Assistant Director of Nursing - Professional Practice and Governance
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Austin Health is the major provider of tertiary health services, health professional education and research across three campuses in the north-east of Melbourne and statewide. We have a highly engaged, diverse and collaborative workforce that is unified by our goal to help people live healthy and fulfilled lives.
About the Nursing Workforce Unit
Austin Health Nursing Workforce units’ purpose is to provide a framework for nursing professional practice and credentialing and to collaborate with operations to support the development of a highly functioning contemporary nursing workforce. Additionally, the nursing workforce unit supports operational nursing workforce planning, recruitment and manages the supplementary workforce to support short term vacancies, and additional resources to support increased acuity. The relationship with operations and bed managers is critical in supporting the organisation to provide ongoing optimal clinical care.
The Nursing Workforce Unit (NWU) provides proactive management of the nursing workforce encompassing:
- The timely recruitment and deployment of the supplementary workforce with required skill sets into department vacancies across Austin Health.
- Data management and report analyses for organisation nursing workforce key performance indicators as set by the Austin Health Executive and operations
- Enhancement of nursing leadership and professional practice
- Provision of strategic and operational nursing workforce planning and expertise and advice to nurse unit managers, divisional managers, and directors.
- Oversight and accountability of nurse credentialing and professional practice frameworks.
About the role
The Assistant Director of Nursing (ADON), is a senior leader of the nursing division and a member of the Nursing Executive team. They model the core values of Austin Health through effective leadership and management of the Nursing Workforce Unit nursing and support staff. This position’s primary responsibility is to provide oversight of nursing professional practice, governance frameworks and credentialing processes, monitored through Nursing Advisory Council. The role ensures alignment with NMBA standards, National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards and relevant legislation (e.g. Safe Patient Care Act). Additionally, the role contributes to organisational and nursing workforce planning and redesign initiatives, leading defined projects as identified in the Nursing Strategic plan and CNO portfolio business plan. The role partners closely with the Divisional leadership structure via a partnership model to support workforce planning and provide professional nursing practice guidance and support.
About you
If you are passionate about nursing professional development and are an aspiring senior leader, we would be delighted to hear from you.
This role is ideal for a collaborative team player who can partner with organisational leaders to co-design and enhance nursing governance processes, while supporting the development and implementation of contemporary models of care. You will play a key role in strengthening nursing capability, fostering innovation, and contributing to excellence in patient care and workforce development.
Our benefits
Working at Austin Health means enjoying a strong sense of purpose, engaging in meaningful work every day. Our people also receive a variety of rewarding benefits, including:
- Greater take-home pay through generous salary packaging, for living expenses, meals, and holiday accommodation.
- A suite of wellness initiatives designed to support you, including discounted fitness memberships and special offers on health insurance, and a comprehensive wellbeing program.
- Onsite childcare at Austin Hospital, easy access via public transport and car parking options.
- Mentoring and career development opportunities.
Work with us!
We are committed to cultural safety and health equity for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander People. We celebrate, value, and include people of all backgrounds, genders, identities, cultures, bodies, and abilities. We welcome and support applications from talented people identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, people with disability, neurodiverse people, LGBTQIA+ and people of all ages and cultures.
If you feel this role is right for you, we encourage your early application. Even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we encourage you to apply. What matters most is your passion, your drive and your willingness to learn and contribute. Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and interviews may take place prior to the closing date. This means we reserve the right to close a job ad prior to the advertised closing date.
All appointments are made subject to a satisfactory National Police Check and if required, a Working With Children Check. Austin Health is a child safe organisation, committed to upholding the rights, safety, and wellbeing of children and young people in line with Child Safe Standards. If you require any reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process, you are welcome to reach out to the hiring manager: Nonie Rickard, Director of Nursing (Austin) at Nonie.Rickard@austin.org.au.
Interested in finding out more about this opportunity? Read the position description for further details.
Application closing date: Sunday 7 June 2026
