Director - Research

Role overview

This is a full-time ongoing leadership opportunity based in Parkville, with flexible hybrid working available. The Royal Women’s Hospital is one of Australia’s longest-standing and most respected tertiary hospitals, focused on improving the health and wellbeing of women and newborns through specialised maternity, neonatal, and women’s health services. The organisation aims to be an exceptional place to work, learn, and contribute while delivering outstanding experiences for patients and consumers.

About the organisation and team

The Royal Women’s Hospital is Australia’s first and largest specialist hospital dedicated to women’s and newborns’ health. As a major teaching hospital and an important partner in the Parkville biomedical precinct, it combines clinical care, research, education, and advocacy to achieve leading outcomes. Research plays a central role in the hospital’s mission and strategic direction, supporting advances in women’s health, reproductive medicine, oncology, neonatology, and gender-related health equity.

Role purpose

The Director of Research is a senior executive position responsible for developing and sustaining a high-impact research program that strengthens clinical excellence, improves outcomes for women and newborns, and enhances the hospital’s standing in translational research and innovation.

Working closely with clinicians, academic collaborators, and the wider health system, this role promotes a workplace culture where research is fully integrated into clinical practice. It has responsibility for research strategy, governance, partnerships, funding development, and translating research findings into practice.

The role also includes leading the mapping of functional needs for research accommodation, including identifying the best location and surrounding adjacencies to support future growth and integration.

Through collaborative leadership and strategic influence, the Director will help position the Women’s to deliver research with real-world impact, advancing sex and gender health equity locally and internationally.

Key responsibilities

• Lead long-term research planning, including the creation and rollout of a multi-year research strategy.
• Strengthen the connection between research and clinical services so that discoveries can be translated into better patient outcomes.
• Build and sustain strong relationships with local and international partners to support teaching, multidisciplinary research, and collaboration.
• Manage research budgets and infrastructure planning, ensuring resources are allocated effectively and workforce capability is planned for.

About you

You are a senior research leader with a strategic mindset and a strong commitment to improving outcomes for women and newborns. You work well across functions, build productive partnerships, and align research priorities with clinical and organisational goals to drive meaningful change. You are comfortable working through complexity, influencing senior stakeholders, and turning strategy into measurable results.

Requirements

• A PhD or equivalent doctoral-level research qualification.
• Extensive senior leadership experience in research strategy, partnerships, or capability building within a large health, academic, or research organisation.
• Proven success in delivering organisation-wide initiatives that improve research performance, culture, and collaboration.
• Strong experience working with government, universities, and other funding bodies on co-investment or policy-aligned initiatives.

Benefits

• Salary packaging benefits of up to $11,660 for living costs, meals, and holiday accommodation.
• Access to wellness initiatives, including discounted financial, lifestyle, and health services, plus a comprehensive wellbeing program.
• Excellent public transport access and end-of-trip facilities for cyclists.
• Onsite post office, eateries, retail outlets, and library services.
• Breastfeeding and pumping rooms, along with several nearby daycare options.
• Flexible hybrid working arrangements.

Inclusion, compliance, and additional information

The Women’s supports a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects the community it serves. Applications are encouraged from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, LGBTQIA+ people, linguistically diverse and culturally diverse candidates, people with disability, and applicants of any age. The organisation is committed to gender equity, has awareness and sensitivity around violence against women and family violence, is proudly Breastfeeding Association accredited, and operates as a child safe organisation with a strong focus on child safety and wellbeing.

Appointments are subject to a satisfactory Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check and a valid Working with Children Check. Clinical staff must be vaccinated against, or provide evidence of immunity to, COVID-19, influenza, and a range of other diseases. Applicants seeking adjustments or accommodations during the application or interview process, or an accessible copy of the position description, are encouraged to contact the organisation directly. Candidates are also advised that not all selection criteria must be met in full, and relevant experience may be considered where appropriate.

For a confidential discussion, contact Nicola Yuen on (03) 8345 2005 or Nicola.yuen@thewomens.org.au. The application closing date is 15 July 2026.