Head of Strategy, Planning and Insights

Purpose: To lead, promote, unite, develop and regulate football

Vision: To unite and elevate Australian football to become a world class, globally respected system to inspire our national, developing excellence at every level

Mission: Working with our stakeholders everyday – to build the capability, capacity and capital we need now and in the future - to transform every football dream into reality

To achieve the above, we live by our company values which are:

• Welcome: Open doors, open minds, open hearts – and respect
• Ready: Always ready, Always ahead
• Connect: Together, united
• Excel: Our best, every day in every way
• Protect: Guarding the game, Securing the future

What We Offer

At Football Australia we want to look after our people and below are just some of the many benefits of joining our team:

• Flexible work arrangements
• Birthday Leave
• Study Leave
• Wellbeing & Lifestyle leave
• Paid Parental leave in addition to statutory government offering
• Volunteer leave
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Partner discounts
• Workplace Banking Program
• Social Activities such as 5-a-side futsal

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The Head of Strategy, Planning & Insights is responsible for shaping and driving Football Australia’s strategic direction, ensuring strong alignment between long‑term objectives, financial planning, operational execution and data‑driven decision‑making.

This role leads enterprise strategy, corporate planning (including budgeting and forecasting), and insights and analytics, playing a central role in driving organisational excellence and sustainable growth. It ensures strategic initiatives are clearly defined, funded, implemented and supported by robust systems, processes and evidence‑based insights.

As a key advisor to the Senior Leadership Team, Executive Leadership Team and Board, the role translates strategy into clear priorities, integrated plans and measurable outcomes across Football Australia.

Role Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead the development and ongoing refresh of Football Australia’s enterprise strategy and long‑term plans
• Support development of the Vision for Football in Australia
• Translate strategic priorities into clear initiatives, roadmaps and measurable outcomes
• Develop robust business cases for strategic and growth initiatives, including financial modelling and scenario analysis
• Lead organisation‑wide strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting processes
• Ensure strong alignment between strategy, business plans and financial outcomes
• Ensure resource allocation aligns with strategic priorities and evidence‑based investment decisions
• Build and lead a high‑quality insights and analytics capability across the organisation
• Deliver data‑driven insights to inform decision‑making across participation, fan engagement, commercial performance and operations
• Develop and oversee dashboards, KPIs and reporting frameworks to track performance against strategic objectives
• Promote a culture of data‑driven decision‑making and continuous improvement
• Drive initiatives to improve organisational efficiency, effectiveness and scalability
• Partner with Technology and People & Culture teams to enhance systems, tools and workforce capability
• Establish and lead project management disciplines for strategic and growth initiatives
• Oversee delivery of major cross‑functional initiatives and track benefits realisation
• Provide high‑quality reporting to the SLT, ELT and Board on strategy execution, performance, risks and opportunities

ROLE OUTCOMES/ DELIVERABLES

Success In This Role Will See

• Strategy translated into funded, prioritised and executable plans aligned to organisational objectives
• High‑quality budgeting and forecasting supporting disciplined decision‑making and effective resource allocation
• Executive and Board decision‑making consistently informed by clear, timely and data‑driven insights
• Strategic and growth initiatives successfully implemented with measurable benefits realised
• Improved organisational efficiency, effectiveness and scalability
• Strong alignment across Finance, Technology, People & Culture and business teams
• A culture of accountability, performance and continuous improvement embedded across the organisation
• Strengthened strategic planning, execution and performance visibility across Football Australia

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Excellent modelling skills and proven experience in complex financial and data modelling
• Proven experience in leading a high performance team
• Demonstrated experience in developing strategy presentations and storytelling with insights
• Significant experience in strategy, planning, finance, consulting or a related discipline
• Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting and business case development
• Demonstrated experience in data‑driven and insights‑led decision‑making
• Experience leading cross‑functional initiatives, transformation programs or major projects
• Strong commercial and entrepreneurial mindset
• Proven experience identifying and developing growth or revenue opportunities
• Ability to engage and influence senior leaders and Boards
• Experience operating in complex, multi‑stakeholder environments
• Experience in a Corporate Strategy function / consulting environment highly regarded
• Understanding of the football or broader sport ecosystem (highly desirable)

Qualifications

• Tertiary qualification in business, finance, economics or a related discipline
• Postgraduate qualifications (e.g. MBA) highly regarded

Application close - Wednesday 17th June 2026 at 5:00pm AEST