Director Occupational Violence and Aggression

Company description:

As an organisation we have a clear focus on how we service and partner with our community, including our strategy of helping the community stay well when at home. Our reputation of community minded, inclusive and progressive is matched to none.

Job description:

Northern Health are seeking applications from motivated and suitably experienced Director, Occupational Violence and Aggression to join the Northern Health's OH&S Department

Northern Health is the major provider of acute, maternity, sub-acute, mental health, specialist, community and home-based services in Melbourne's rapidly growing outer north.

Services are provided through our six main campuses:

Northern Hospital Epping, Broadmeadows Hospital, Bundoora Centre, Craigieburn and Mernda Community Hospitals Centres and Kilmore District Hospital. In addition, Mental Health Services are provided at Epping, Broadmeadows, Jacana, Preston, Mill Park, Mernda and Coburg.

About the Role:

This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of occupational violence and aggression (OVA) prevention in one of Victoria's fastest growing health services. In partnership with the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC), Northern Health is embarking on an ambitious initiative to design and embed a contemporary, systems-based approach to OVA management, positioning Northern Health as a national leader in evidence-informed workplace safety within Australian healthcare.

As a newly established role reporting directly to the Chief People Officer, you will play a pivotal role in advancing Northern Health's commitment to creating safer workplaces and fostering a culture where safety is non-negotiable. This highly visible position will provide strategic leadership across the organisation, driving a proactive, prevention-focused approach that strengthens existing practices, addresses systemic gaps, and delivers sustainable change.

You will lead the development of an organisation-wide OVA intelligence capability, bringing together data, frontline insights, operational context, and emerging evidence to build a comprehensive understanding of risk. Through sophisticated analysis and stakeholder engagement, you will identify trends, uncover underlying drivers of incidents, and ensure insights are translated into practical, measurable improvements across clinical and non-clinical services.

Working in close partnership with executive leaders, clinicians, managers, researchers, and external agencies, you will ensure that strategies are grounded in the realities of healthcare delivery and remain relevant, practical, and enduring. You will also play a key role in building strategic partnerships with leading experts and research institutions, bringing innovative thinking and best-practice approaches that strengthen Northern Health's reputation as a sector leader in occupational violence prevention.

This is an exceptional opportunity for a visionary leader who is passionate about workplace safety, systems thinking, and organisational transformation, and who wants to make a lasting impact on the wellbeing of healthcare workers and the communities they serve.

To be successful in this role you will have:

• Demonstrated ability to lead organisation-wide safety and cultural change, with a strong focus on prevention and risk reduction.
• Proven experience identifying systemic risks and translating insights into targeted, practical actions.
• Expertise in using data, workforce intelligence, and operational context to identify trends, emerging risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Strong capability to develop and embed evidence-based prevention, recovery, and workforce support strategies.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across clinical, operational, and corporate environments.
• Experience integrating strategic initiatives into day-to-day service delivery and driving collaboration across complex organisations.
• A track record of innovation and continuous improvement, applying systems thinking and evidence-informed approaches to solve complex challenges.
• Ability to influence leaders at all levels and drive sustainable organisational change.
• Experience working with external partners, researchers, government agencies, or industry bodies to strengthen capability and deliver outcomes.
• Commitment to advancing workplace safety and positioning organisations as leaders in best-practice occupational violence prevention.

Next Steps

If this opportunity sounds like the next step in your career, then we would love to hear from you. Please click on the 'Apply' button and follow the prompts.

For further details, please refer to the Position Description. Alternatively, you can contact Mary Stojanoski, Director Human Resources & Talent Acquisition via email: ***************@nh.org.au

Applications close 26 August 2026.

Shortlisting will commence immediately for this vacancy. If an appropriate candidate is sourced, the advertising may close early, thus we advise you to apply right away.