Corporate Planning and Performance Lead

Why work with us?

At Council, we’re proud of our region. We collaborate with community to achieve truly sustainable outcomes, enhance our enviable lifestyle, and create award-winning places and spaces that are uniquely Sunshine Coast. So, if you love it here as much as we do, and you want to shape our region for the future – you’ll want to join our team!

With the vision to be Australia’s most sustainable region -Connected. Liveable. Thriving, our region is a model of sustainability, where caring for our environment, creating vibrant communities and growing our local economy is a way of life.

About the Role

At Sunshine Coast Council, our people are driven by purpose to serve our community, respect our past and shape a sustainable future.

The Corporate Planning and Performance Lead sits at the heart of Council’s strategy, connecting vision, planning and performance to align the organisation and deliver meaningful outcomes for our community.

You’ll lead enterprise wide performance, coordinate the development of Corporate and Operational Plans, and work closely with senior leaders to embed clear, practical and actionable performance insights. This is a visible and influential role for someone who enjoys collaboration, building a performance culture and delivering positive change.

• Be part of a collaborative team that leads the integrated planning and performance framework, connecting strategy, service delivery and resource allocation
• Lead the development of the Corporate and Operational Plans, engaging Councillors, executives, leaders and the community to shape enterprise priorities
• Develop the enterprise planning and reporting cycle to cascade strategic directions into business planning and budgets
• Provide internal consultancy services to design and embed meaningful performance measures, dashboards and insights to support evidence based decision making
• Oversee high quality corporate performance reporting to Council and the community
• Analyse performance trends to inform Council plans, priorities and decisions
• Lead the governance of planning and performance systems, tools and processes
• Act as a trusted strategic advisor, building strong relationships across the organisation

About you

You’re a strategic thinker with a strong track record of turning vision into action. You bring clarity to complexity, communicate with impact, and enjoy working across an organisation to align strategy, planning and performance. Comfortable operating at a senior level, you build trusted relationships and develop effective processes and governance models that build capability and deliver insights to support evidence based decision‑making and maximise community outcomes.

To be successful in this role, you will have:

• A relevant tertiary qualification (or equivalent experience) in strategic management, business, commerce, public administration or a related field
• Experience developing meaningful performance measures that connect outcomes to delivery
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with experience delivering high‑quality, public‑facing plans and performance reports
• Strong experience with integrated planning and performance frameworks in a large, complex organisation
• Well developed research, analytical and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to drive practical, outcome‑focused change
• Highly effective interpersonal and stakeholder engagement skills, including facilitation, negotiation and influence
• High proficiency in Microsoft Office and information systems
• A current C Class Driver’s Licence

Our Culture & Employee Benefits

Council is committed to creating an inclusive, culturally diverse, healthy, skilled and dedicated workplace culture. As an employee you will enjoy a range of benefits and working styles to suit you:

• Wellbeing: Your wellbeing is important to us therefore we offer a number of different initiatives such as discounted health related memberships, fitness passport, employee assistance program and development opportunities. 
• Flexibility: We know it is important to balance life and work, therefore we offer flexible working including a 9-day fortnight and a hybrid WFH model that help you be your best.
• Extras: Those extras make a difference therefore we offer salary packaging options on novated leases, superannuation, smartphones and devices.

How to apply

Your written application should include:

• A 1-2 page cover letter demonstrating your ability to fulfil the mandatory and desirable requirements on the Position Profile. Keep the key responsibilities in mind when addressing this criteria; and
• A current resume or curriculum vitae.

Once you have these two documents ready, click ‘Apply Now’ and follow the prompts to complete your application.

Further Information

Helpful information to assist you in completing your application is available on the Sunshine Coast Council website.

To learn more about Council’s vision and projects, you can view the Corporate Plan 2025-2030.

For specific enquiries contact Luke Flanagan during business hours on 0447 155 743.

We're working hard to create an inclusive workplace that reflects the diverse community we serve. If you require adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, please reach out to the Recruitment Team [email protected].

At Sunshine Coast Council, we embrace differences in gender, age, ethnicity, race, cultural background including First Nations, disability, religion and sexual orientation. To deliver the best service to our region we want a workforce that reflects the diverse community that we serve. Sunshine Coast Council strongly encourages all suitable applicants to apply for this role.