- Lead the regional women’s health service for Melbourne’s south east
- A proudly feminist organisation
- Fully remote, permanent, full time
The organisation
Women’s Health in the South East (WHISE) is the regional women’s health service for Melbourne’s Southern Metropolitan Region, and one of twelve women’s health services funded through the Victorian Government’s Victorian Women’s Health Program. Founded in 1992, it is a proudly feminist organisation working within a social model of health, with intersectional feminism, compassion and lived experience as its operating principles. WHISE’s catchment is ten local government areas across Melbourne’s south east, from Cardinia and Casey to the Mornington Peninsula and inwards to Port Phillip: 1.3 million people, around 689,000 of them women. Twelve staff carry that mandate. In 2025-26, 3,543 people took part in WHISE-led sessions and initiatives, up from around 1,000 the year before, and an independent evaluation found $3.15 in community benefit for every dollar invested. The work is primary prevention: translating evidence into action for gender equality and advocating for the structural change that addresses the drivers of health inequity for women. Much of it is done alongside councils, health services, schools, workplaces and community organisations, building their capability to apply an intersectional gendered lens to their own work.
The opportunity
The outgoing Chief Executive leaves a well-regarded organisation with two new four-year regional strategies launched with partners. The incoming Chief Executive inherits an organisation in good shape, with strong partnerships and a return to surplus behind it, and real scope to shape what WHISE becomes next. Women’s health has moved to the centre of Victorian policy. The Inquiry into Women’s Pain drew contributions from more than 13,000 women, girls, carers and clinicians, and its recommendations are now in play. The Gender Equality Act 2020 (Vic) has driven demand for exactly the expertise women’s health services hold. But the Victorian Government continued sector funding in the 2026-27 State Budget on a one-year commitment, so the case for ongoing investment falls to the incoming Chief Executive as a key priority. Reporting to the Board through the Chair, the Chief Executive will:
- Manage the relationships with the Department of Health and DFFH, secure current funding, and make the case for continued investment when the current commitment expires. Open the philanthropic and diversified income pathways the strategic plan calls for.
- Hold WHISE’s public position with government, media and the sector, including on contested matters and in response to organised misinformation.
- Lead within the Victorian Women’s Health Services Network, which negotiates, advocates and reports as a sector, while leading an independent organisation with its own regional mandate.
- Deliver the strategy and lead the next planning cycle as the current plan ends.
- Protect and grow a trusting, outcomes-focused remote culture through a leadership transition, and build workforce capability and succession.
- Deepen relationships across ten councils, health services, Primary Health Networks, education providers, employers and community organisations, and with the communities WHISE works with and for.
- Run the organisation well, leading and developing staff while ensuring operations are efficient and effective and resources are allocated for impact.
About you
- A feminist leader in public. You can explain and defend a feminist and intersectional analysis in front of government, funders and the media. This is a requirement of the role, not a preference.
- Senior leadership in the not-for-profit sector. Good experience in a health, community or women’s organisation. The Board is open to a capable first-time chief executive.
- Deep in women’s health and primary prevention. Women’s rights, the evidence base, and what prevention actually takes at a regional scale.
- Fluent with funders. Deep fluency working with funders, including established relationships with the Department of Health and DFFH, strong acquittal discipline across short funding cycles, and an understanding of the collective dynamics within a twelve-member sector network.
- A public voice with judgement. Influence and communication that lands with executive leaders and in public forums, and the resilience to deliver when the work is contested.
- Strategic agility and foresight. Strong financial and commercial judgement, strategic thinking that adapts when legislation and policy move, and the discipline to keep a small organisation running well.
- A leader who shares power. You recognise lived experience as a source of expertise, and you lead a fully remote team by trust and outcomes rather than visibility.
The package
Permanent and full time. Remuneration is negotiable within a range and comprises base salary and superannuation, not-for-profit salary packaging, and flexibility to negotiate around additional benefits. WHISE operates as a fully remote workforce, and the Chief Executive is expected to spend time across the Southern Metropolitan Region.
More information
The full candidate briefing pack, including the position description and organisation chart, can be downloaded from the link on the right hand side of this page.
How to apply
Please upload a CV and a short cover letter setting out what you would bring to WHISE via this webpage . If you would prefer to test your interest or have questions before applying, Michael Holdway would welcome a confidential conversation.
We actively encourage you to apply if you meet the essential criteria, even if you do not meet every desirable one. Research consistently shows that women and candidates from marginalised communities hold themselves to a higher bar than others do. We would rather that bar did not stop you. Please contact Michael Holdway for a confidential conversation to explore this further.
WHISE and Searchlight Group are committed to a candidate experience that is non-discriminatory, culturally safe and accessible. Tell us if you need an adjustment at any point, including scheduling around caring responsibilities. Representation matters and we welcome applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women from migrant and refugee communities, women with disability, and LGBTIQA+ and gender-diverse people.
Applications close and contact
Applications close midnight on Sunday 27th of September 2026. Michael Holdway · Managing Director, Searchlight Group Mobile 0400 006 513 · Direct (03) 9600 1137 · michael@searchlightgroup.com.au