Youth Safety Specialist
Status: Part Time
Reports to: Head of Programs
Award: Level 4-1, Social, Community, Home Care & Disability Services Award 2010
Location: Minus18 Office, at the Victorian Pride Centre, 79-81 Fitzroy St, St Kilda VIC.
This role includes hybrid, weekend and evening work with some inter state travel.
Salary: $102,437 Full Time Salary / $41,495 0.4 FTE Salary
As a registered charity, Minus18 offers salary packaging that increases your take-home pay. Based on this role’s base salary, the estimated package is:
- Base pay (0.4 FTE): $36,914
- Salary packaging: Up to $3,500
- Allowances: $1,081
- Additional Superannuation (12%): $4,429
Start Date: From September 2026
Applications Close: Sunday August 30, 2026
ABOUT US
Minus18 is Australia’s charity improving the lives of LGBTQIA+ youth. We believe LGBTQIA+ young people deserve to live with pride, and we create opportunities for them to do so.
At the heart of our work is:
- Belonging and connection: Creating safe spaces, belonging and connection for LGBTQIA+ people to prevent harm.
- Youth Voice: Amplifying lived experience into evidence and content to influence change.
Since 2011 over 100,000 young people have engaged in these services across Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, and millions more via digital platforms.
ABOUT THIS ROLE
As the Youth Safety Specialist for Minus18, you will be responsible for the safety of young people at Minus18 in person events and online programs.
You will work primarily across two programs:
- Minus18’s Queer Formals which bring 400 to 1,000+ LGBTQIA+ young people together each year in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, and new locations in future years. Currently 3-4 events each year.
- Our online peer-to-peer space, delivered via Discord. Our Minus18 Discord Server has hundreds of members who participate in online events and regular hangouts (Currently 1 session every 1-2 weeks).
This is a part-time role (0.4 FTE) for someone who brings youth work expertise and a strong connection to the communities we serve. You’ll be the practitioner on the ground at events and coordinate our network of youth workers.
With your background in youth work and your commitment to LGBTQIA+ young people, you will:
- Lead youth safety practice across Minus18’s in-person events and online programs
- Coordinate and lead a national network of volunteer and contracted youth workers
- Manage risk, incidents and safety documentation
- Build relationships with external stakeholders to support safety in programs
- Support on other youth engagement activities ad hoc.
MAJOR RESPONSIBILITES
YOUTH SAFETY WITHIN PROGRAMS
- Attend and actively participate in in-person and online programs, including interstate travel.
- Deliver hands-on support in the capacity of youth worker and/or leader of other youth workers during larger programs.
- Provide direct supervision and leadership to youth workers during large-scale events and programs, acting as the responsible senior practitioner on the ground.
- Work closely with the Events & Operations Specialist and Youth & Digital Engagement Specialist to ensure all youth events and programs are planned and delivered in adherence with Child Safe Standards and Minus18’s Child Safety Policies.
- Lead risk assessment processes for events and programs, including the development of risk guides, staff briefings, and debriefs.
- Manage and respond to critical incidents in line with organisational policy and procedure, including incident reporting and relevant documentation.
- Facilitate community and stakeholder relationships (e.g. Victoria Police) to support proactive risk and incident mitigation.
- Report on key safety metrics and incidents following events as required.
- Support and advise on safety-related enquiries from parents, carers, and guardians.
YOUTH WORKER & VOLUNTEER COORDINATION
- Develop and maintain a national database of volunteer and contracted youth workers to support the delivery of Minus18 events
- Recruit, coordinate, and lead a team of contracted youth workers for each event, managing rostering, briefings, on-the-day implementation and payments.
- Oversee the onboarding of new contracted youth workers, ensuring they are inducted into Minus18’s youth safety policies, procedures, and Child Safe Standards prior to event participation
RESPONSIBILITIES OF EVERYONE
Regardless of role, all team members are expected to:
- Live our values and model the behaviours outlined in the Code of Conduct.
- Be a proud Minus18 representative. which can include attending events or participating in speaking opportunities when needed.
- Contribute to a safe, inclusive and well-organised workplace that enables everyone to do their best work.
- Collaborate across teams and contribute to organisation-wide initiatives, events and programs as required.
KEY SELECTION CRITERIA
The ideal candidate has:
- Bachelor of Youth Work, Diploma of Youth Work, Certificate IV in Youth Work or Community Services, or a related discipline
- Demonstrated experience in a youth work, youth safety, or community services role
- Proven ability to lead and coordinate teams of volunteers or contracted workers, including rostering, briefing, and on-the-day management
- Experience conducting risk assessments and developing risk mitigation plans for live events or programs
- Demonstrated ability to manage critical incidents calmly and in accordance with organisational policy, including documentation and reporting
- Experience engaging with external stakeholders (e.g. law enforcement, venue operators, community partners) to support safety outcomes
- Experience moderating safe online spaces for young people, for example on platforms like Discord
- Demonstrated ability to work cohesively and effectively with internal team members to achieve shared outcomes
- Strong written communication skills for incident reporting and safety documentation
- Strong lived experience and connection to diverse identities within the LGBTQIA+ community
ROLE REQUIREMENTS
- Valid Victorian driver’s license (required) and regular access to a car (preferred)
- A successful Police Background Check and Working With Children Check (WWCC). These can be obtained once an offer of employment is made, and before role commencement
- Current First Aid accreditation (or willingness to obtain)
We’ve provided a significant amount of information about this role to support your application process, and give you a full understanding of what you’re applying for.
Research shows that men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, while other genders (and intersecting identities) tend to only apply when they check every box.
If you think you have what it takes but don’t meet every single criteria above, we would still love to hear from you.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for this role, please send us the following:
- A copy of your CV
- A written response or short pre-recorded video (max 5 min) introducing yourself, and briefly responding to the key selection criteria.
- If you send in a video, something recorded on your phone is fine. Please ensure this is uploaded to a 3rd party service (such as Youtube, Dropbox, etc) and shared via URL, not as an attachment.
Applications close on Sunday August 30, 2026.
PROCESS
Application: You are asked to submit a written or video response to the key selection criteria.
Interview/s: Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a live interview/s with the team. These will be conducted face-to-face or online.
Reference Check: Successful candidates will undergo a reference check, Working With Children Check and Police Background Check.
Minus18 is committed to promoting and advancing equal opportunity for LGBTQIA+ people, especially LGBTQIA+ people in our strategic priority groups (People of Colour, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people, and people with culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds). We encourage people in our strategic priority groups to apply, and to let us know if any special assistance is required during the application process (including barriers to recording and uploading your video).
Need assistance? JobAccess includes help finding work, changing jobs, accessing DES providers and workplace modifications to help you find / maintain employment. Please email jobs@minus18.org. your questions https://www.jobaccess.gov.au/people-with-disability/available-support
We uphold our responsibility to provide safe environments for young people at Minus18, working with communities to ensure we are culturally respectful and inclusive. We have adopted the National Principles for Child Safety.
Minus18 is located on the land of the Yalakut Weelam Clan of the Boon Wurrung peoples, Australia’s First People and Traditional Custodians. We acknowledge their continued connection and contribution to land, water and community, and pay our respects to Elders past and present. Sovereignty was never ceded; this always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.
