Innovation Program Roles

Local Peoples is looking for talented individuals for multiple positions to support an Innovation Program for our government client in the Health and Aged Care sector. These roles will enable you to contribute to impactful outcomes in this critical sector, while being represented by Local Peoples, a leader in co-design and inclusive design practices.

Successful candidates will join a forward-thinking initiative for an initial period from January to June 2025, with the potential for extensions based on program needs.

About the Project

The Innovation Program is designed to build a strong foundation for innovation within the Health and Aged Care sector. During the January–June 2025 period, this program will focus on:

• Establishing a standardised innovation methodology

• Building a dedicated innovation team to drive the strategy

• Creating effective collaboration mechanisms with internal and external stakeholders

• Piloting challenge missions to address key sector challenges

Key milestones for January–June 2025:

• Two innovation events

• A digital knowledge-sharing hub

• Advancing three challenge missions (two sector-focused, one departmental)

Available Roles and Responsibilities

1. Innovation Lead

Start Date: January 2025
Key Responsibilities:

- Sets strategic direction and champions innovation across the organisation

- Builds relationships with senior stakeholders across health and aged care sectors

- Oversees resourcing and team development

- Manages governance and risk frameworks

- Reports on innovation outcomes and impact

- Advocates for user-centred approaches at leadership level

- Signs off on challenge selections and major initiatives

2. Service Design Lead

Start Date: January 2025
Key Responsibilities:

- Designs and maintains the end-to-end innovation methodology

- Creates and manages service blueprints for innovation processes

- Runs the program management function

- Develops templates and tools for innovation activities

- Ensures integration with existing SDLC and policy processes

- Manages documentation and knowledge management

- Tracks project progress and maintains innovation metrics dashboard

- Coordinates resourcing across innovation projects

3. Technology Innovation Specialist

Start Date: February 2025
Key Responsibilities:

- Leads technical prototyping capability and innovation lab

- Manages the digital knowledge hub platform

- Provides technical feasibility assessment for innovations

- Guides teams on technology possibilities and constraints

- Develops AI and emerging technology trials

- Creates technical components of proof-of-concepts

- Ensures technical scalability of solutions

- Advises on technology infrastructure needs

4. Innovation Experience Lead

Start Date: January 2025
Key Responsibilities:

- Designs and delivers stakeholder engagement strategy

- Maps and manages stakeholder journeys and experiences

- Coordinates the innovation champions network

- Plans and delivers innovation events and showcases

- Manages internal and external communications

- Creates engagement frameworks and feedback loops

- Ensures inclusive participation across sectors

- Builds and nurtures innovation communities

5. Challenge Program Manager

Start Date: March 2025
Key Responsibilities:

- Designs and runs sector innovation challenges

- Develops challenge selection framework

- Manages challenge lifecycle from ideation to implementation

- Creates and tracks impact measurement framework

- Coordinates evaluation and selection processes

- Manages scaling pathway for successful solutions

- Ensures challenges align with sector needs

- Coordinates resources across challenge portfolio

6. Design Thinking Facilitator (x2)

Start Dates: January 2025, February 2025
Key Responsibilities:

- Design and facilitate co-design workshops

- Train teams in design thinking methods

- Support teams through discovery and ideation

- Create user research plans and activities

- Synthesise insights from user research

- Prototype and test solutions with users

- Document and share design research findings

- Coach teams in human-centred design practices

Residency and Clearance

• Must have Baseline Clearance or be able to obtain one

• Australian Citizen

• This role is open to candidates from All states

Who are Local Peoples?

Local Peoples is a strategic research and design studio based in Melbourne and Canberra, specialising in policy, service, and product design and delivery.

Our mission is to co-design healthy, resilient, and resourceful communities. As a certified B-Corporation, we focus on social, environmental, and economic impact.

We create lasting value by co-designing, testing, and iterating on policies, services, products, and places to build a positive future for all Australians. We conduct independent research on education, policy co-design, and inclusive design, and use our community engagement expertise to build communities that improve lives and inclusion for those often left behind.

Our partners include state and local governments, social enterprises, universities, and large commercial organisations. We believe design research, thinking, and delivery can solve complex challenges and create positive change for people and the planet.

We produce Matters Journal, a publication and community of 100K+, which focuses on design-led social innovation and impact.

Why join Local Peoples?

• Representative and inclusive - we are dedicated to building an inclusive and accessible workplace for people from diverse backgrounds

• Impact driven - work towards achieving real impact for people and the environment

• Fantastic culture - driven by a welcoming, supportive and collaborative team environment

• Professional support for design excellence- benefit from being a part of one of Australia’s fastest growing design and delivery communities

• Flexible working arrangements - including the ability to work remotely

• Market rate salaries - attractive remuneration packages in line with the market rate

• Flexible employment types - including the option to work as permanent or contracter