Manager Water Quality and Compliance

Water Quality and Compliance brings together a multidisciplinary team of 11 specialists focused on protecting some of the City's most important public health, environmental and community outcomes.

Working across drinking water, wastewater, recycled water and flood mitigation services, the team plays an important role in helping Infrastructure Operations know the network, operate the network and stay ahead of the network.

Working closely with Operations, Maintenance, Planning, Asset Management and Infrastructure Delivery teams, the business unit provides technical expertise, trusted advice and practical support on some of the City's most important public health, regulatory and community outcomes.

The team also works closely with internal customers, service delivery partners, regulators and industry peers to support a growing and increasingly complex city.

About the role

As Manager Water Quality and Compliance, you will lead a high-performing team responsible for ensuring the City's water quality, compliance and resilience frameworks are strong, effective and future-focused.

This is a role where your leadership will have genuine community impact.

You will bring together governance, assurance, risk, compliance and operational insight to provide confidence that critical controls are working, obligations are being met and emerging risks are identified and addressed early.

Working closely with senior leaders, you will have the opportunity to shape capability, strengthen accountability and foster a culture where people are empowered to deliver outstanding outcomes.

Responsibilities Include

• Lead a high-performing team to deliver safe, reliable and compliant water and infrastructure services.
• Provide strategic oversight of water quality, compliance, risk, assurance and resilience.
• Strengthen governance and assurance to ensure critical obligations, controls and risks are effectively managed.
• Provide clear, evidence-based advice to support complex operational and strategic decisions.
• Build strong partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to achieve community and organisational outcomes.
• Drive safety, accountability, continuous improvement and high performance across the Business Unit.

We're looking for people who have

• Senior leadership experience in a complex infrastructure, utility or operational environment.
• A bachelor's degree in science, Engineering or a related discipline, with relevant experience in water quality, compliance, risk, assurance or resilience.
• Proven experience establishing and overseeing governance, assurance, compliance and reporting frameworks.
• Strong knowledge of regulatory, public health, critical infrastructure and emergency management requirements.
• The ability to assess complex issues, manage risk and provide clear, evidence-based advice.
• Strong strategic thinking and sound judgement, with the ability to see the bigger picture while maintaining operational focus.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across diverse stakeholder groups.
• A collaborative approach, with a focus on achieving practical outcomes.
• A proven ability to lead and develop people, foster accountability and build a positive, high-performing team culture.
• Be part of shaping the Gold Coast's future

The Gold Coast is inspired by lifestyle and driven by opportunity. We are the second largest Council in Australia.

We care about being the most flexible government organisation in Australia. We have a range of benefits to help you create the right balance:

• Coaching and advice to develop your leadership competencies
• Mental Heath training
• Study allowance provisions
• 4 free confidential counselling sessions a year for you or an immediate family member
• Salary sacrifice provisions including vehicles on novated lease and superannuation

We pride ourselves on our shared mission of being a high-performing, customer-focused organisation which delivers value-for-money services to the community.

Our selection process may include a one-way video interview via Criteria, a face-to-face or virtual interview via Microsoft Teams, reference checks via Xref and additional checks including police checks, employment history checks, qualification checks, pre-employment medical reviews and drug and alcohol testing.

• Closing Date
• Thursday 27th August 2026 /11:59pm AEDT

We're committed to creating a diverse workplace and inclusive culture.

We take pride in people who align with our high-performance principles.

We believe that the diverse makeup of our workforce reflects the community we serve.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences and identities, and encourage candidates to discuss any support or adjustments they may need throughout the recruitment process.