This privately-owned business is one of Australia’s most respected manufacturers, operating two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities across metro Melbourne and regional Victoria, supported by service facilities throughout Australia and the UK with established JVs and subsidiaries across SE Asia, the Middle East, and the US. 

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer and as a member of the ELT, the CPO will have accountability for ensuring the people strategy enables safe, efficient, and sustainable performance. The CPO will serve as the single voice for people and culture across the organisation. The role will work closely with the other members of the ELT to strengthen leadership alignment, ensuring workforce matters are addressed through clear leadership accountability and effective collaboration between BUs. The CPO must balance strategic leadership with strong on-the-ground engagement, partnering closely with operational leaders across the BUs to embed workforce capability, leadership effectiveness, industrial stability, and a safety-led culture.

The ideal candidate will be an experienced senior People & Culture leader with a proven track record operating within complex, asset-intensive manufacturing or industrial environments. You will bring deep capability across enterprise people strategy, OD, leadership development, and employee and IR, with demonstrated success supporting safety-critical, multi-site operations across both corporate and operational settings. Extensive experience in workforce planning, leadership and succession development, performance and accountability frameworks, remuneration and reward design, and employment compliance

This role requires a people leader who can operate confidently in fast-paced, technically complex environments, balancing strategic leadership with hands-on engagement at site level. The candidate will bring a structured, pragmatic approach to governance, industrial relations, workforce risk management, and people systems, ensuring disciplined execution, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement across the organisation.

Essential:

• Tertiary qualifications in HR, Industrial Relations, Business, Psychology, or a related discipline.

• Extensive experience in senior P&C leadership roles within complex, industrial or asset-intensive environments.

• Proven capability leading People & Culture functions across multi-site operations.

• Deep expertise in employee relations, industrial relations, and employment legislation within regulated and union-influenced environments.

• Demonstrated experience partnering with executive leadership teams on organisational strategy, workforce planning, and change.

• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to align people strategy to business performance and operational outcomes.

If your experience and industry alignment is commensurate with the above, please call Mathew Newman on 0407 798 *** for a confidential discussion.