Chief People Officer
Football Australia
About Football Australia
Football Australia (FA) is the national governing body for football in Australia, proudly representing over two million participants from more than 200 different cultures. As a member of FIFA, Football Australia governs all national teams, the A-Leagues, Australia Cup, National Premier Leagues, and leads state, community, and grassroots football. With two of the world’s most iconic sporting events taking place in 2026, the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, hosted in Australia, and the Socceroos taking on the FIFA World Cup it is a career defining moment to join Football Australia and leverage an exceptional strategic people leadership skill-set to create impact that will help shape the future of Football in Australia. FA’s purpose is to bring communities together through football, connecting Australia to the world. Football Australia strives for Australia to be a leading football nation where everyone is inspired to live and love the game, guided by its values: Welcome, Ready, Connect, Excel, Protect.
About the Role
As a critical member of the executive leadership team, driving talent and culture across the organisation, you will play a lead role in driving Football Australia’s future workforce and people strategy during a significant period of organisational transformation. This role requires an incredibly passionate leader who can navigate complexity at a compliance, regulatory, and contractual level, including the daily challenges presented by intricate employment contracts and contractor arrangements. Collaborating with the executive leadership team on strategic reforms will form a significant part of your role, together with managing the complete staff lifecycle, developing and driving both visionary and contemporary people initiatives while ensuring the recently launched human resources technology and systems are leveraged by the team to maximise impact. Acting as a sounding board for senior stakeholders, including the Board you will bring authenticity and agility to a dynamic environment where cycles of activity and competing priorities are the norm.
About You
We are seeking a purpose-driven executive with more than five years’ experience leading a people function within a complex organisation. You will be people-centric, practical, and commercial, with high integrity and discretion. A strong negotiator and problem solver, you will have deep practical and solution-based employment relations expertise enabling you to manage complexity and risk effectively. It is essential that you have experience in industrial and employment relations, be independent in decision-making and capable of adjusting to routine tasks and cyclical activities inherent in elite sporting organisations, while maintaining focus on strategic priorities.
For a confidential discussion, please call Tim Haren or Bronwen Kerr of Watermark Search International on 02 9233 1200 from Monday, 5 January.
To obtain a copy of the Candidate Brief for this role, please visit: watermarksearch.com.au/position-descriptions
To express interest, please send your application quoting Ref No A006210 to Watermark Search International at search@watermarksearch.com.au. We will reply to the email address used for your application.
Closing date: 11:59PM AEDT on Sunday, 18 January 2026