Senior Advisor, First Nations Engagement

Job Description

Senior Advisor, First Nations Engagement Pay: Competitive Location: Parramatta/New South Wales Employment type: Full-Time Job Description The Senior Advisor, First Nations Engagement (Identified), plays a crucial role in fostering genuine engagement with First Nations stakeholders as outlined in Sydney Water’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). This role focuses on implementing a 'customer at the heart' approach, ensuring meaningful interaction with Local Aboriginal Land Councils, Traditional Custodians, Elders, knowledge holders, and community members. It supports the successful delivery of Major Projects and collaborates closely with the Community Engagement and Major Projects teams to lead communication efforts aligned with Sydney Water’s business goals and vision. Responsibilities: Develop and implement First Nations community and stakeholder engagement plans for major projects, ensuring reputation protection and promotion throughout planning, design, and delivery. Serve as the subject matter expert (SME) for First Nations community and stakeholder engagement on multiple Major Projects exceeding $100m. Collaborate across Sydney Water to support the implementation of recommendations from Sydney Water’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Build relationships with key Aboriginal leaders across the Sydney Metropolitan, Blue Mountains, and Illawarra regions, advising and supporting Community Engagement, Project Directors, and teams on engagement with First Nations stakeholders. Develop and advise on First Nations engagement for business cases, stakeholder briefings, tender documents, and environmental assessment/legislative documents/engagement plans. Represent Sydney Water on external committees and facilitate difficult and potentially contentious stakeholder meetings. Experience and Qualifications: Strong emotional intelligence, including strong team development, coaching, diplomacy and conflict management skills. A strong understanding of the complexity of a Major Project and the larger community and stakeholder plans required for projects of a larger size. Creative thinker with demonstrated ability to develop strong and trusted relationships and influence key stakeholders (internal and external). Highly developed written and verbal communication skills including strong corporate and policy communication skills. Demonstrated presentation skills and good negotiation, problem solving and liaison skills. A minimum of 7 years’ experience working as a senior engagement/communication professional, stakeholder engagement, business to business engagement or corporate affairs advisor in a major corporation, government department or agency environment with a focus on First Nations Engagement. Essential Requirements: This is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identified position. The role is open to, and applications will only be accepted from, people who identify as Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples pursuant to the exemption granted to Sydney Water under s126 of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977(NSW) sections 8 and 51. Please note as part of the application process, you will be asked to undergo background checks which includes a criminal history check. You must be an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident at the time of submitting your application to be considered for this role. Closing Date: Thursday 27th Feb 2025 Please advise if you require any adjustments to actively participate in the application and recruitment process. Please contact . As part of the application process, Sydney Water will be collecting your personal information to assess your suitability for the role. We will also use your personal information to establish a LiveHire talent profile in our Talent Community. We look at our Talent Community first when new opportunities come up when you apply for a role. Your personal information will be collected in accordance with LiveHire’s Terms here , Privacy Policy here and Sydney Water’s Privacy Collection Statement – Job Application here . About the company Sydney Water or formally, Sydney Water Corporation, is a New South Wales Government–owned statutory corporation that provides potable drinking water, wastewater and some stormwater services to Greater Metropolitan Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains. #J-18808-Ljbffr