Group Manager - Shared Services

When Shared Services runs well, nobody notices. When it doesn't, everyone does.

This role is for someone who understands that — and thrives on it anyway. A major Australian resources business is building out a national Shared Services function from scratch. Payroll, accounts payable, procurement, controls, KPIs, dashboards — none of it is where it needs to be yet. That's the brief. That's the opportunity.

Brisbane | Sydney | Newcastle | Up to $250k TFR + Significant STI | Permanent | 1 Day WFH

What the role looks like

• Lead a national Shared Services team — spanning payroll, accounts payable, and potentially purchasing
• Build the operational discipline that doesn't exist yet — KPIs, metrics frameworks, dashboards — and embed them as standard
• Set the tone on technology direction: AI, automation, and what the function should look like in five years
• Own the end-to-end governance of payroll runs across multiple EBAs, rosters, and employment arrangements — complex, sensitive, and non-negotiable
• Drive accounts payable across a material number of vendors and multi-billion-dollar expenditure — not as a back-office function, but as an operation
• Partner with site GMs and operational leaders to proactively improve how transactions flow across the business
• Lead a live major ERP implementation from the Shared Services side
• Tighten the controls environment — fraud exposure, access risk, delegation frameworks — with clear eyes and no blinkers

What you'll need:

• 15+ years in Shared Services leadership — you've run high-volume, multi-site transactional functions at scale
• A track record of building operational rigour — KPIs, controls, and continuous improvement aren't things you talk about, they're things you've done
• Strong ERP background (SAP, Oracle, Workday or equivalent) — big ERP matters more here than a specific platform
• Experience in mining, resources, heavy industry, construction, or large-scale manufacturing — you understand what it means to support an operation, not just a head office
• Payroll depth — you know EBAs, compliance complexity, and what a payroll risk looks like before it becomes a payroll problem
• Stakeholder gravitas — you can walk onto an operational site or into an exec meeting and command the room either way
• Change leadership that sticks — this environment has real resistance, and you need the resilience and method to move it anyway
• High integrity and a fraud-aware mindset — you know where the exposure sits and you don't leave your team exposed to temptation

What makes this worth your time:

• Half the CFO's entire portfolio sits in this function — the scope is genuine and the visibility is real
• Succession pathway is on the table — the hiring manager is actively looking at this role as a potential stepping stone to Deputy CFO or Group Controller level, if of interest
• A business that has doubled in size in three years and is planning to do it again — you're building something that will need to scale
• Significant STI — one of the stronger short-term incentive packages in the market at this level
• Full onshore model — no offshoring, no plans to change that — your team is here and so is the work

This process will move fast — so if you're the right person, don't wait.

Apply now or reach out to Dave Goldbach directly for a confidential conversation