Director Partnerships and Growth

The South Australian Housing Trust ( the Trust) is a modern, professional, and high-performing government agency committed to improving housing outcomes for South Australians. The Trust plays a critical role in enabling people to achieve and maintain safe, secure and affordable housing that meets their needs.

It is providing housing tenancy services, partnering with others to deliver more housing across the State, and facilitating customer's access to alternative housing options. With a workforce of dedicated professionals, the organisation is focused on innovation, partnerships, and service excellence.

The Trust is proud of the meaningful impact it makes in communities and maintains a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, reconciliation, and creating culturally safe and respectful workplaces. It works collaboratively across sectors to improve access to housing and build a more responsive housing system for all South Australians.

About the role

As the Director of Commercial Partnerships at SA Housing Trust, your role will focus on building strong networks to drive positive change in South Australia's housing system. You will lead collaborative efforts by designing partnership models that bring together government agencies, not-for-profits, financiers, regulators, investors, and community providers to achieve shared goals. Your expertise will guide contract negotiations from inception to delivery, ensuring transparency in financial assistance for renters and embedding evidence-based tools to measure success.

You will lead a skilled team dedicated to governance excellence and continuous improvement, shaping innovative responses to challenges in social housing. Your leadership will also support culturally informed reforms under the Aboriginal Housing Strategy and advocate for inclusive policies that reflect the needs of diverse communities. Through policy advocacy and project oversight, you will contribute directly to delivering safe homes for those who need them most.

What you will do

• Drive strategic partnerships across housing, government, and not-for-profit sectors to deliver sustainable, goal aligned solutions.
• Lead complex commissioning and contracts to ensure accountability, value for money, and service delivery outcomes.
• Build strong relationships with senior executives, boards of Community Housing Providers, and key State and Federal Government stakeholders.
• Develop partnership models that integrate the community housing sector for coordinated responses to housing demand and better tenant outcomes.
• Establish monitoring frameworks to measure service delivery effectiveness under agreements and partnerships.
• Foster a high performing team culture focused on excellence, accountability, inclusivity, and learning..
• Provide expert advice and reporting to the Minister, Board, and Executive on performance metrics, risks, and opportunities in partnerships and contracts.
• Oversee large scale community housing projects while ensuring compliance with policies.

What you bring

• Commercial acumen with expertise in developing outcome focused contracts balancing service delivery risks with value for money.
• Ability to identify strategic goals, articulate shared visions, secure stakeholder engagement, and achieve organisational objectives.
• High level written and verbal communication skills suitable for engaging individuals at all levels internally and externally.
• Experience building strategic partnerships across government and non-government sectors to foster collaboration towards shared outcomes.
• Proven ability to operate successfully within politically sensitive contexts including experience reporting directly to Boards or similar governance structures.
• Advanced negotiation skills demonstrated through leading complex negotiations aligning diverse interests towards mutually beneficial results.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are encouraged to apply.

To apply please click apply or call Jess Della-Verde on 08 8216 3530 for a confidential discussion.