Director Improvement

The Hospital:

The Royal Children’s Hospital’s (RCH) Vision is “A world where all kids thrive”.

RCH is a cornerstone member of the Melbourne Children’s Campus, partnering with Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics and The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.

RCH has cared for the children and young people of Victoria for more than 150 years since it was founded in 1870. A full range of paediatrics and adolescent health services are provided plus tertiary and quaternary care for the most critically ill and medically complex patients in Victoria, Tasmania, southern NSW and other states around Australia and overseas. The Hospital has more than 6,000 staff, a budget of $850M, 12 wards and 350 beds. Annually, the RCH has 300,000+ Specialist Clinic appointments, 90,000+ Emergency Department presentations and 20,000 elective surgeries.

The RCH is committed to the Child Safe Standards. 

RCH enjoys high employee engagement and is committed to staff safety and a positive culture through enactment of our Compact.

For further Information on RCH is available here.

About the Role

This is a Permanent Full-Time position at 80 per fortnight within Strategy, Planning and Improvement Department. You will be responsible for setting the improvement direction, establishing organisational capability for continuous and sustainable improvement and ensuring improvement activity delivers measurable and sustained impact. Classification for this position is at A099 (FTE base salary 160-180K per annum, plus superannuation).

What you’ll achieve:

• Deliver improvement at RCH aligned to the organisational strategy by setting the direction, approach and measures of success.
• Be RCH’s improvement science expert including coaching, mentoring and teaching clinicians and leaders to drive their own improvement with their teams.
• Lead and develop an agile team of Improvement Partners to build improvement capability and deliver on the key organisational priorities, with clear role clarity between strategic leadership, portfolio oversight and hands‑on delivery.
• Lead the development of a coherent improvement framework (including methods, governance, capability and tooling) that evolves over time to drive organisational improvement.
• Be accountable for embedding and scaling a learning health system across RCH, ensuring improvement activity delivers measurable and sustained impact.

Your skills and experience

• Post graduate tertiary qualification in relevant field
• Proven leadership as an organisation’s improvement science expert, including developing leaders and clinicians to drive their own improvement
• Substantial senior level experience in leading organisational wide improvement, change and innovation
• Experience in a major public hospital or other healthcare setting
• Strategic thinker and commercially astute with demonstrated ability to plan and deliver outcomes that advance the long-term interests of an organisation.
• Well-developed interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to build trust and credibility with internal and external clients to achieve mutual understanding and agreed outcomes.
• High energy, responsive and a ‘completer’.
• Resilient to manage a high workload and multiple priorities.

If this sounds like you, click here to view the position description.

About the Department

Strategy, Planning and Improvement Department thinks and acts at the hospital or health system level to achieve the priorities of the RCH now and into the future.

What we offer:

• Salary Packaging – Increase your take home pay!
• Parkville location and close to public transport

Other requirements:

• Current National Criminal Record Check, or willing to obtain
• Valid Working with Children Check
• Compliance with RCHs “Staff Immunisation - Prevention of Vaccine Preventable Diseases” procedure

Application process

To apply, you will need a resume and a tailored cover letter outlining your skills, experience, and suitability for the position in line with the requirements of the position description.

Shortlisting for this position will commence immediately, we encourage you to apply promptly!

For more information about this position please contact <Ilona Nicola, Email: ilona.nicola@rch.org.au

Why work at the RCH?

RCH enjoys high employee engagement and is committed to staff safety and a positive culture through enactment of our Compact. We offer the opportunity to work in world-class facilities, surrounded by Royal Park and only a short tram trip from the heart of Melbourne city.

We also offer staff benefits such as discounted staff parking, salary packaging, and an award-winning health and wellbeing program.

The RCH is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from culturally and/or linguistically diverse background, all members of the LGBTQI community and people with disability.

It is a requirement of your employment that you be vaccinated against Influenza annually for Category A and B roles, in compliance with any public health orders in place at the relevant time, unless you have a medical exception in line with those public health orders, which has been accepted by The Royal Children’s Hospital.  Applicants will be required to provide their Australian Government Immunisation History Statement, it is a requirement of the RCH to collect, record and hold vaccination information.

It is also a requirement of your employment that you comply with any direction given by The Royal Children’s Hospital that you be vaccinated against, or prove immunity to, any other disease, unless you have a relevant exemption, and offers of employment are conditional on successful completion of background checks including reference checks. 

Are you ready to join our team?

Apply online by clicking on the “Apply” button

Applications close 19 May 2026