything. You'll have the confidence to walk into an established service, listen and understand before deciding where you can add value.

You're a leader who can maintain high expectations while creating an environment where people feel supported, respected and motivated to perform at their best.

You will bring:

• 3-5 years experience as a Centre Director.
• Strong people leadership and team development skills.
• Excellent knowledge of the NQF, EYLF and National Regulations.
• Experience driving quality and continuous improvement.
• A strong commitment to child safety and wellbeing.
• The ability to coach, mentor and inspire experienced educators.
• A collaborative and professional leadership style.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
• Sound operational and organisational capability.
• A genuine passion for high-quality early childhood education.

If you've been considering a change but don't want your next role to be another service that needs rebuilding, this could be the opportunity you've been waiting for.

Step into a service with strong foundations, an established team and plenty already working and use your leadership to take it from strong to exceptional.

For a confidential discussion, please contact:

Selina Stanley
SSR Recruitment
0449 865 003
selina@ss-recruitment.com.au

Let SSR Recruitment help you discover a leadership opportunity that aligns with your experience, aspirations and passion for quality early education.

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