Overview of role:

A critical member of our Communications and Engagement team, the Community Engagement Senior Advisor will design and deliver strategic communication and engagement activities that strengthen organisational alignment and support complex decision making.

To be successful in the role, you’ll have high-level written communication skills and demonstrated experience designing and facilitating education and engagement programs. You’ll be able to analyse customer and community feedback and use this insight to improve outcomes for customers and stakeholders, and inform the direction of key pieces of work, including our Urban Water Strategy and Price Submission process.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to community research, analysis, planning, preparation of communication collateral, reporting, and the delivery of both large and small engagement and education projects from end-to-end. Your day-to-day work will be hands on and will drive tangible results for our customers and communities. It will allow you to take pride in simplifying, highlighting, and elevating the voice of our customers as we navigating generational challenges in the delivery of water and sewage services.

This role requires you to think strategically to support coordinated engagement, enhanced customer experience, and sound decision making.

Based in Bendigo and reporting to the Manger Strategic Communications and Engagement, the role is part of our broader Customer and Stakeholder Experience Group.

Key Responsibilities:

As our Community Engagement Senior Advisor, you’ll be accountable for:

• Strategy development: Design, implement, and evaluate comprehensive engagement strategies to achieve organisational goals and support important decisions.
• Relationship management: Build and maintain strong relationships within your team, the broader business, in the community, and with key stakeholders.
• Project and team leadership: Lead end-to-end community projects from planning to execution and reporting.
• Community insight: Collect, synthesize, and report on community feedback, translating insights into actionable strategies.
• Communications: Craft compelling messaging across multiple channels to boost engagement.

About you:

• Substantial experience in engagement together with qualifications acquired through a relevant tertiary degree such as Communications or Public Relations or extensive experience and skills gained through on-the-job training and via leading and successfully delivering strategic engagement programs.
• Demonstrated ability to perform a variety of tasks to deliver an effective engagement program. This includes being able to respond and adapt to changing priorities and operational demands with minimal notice.
• Highly developed engagement skills with the ability to build effective, influential and professional working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Sound working knowledge of the fundamentals of engagement in a complex stakeholder environment.
• Ability to provide tactical and strategic advice on engagement to management and staff at all levels.
• Exceptional people relationship building skills including evidence of advanced verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to make decisions and be accountable.

Sound like you? We’d love to hear from you.

Learn more in the position description

Salary:

The salary and conditions for this position will be as per the Coliban Water Enterprise Agreement 2021 Band 5 $115,162-$139,851 + superannuation salary range will be offered to the successful candidate commensurate with their skills and experience. This is a Permanent Full-Time role

Enquiries:

For further information please contact Lauren Armstrong on 0487 111 305 or via email at Lauren.armstrong@coliban.com.au

To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter by COB 12th March 2026 

Why join us?

At Coliban Water our people are on a mission to create a better life for our customers and communities – now and tomorrow.

We love what we do and our location in the centre of a region that takes in 49 towns from Trentham to Echuca.

Our commitment to inclusion means you’ll feel at home here no matter who you are, who you love, or what you stand for. As part of the team you receive a monthly accrued day off, time off over Christmas, the flexibility to shape your work to suit your lifestyle, and generous parental, carer and workplace study leave policies.