Operations Leader Burial

At Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (SMCT), our teams play an important role in caring for some of Victoria's most significant memorial parks and cemeteries. We are seeking an experienced and people-focused Operations Leader to lead our Burial team, ensuring safe, efficient and high-quality operations while fostering a positive and high-performing team culture.

This is a hands-on leadership role where you'll combine operational planning, people leadership, safety management and continuous improvement to help deliver exceptional outcomes for our customers, communities and stakeholders.

About the Role

Reporting to the Operations Manager, you will lead frontline operational teams responsible for burial services and related activities across our sites. You will provide visible leadership, drive a strong safety culture and work collaboratively across the organisation to ensure operational excellence, customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

Lead, coach and develop a Burial team to deliver safe, efficient and high-quality operational outcomes. Champion a strong safety culture through visible leadership, risk management, wellbeing initiatives and return-to-work support. Drive team performance through coaching, regular feedback, workforce planning and capability development.

Oversee daily operations, ensuring work is completed efficiently, compliantly and in line with operational plans and service standards. Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to deliver customer-focused outcomes and support cross-functional ways of working. Identify and implement continuous improvement opportunities that enhance safety, productivity, service delivery and team effectiveness.

Manage operational resources, budgets, reporting, projects and capital works to achieve business objectives. Contribute to strategic initiatives, business planning and the development of a culture that reflects SMCT's PRIDE Values.

About You

You are an experienced operational leader who enjoys developing people, solving problems and creating a safe, high-performing work environment. You will bring: Proven experience leading teams in an operational, outdoor or field-based environment. Strong commitment to workplace health, safety and wellbeing. Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement and customer service skills.

Demonstrated ability to develop and implement operational plans. Experience managing employee performance, coaching and team development. Strong organisational and problem-solving skills. Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel and Outlook. Full Victorian Driver's License (manual). What’s on Offer: We offer a fulfilling career with exceptional personal and professional growth opportunities, along with a comprehensive range of benefits, including: Leadership and Development programs Flexible working arrangements.

Employee Health, Wellbeing and Assistance Programs including complimentary onsite physio services. A range of leave entitlements including; 16 weeks paid parental leave for primary carers and 6 weeks for secondary carers Reproductive Health and Wellbeing leave Gender Affirmation leave Cultural/Ceremonial leave The opportunity to purchase additional annual leave.

Discounts available at our employee café and onsite florists. Don’t meet every requirement? We still encourage you to apply – your unique strengths might be just what we need. We care for our colleagues and the community we serve. To protect one another it is a requirement that all successful candidates complete background checks.

If you have any access requirements which restrict you from fully participating in our recruitment process, please contact [email protected] so that we can discuss necessary adjustments. We're reviewing applications as they come in and may remove this ad early once the position is filled, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

For more information on Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, please visit our website: www.smct.org.au . SMCT is an equal opportunity employer and a Diversity Council Australia Member.