Principal Planning Specialist

Full Time Fixed Term Position - Up to 5 Year Contract

Remuneration Negotiable + 12% Super

Salary offered will depend on level of skills and experience.

Why join Melton City Council?

Melton City Council is proud to serve one of Australia’s fastest-growing and most diverse communities. We are a forward-thinking local government committed to creating a city where everyone feels welcome, supported, and empowered.

As a Council, we are driven by innovation, inclusion, and excellence. We deliver high-quality services and infrastructure, promote lifelong learning, and champion health and wellbeing across our municipality. Our team plays a vital role in shaping a vibrant, sustainable future for our residents.

Working with us means being part of a collaborative and inclusive culture that values your growth. We offer:

• Professional and personal development opportunities
• Generous leave entitlements and flexible work arrangements
• A dynamic workplace close to home, surrounded by heritage charm, green spaces, and modern amenities

Join us and help build a city that thrives—where your work makes a real difference every day.

The Opportunity

This is an exciting, and rare opportunity to join the City Strategy Team in an expert leadership role in coordinating Council strategic initiatives, including leading the planning for the continued change within the Cobblebank Metropolitan Activity Centre. 

This role will also provide an opportunity to serve as the primary advisor on planning matters, leading high-level stakeholder engagement and negotiations with government agencies and private sector partners to deliver land use and community outcomes that support the City of Melton's long-term vision and strategic goals.

It is also a role that can support the leadership function of the City Strategy business unit by providing advice, direction and support to the broader team.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist with facilitating, the planning and delivery of major projects including the Melton Hospital, Melton Tafe and other emerging interests involving strategic partnerships with key government agencies and community service delivery partnerships.
• Ensuring effective stakeholder engagement and communication.
• Effectively liaise, negotiate and manage relationships with government agencies to deliver strategic land use outcomes that deliver community benefit and enhanced services and amenities.
• Lead, in consultation with the Executive Leadership Team, Council’s engagement in relation to transformative private sector developments, ensuring that Council’s objectives are achieved.

To view the Position Description, click here.

About you

To be successful in this role you will have the following:

• A recognised tertiary qualification in Town Planning, property, or a related discipline,
• Substantial and demonstrated experience in a broad range of property / land use management and planning projects.
• Demonstrated knowledge of strategic land use planning and issues associated with growth areas.
• Highly developed liaison skills and ability to gain co-operation with Council staff, government agencies, consultants, and the community to achieve positive outcomes.

Culture and Values

Our vision for our community is to be: "A vibrant, safe and liveable city accessible to all" and that means there’s a place here for you too. Our organisational values represent us as an established growth Council and the values are reflected in everything we do; our decision-making, our actions and our service provision to the community. Council has a diverse and vibrant organisation and we’d love to have you join us to help shape a city for the future.

We are Vibrant MELTON. Our values are:

• Motivate
• Empower
• Lead
• Trust
• Open
• Nurture 

Benefits

There are a number of great reasons why our people love working at Melton City Council: 

Staff Benefits | Melton City Council

• 5 weeks annual leave 
• Flexible Working Hours
• Extensive Career Development & Leadership Programs
• 16 weeks Paid Parental Leave (Super is paid during parental leave) 
• 3 weeks Paid Secondary Carer Leave
• Family Room available including Breastfeeding Facilities - Australian Breastfeeding Association
• Wellbeing initiatives
• Subsidised Uniforms

How To Apply

If you require further information about the position, please contact Travis Conway, Manager City Strategy, on 0474 335 413.

Applications must include a Resume and address the Key Selection Criteria outlining your suitability to the role. To address the Key Selection Criteria, you will need to write short statements explaining how you meet the criteria, or how you demonstrate the capability. We encourage you to keep your responses concise. 

To be eligible for employment at Melton City Council you must be legally entitled to work in Australia.

All successful applicants will need to undertake pre-employment requirements including but not limited to a satisfactory criminal history record check. Successful applicants must be able to comply with any public health orders applicable to local government. 

We strongly encourage job applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disabilities, LGBTIQA+ and people from culturally diverse backgrounds. If selected for an interview and you require any additional support or adjustments regarding interview arrangements, please advise the contact listed above in advance.

Melton City Council is committed to being a child safe organisation and has Zero tolerance for child abuse. Melton City Council is committed to creating and maintaining a child safe organisation where protecting children and preventing and responding to child abuse is at the centre of our everyday thinking and service delivery.