• Leading OOHC & youth services organisation supporting vulnerable young people
• Suits candidates from community, health, justice, or youth services background
• Mackay based | Senior leadership opportunity reporting to the CEO

About the Organisation

MADEC is a not-for-profit, community-based organisation supporting people across the Mackay and Whitsunday region since 1973. As a registered NDIS provider and licensed Child Safety provider, MADEC delivers high-quality services that promote inclusion, wellbeing, and independence for young people and individuals with disability.

MADEC provides holistic, person-centred, trauma-informed support to help young people overcome barriers, build life skills, and strengthen social and community connections. This includes residential and out-of-home care for those who cannot live at home, as well as the Youth Empowerment and Support Service (YESS). It is a free program that empowers young people, 12-21 years old, to become self-sufficient, resilient adults with strong relationships, while working closely with families and other services to ensure coordinated, effective care.


Benefits & culture

• 5 weeks annual leave + birthday leave
• Supportive, high-performing environment
• Professional development and leadership growth opportunities
• Hybrid work set-up: on-site at the Mackay office and program locations, plus 1 day from home

About the role

Reporting directly to the CEO and forming part of the senior leadership team, the Youth Services Manager provides strategic, operational and people leadership. With a strong focus on Out of Home Care (OOHC), this role is responsible for ensuring safe, compliant and high-quality service delivery in a complex, fast-paced and often crisis-driven environment. The position will play a key role in stabilising and leading teams, strengthening practice, and driving improved outcomes for young people.

In this role you will also:

• Manage youth services, including residential / Out of Home Care and the Youth Empowerment and Support Service
• Drive trauma-informed practice, lead incident, risk and crisis management, while overseeing service quality, compliance and licensing
• Monitor performance, data and continuous improvement while supporting service sustainability, growth and innovation
• Provide leadership and capacity building to coordinators and frontline teams
• Develop and manage key stakeholder relationships across government and sector

Skills & experience required

You are an experienced resilient leader who works effectively in complex and high-pressure environments, balancing strategic oversight with hands-on operational management. You have strong people leadership, sound judgement and the ability to lead teams through change while maintaining high standards of care and compliance.

You will have:

• Experience in OOHC, community, health, justice, youth services, or similar complex service delivery
• Strong understanding of trauma-informed, therapeutic practice, child protection legislation and compliance frameworks
• Ability to lead, stabilise and develop teams while managing risk in behaviourally complex, and high-risk services
• A data-driven approach to service improvement, performance and reporting

Are you a values-driven leader ready to take on a challenging and rewarding role impacting the lives of vulnerable young people? We would love to hear from you. To apply, submit your CV and a cover letter addressing the skills and experience required and your interest in the role.

To request an information pack please email officeadministrator@ngorecruitment.com (no applications please) or call Kelly Gentle on 02 8243 0570 for a confidential discussion.

Please note there is no formal closing date for this role, if you are interested, we would encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

NGO Recruitment values equitable recruitment practices and is committed to representing candidates reflective of the diverse organisations and communities we work with. We welcome and encourage applications from all backgrounds, ages, and identities, and are happy to adjust our recruitment process to support accessibility needs. If you are interested in this position and have most of the skills or experience we are looking for, please go ahead and apply.