Advisor – Implementing evidence in child, youth & family services

At the Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI), we use evidence to improve the lives of children, families and communities, working with policymakers, practitioners, organisational leaders and funders across Australia and around the world. Our mission is to close the gap between what we know from research and what actually happens in practice.

That gap matters most in child and family services. Despite years of reform, demand on child protection and intensive family support services keeps growing, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families remain over-represented in these systems. Families who come into contact with child protection go on to experience poorer educational, physical and mental health outcomes.

Our Evidence to Practice team works to change that. We make sure families can access evidence-informed programs and services that meet their needs, that those programs are adapted to fit local service delivery, and that they are implemented as intended so they genuinely improve outcomes.

About the role

This is a role for someone who wants to see evidence land in practice. Working closely with senior staff, you will lead and support a portfolio of projects with government and community services: designing evidence-informed practice resources, helping agencies and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) put them to work, and building the capability of the people doing that work.

In practice, this role spans three connected areas:

Evidence-informed design

You will analyse and synthesise research evidence, practitioner expertise and the lived experience of children and families to design practice and program resources. You will then test, trial and refine them with partners, including ACCOs, so they fit the context they are used in.

Implementation support

You will help partner agencies and ACCOs build the capability to implement well. That means delivering training and coaching, facilitating implementation teams, developing tools such as fidelity assessments and implementation plans, and setting up monitoring of implementation quality and client outcomes. You will keep current with implementation science and bring it into your day-to-day practice.

Knowledge exchange and project delivery

You will facilitate workshops, seminars and sector consultation, and give evidence-informed, culturally aligned advice to clients and stakeholders. You will manage or co-manage projects from plan through to final report and presentation and contribute to the tenders and proposals that bring new work to CEI.

Across all three, the work is collaborative and practical. You will be working alongside practitioners, policymakers and communities, and the measure of success is whether things change on the ground.

About you

We are not going to give you a long list of requirements to tick off. What we really want to know is whether you can tell us, clearly and with examples, that you have done this kind of work before and done it well.

We are looking for someone who can speak to:

• How you have designed or adapted an evidence-informed practice, program, intervention or policy in human services: what the evidence was, and how you made it fit the setting.
• How you have supported practitioners or organisations to put something new into practice, whether through training, coaching or working alongside implementation leaders.
• How you have designed and delivered training or workshops that changed what people did afterwards.
• How you have written for different audiences (practitioners, policymakers, academics) and adjusted your approach for each.
• How you have managed project work to time and to a high standard, both independently and as part of a team.

You will likely have a postgraduate degree in psychology, social work or a related discipline, and at least three years' experience in a relevant area such as child welfare, parenting and families, mental health, justice or employment. A working knowledge of implementation science, experience in monitoring and evaluation, knowledge of research on child maltreatment, parenting or family violence, and experience working in or with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and ACCOs will all strengthen your application.

You may not have worked across every part of this role, and that is okay. We are most interested in solid grounding in evidence-informed practice, strong communication and facilitation skills, and a track record of helping evidence make a difference in real services.

Life at CEI

CEI is a global not-for-profit with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, London, Singapore and Oslo. You will work with colleagues across Australia and our international offices, and with partners across government and the community sector, with some travel within Australia.

You will be based in our modern office in Collingwood; in a building we share with a community of other organisations. It is a genuinely social place to work breakfast on site every Tuesday, a monthly international lunch shared with the rest of the building, and regular activities from yoga and painting to office drinks. The role offers hybrid working and flexible hours, with a team that trusts people to take real responsibility for their work.

Life is not just about coming to work, and we try to support you in many ways. One way is extra time off. Your birthday is a paid day off to spend however you like. Each year we close for a festive shutdown that has no impact on your leave balance. And if you decide get married or enter a civil partnership, you get paid leave to celebrate it. We also back your growth, with exam and study leave options and your professional memberships paid for. All of this sits on top of four weeks' annual leave and salary packaging, plus more.

A note on the contract

This role is offered as a 24-month fixed-term contract, including a six-month probation period. It is offered full-time, and we will consider part-time arrangements from 0.8 FTE upwards.

How to apply

Review the full Position Description and submit your CV and a short cover letter via the link: SEEK

You do not need to address each selection criterion individually; we would rather hear how your experience fits the work described above.

Applications close Sunday 13 December 2026.

If you need any adjustments to take part in the recruitment process, please contact people@ceiglobal.org

CEI is part of the Save the Children Australia group, a child-safe organisation. The successful applicant will need to obtain a National Police Check and a Working with Children Check, and to sign our Child Protection Policy and Code of Conduct.

Diversity and inclusion at CEI

Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to CEI’s work. We are driven to improve outcomes for communities facing adversity through leveraging the best available evidence.

We actively seek and welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, and with lived experience of the social issues our work addresses and in the communities we aim to serve. We strongly encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Only applicants with the right to work in Australia will be considered.