Chief Executive Officer
About the Opportunity
Incredible opportunity available for an inspirational leader to work with a highly respected and
innovative Indigenous organisation doing good work with families across the central desert region.
Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Corporation (Waltja) works with remote families in the Central
Desert region to provide services, social enterprises, cultural maintenance and advocacy.
The CEO works under the guidance and direction of the Waltja Board of Directors and is responsible
for the effective management and implementation of the organisations strategic direction. This key
role will require someone who can walk alongside the Board, listen to and learn from the Board,
build trust and deliver on agreed priorities.
This is a long-term, full-time opportunity (3-5 year contract) based in Alice Springs for a resilient,
understanding and highly motivated person to work to a stable Board in a high functioning
organisation. The successful candidate will also have the ability to travel to and camp in remote
areas of central Australia.
The CEO position at Waltja is identified as a female specific position for cultural reasons and will be
working under the direction of senior Aboriginal women.
About The CEO
The successful CEO will have extensive experience in organisational leadership, excellent cross-cultural skills, demonstrated capability in project management and staff management, and highly developed community advocacy skills. Demonstrated effective decision-making capacity as well as financial management skills and experience in supporting the Directors to maintain good governance are other key aspects of this role.
Ideally, you will have relevant qualifications in community development, social sciences, education or
business management and previous experience living and working in another culture and a willingness to walk alongside people and work in the Waltja Way.
You will be a respectful, understanding and adaptable leader. You will combine practical, pragmatic
and strategic leadership with strong community development acumen. You will be proactive with
demonstrated capacity to lead high quality service delivery and leverage funding opportunities in line
with the Waltja Board’s strategic direction.
About Waltja
Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Corporation (Waltja) is a community-based organisation that
works with families from Central Desert Indigenous communities to address major issues affecting
their communities.
Waltja means ‘Family’ and our services follow the life-cycle of the family. We support children,
mothers and fathers, youth and their families, and elders through various projects and funding. Our
programs aim to alleviate social distress and improve community relations more broadly.
We are a registered Charity and incorporated under the CATSI Act, with annual turnover in the
vicinity of $3.2M.
The organisation is self-funded due to many years of careful money management.
We have long running government-funded programs in Youth Support, Family Mental Health
Support, Children and Families Intensive Support, Emergency Relief, Financial Wellbeing and the NDIS
as well as a number of short term grant funded programs.
Our services are delivered across the whole Central Australian region – language groups: Luritja,
Warlpiri, Anmatjere, Katyetye, Alywarre, Western, Eastern and Central Arrernte, and Pitjantjatjara.
Communities we provide services in include Kintore, Areyonga, Mt Liebig, Nyirrpi, Yuendumu,
Laramba, Engawala, Titjikala, Santa Teresa, Papunya, Ti Tree, Atitjere, Bonya and Utopia Homelands.
We plan to consolidate, document and promote Waltja’s way of working, The Waltja Way, and to
continue to advocate for policies and programs based upon self-determination of Aboriginal people
and sustainable development of remote communities.
Waltja is committed to recruitment and mentoring of Aboriginal trainees, and to the provision of
employment pathways in fieldwork, multimedia and administration. We seek to further develop our
online art sales program as well as further developing and expanding our NDIS business services and
community development programs which have grown steadily.
Waltja will develop a Business Plan to develop our Baldissera Drive property as a commercial and
cultural asset. We are committed to our focus on well-being and redress of inequities for Aboriginal
families in remote communities. This means Waltja is committed to maintaining our long-term
funding relationship with the Department of Social Services, but we also seek to further diversify our
funding sources through developing long-term relationships with philanthropic organisations.
Our offices are at Waltja HQ in Alice Springs, with approximately 20 staff engaged on a regular basis,
this varies according to the projects we are currently delivering. Many of our long-term staff have
worked and studied their way up from Indigenous traineeships and progressed into leadership
positions.
All programs are the result of in depth consultations with the community and guidance is provided
by our Indigenous board of directors. The Directors are responsible for setting direction and making
decisions about projects and programs. They help facilitate programs, smooth the way for delivery on
communities and help us make sure the right people receive assistance. The Directors employ
Aboriginal workers and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal support workers to run a range of programs,
forums, workshops, training and cultural activities.
We have hundreds of community members associated with Waltja across the Central Desert region.
Our members get to have their say at meetings and also talk to directors, who live on the
Communities we serve.
At the core of Waltja’s work is a desire to develop and promote the capacity of the members of the
Central Australian communities for self-management and self-determination.
Applications
To apply, please send your application to hr@mobct.com.au
For direct enquiries, contact Felicity Blackadder at Matrix On Board Consulting And Training, Tel: 0466 647 370 and/or E:hr@mobct.com.au
