Senior Education Policy Manager

Education Program, Policy Innovation

Australia’s education system faces real challenges, with student outcomes declining and equity gaps widening. Yet, these challenges also create a powerful opportunity. McKinnon is committed to driving bold, evidence-based innovation to help all young Australians — especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds — reach their full potential. By playing a catalytic role, we can help reimagine education as a tool for opportunity, excellence, and national renewal.

McKinnon is building and applying a local evidence base of what works in Australia, informed by international best practice. We identify promising ideas, support their real-world testing through pilots, and translate learnings into practical, scalable solutions. Our work is designed to cut through systemic barriers and accelerate impact — so every student benefits from an education system that’s dynamic, effective, and future-ready.

Role purpose

The role will help design and deliver our strategy to build strong school systems across Australia.  

You will lead education policy design to support the new Multi-School Organisation (MSO) model and the wider system architecture required to enable the model to succeed.

An MSO is a strong family of schools under shared leadership and governance, with a shared education and operation blueprint to improve student outcomes. The model is inspired by England's highest performing multi-academy trusts, adapted for Australia. Tasmania launched a trial of the model in 2026 in partnership with McKinnon, and we are exploring further trials with other jurisdictions.  

The role requires exceptional program leadership, collaborative problem-solving, and the ability to translate ambitious policy into practical impact for systems, schools, teachers, and students. You must be confident engaging directly with Ministers, Departmental Secretaries, teachers and other key stakeholders. This is a ‘hands on’ role that will suit someone who thrives in fast-paced, entrepreneurial environments.

Key responsibilities

Strategy Development and Policy Design 

  • Support the development of McKinnon’s education reform strategy, ensuring alignment with organisational priorities and long-term objectives.
  • Lead the detailed design of the policy frameworks for the MSO model, including what decision-making authority is delegated to MSOs, how they are governed, and how they are held accountable for improving student outcomes.
  • Adapt international research and best practice to the Australian context, ensuring initiatives are evidence-informed and practically implementable.
  • Design innovative proposals to address strategic challenges, including policy recommendations and pilots.
  • Translate high-level strategies into clear objectives, deliverables, and implementation plans.
  • Codify lessons and insights from the Tasmanian trial into guidance for future MSOs in other states.

Program Management, Implementation and Reporting

  • Plan and run workstreams from start to finish, with clear plans, budgets and risk management.
  • Manage contracts with consultants, researchers and delivery partners, and hold them to scope, quality and budget.
  • Run advisory groups and workshops to support engagement with McKinnon’s research and policy recommendations.
  • Draft high-quality research reports, strategy and position documents aligned with McKinnon strategic objectives 
  • Deliver program update and progress papers of a high standard as required, including reports, Board papers to tight deadlines, including sole or lead authorship
  • Collaborate with other McKinnon staff, contract researchers, agencies, and partners to produce high-quality outputs, including reports, presentations, and web content.

Stakeholder Engagement and Relationship Management 

  • Establish and maintain relationships and partnerships with key stakeholders, including federal and state political leaders and policymakers, to gather insights, promote collaboration and influence and deliver reforms. 
  • Identify opportunities to build relationships with key stakeholders, such as workshops and roundtables.  
  • Help shape public debate on school reform through roundtables, events and writing, with McKinnon's communications team.

Experience and Capabilities

Skills and Experience

Education &  

Qualifications 

  1. Tertiary qualification in Public Policy, Administration, Economics, Education or a related field. 

Professional Experience  

  1. At least eight years in policy roles in government, a consultancy, or education system organisations. 
  1. Experience in senior stakeholder engagement, preferably within a public sector or political setting. 
  1. Strong project management skills, with experience in delivering complex projects and programs. 

Skills & Knowledge  

  1. A strong grasp of how Australian and international education systems are organised, governed and funded, and of how authority and accountability work within them. 
  1. Direct knowledge of multi-academy trusts in England and the enabling policy framework: how trusts are governed, how they share curriculum and improvement work across schools, how authority is divided between trust and school, and what has gone wrong as well as right. (Desirable) 
  1. A sound understanding of evidence-informed teaching: how students learn, why a well-sequenced curriculum matters, and what the research says about instruction, assessment and professional development. 
  1. Strong analytical and collaborative problem-solving capability, with the ability to design workable solutions to complex challenges given real world constraints and develop robust delivery plans. 
  1. High-level written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce high-quality papers quickly, tailor communications to the needs of different stakeholders and to work across diverse environment. 

Personal Attributes  

  

        

  1. Understands and has a high motivation to achieve McKinnon’s mission and focus areas.  
  1. Highly organised, detail-oriented and ability to work effectively without supervision. 
  1. Proactive, adaptable and resilient, with a focus on outcomes even in shifting environments. 
  1. A collaborative team player with the confidence to influence and hold others accountable. 
  1. Alignment with McKinnon values:  
  1. Be Humble: We resist the easy path of assumptions and arrogance. Our impact comes through listening and making space for perspectives beyond our own. We build trust through empathy and by serving others', knowing that humility isn't weakness — it's a strength. 
  1. Be Curious: We embrace the discomfort of discovery through respectful debate. Our hunger for learning and feedback fuels continuous improvement. We know that yesterday’s certainties can quickly become tomorrow’s limitations.   
  1. Be Courageous: We make the hard calls others postpone. Our courage shows up in our vision and in standing behind difficult decisions when they truly matter. We navigate uncertainty with both boldness and responsibility, knowing meaningful change rarely comes from playing it safe.  
  1. Make it Matter: We exist solely for impact. Every program must create tangible change. We measure ourselves by real-world outcomes, tackling each challenge with the fierce urgency that meaningful work demands. 


About McKinnon

McKinnon is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation which exists to empower better governments for a stronger Australia. Our work focuses on four core areas where we believe meaningful, measurable impact matters most: political leadership, the public sector, democracy, and policy innovation. We are driven by curiosity and a desire to bring diverse perspectives together to create meaningful debate. We have the courage to make bold decisions and are driven by the urgency that meaningful work creates. We exist to make impact that matters.  

Policy Innovation

Melbourne, Australia

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