Title:  Senior Advisor - Secondary Approvals

About John Holland

We’re all about transforming lives by finding solutions to complex challenges across a wide range of industries including infrastructure, property, rail, building and water projects in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.

From the epic, to the intimate, everything we do improves life for someone, somewhere. It gives our business momentum and means we approach things a little differently.

While our competitors talk about what they do, we focus on why we do it. We transform communities to make them easier to move around, more connected and better to live in.

Are you up for the challenge?

About the Project

John Holland has been named as the preferred contractor to deliver the North-East Link, Hoddle St to Bourke Road package of works. The Eastern Hoddle Bourke Alliance (EHBA) is made up of John Holland, Seymour Whyte and design partners Mott MacDonald and Jacobs Group, in partnership with MRPV.

The scope of works includes upgrading six kilometres of the Freeway with new traffic lanes, bridge upgrades and urban noise walls, a dedicated busway (fully segregated from mainline traffic), and a new bridge over the Yarra River.

The NEL Project involves the design and construction of the upgrade of the Eastern Freeway from Hoddle Street in the west to Burke Road in the east, including:

6km of brownfield freeway widening to accommodate additional traffic lanes in each direction
3km dedicated busway separated from mainline traffic
Significant structures including 600m of bridges, including a 180m architectural steel shared use path bridge of the Yarra River
Freeway-wide scope including ITS, retaining walls, stormwater drainage, noise walls, lighting and signage

Site location to be around Chandler Highway / Eastern Freeway interchange.

What you will do;

• Oversee secondary environmental approval workflows for high-value contracts, subcontractor agreements, and procurement packages.
• Validate compliance with project governance, safety standards, and client specifications before approvals are finalized.
• Provide expert advice to project managers, engineering leads, and commercial teams on approval requirements.
• Act as a liaison between project delivery teams and senior leadership to resolve approval delays and escalate critical issues.
• Monitor adherence to regulatory frameworks (e.g., WHS, environmental compliance) and contractual obligations.
• Maintain robust audit trails for all secondary approvals to support internal and external audits.
• Identify bottlenecks in approval workflows and implement process enhancements to reduce turnaround times.
• Support digital transformation initiatives for automated approval systems in large-scale projects.
• Deliver regular reports on approval status, compliance metrics, and risk indicators to senior management.
• Provide insights to improve governance and decision-making across multi-disciplinary project teams.

What we are looking for;

Qualifications

Bachelors Degree in Environmental Engineering, Science, Sustainability or other associated disciplines. 

Experience 

Senior Urban Planner with demonstrated experience in obtaining approvals under the Victorian Planning and Environment Act 1987 and other relevant Victorian legislation.

Experienced in working in a major project environment.

Ability to interpret Incorporated Document requirements.

Excellent report writing skills.

Ability to work with a wide range of stakeholders to achieve required outcomes.

As part of the team, you help us deliver on our promise to transform lives.

Your success is reflected in ours, so we’re committed to being an employer of choice. We pride ourselves on having a diverse and inclusive workplace, as different perspectives and ideas will deliver our long-term success.

We’ll do all we can to help you develop your skills, and make a difference, right from the start. We have a flexible workplace and focus on all aspects of your physical and mental health and safety. We want you to be with us for the long-term, so providing you with rich career experiences and ongoing development is our priority.

We Offer;

Competitive remuneration with salary continuance, and salary sacrifice packaging options available.

Great leave benefits including 18 weeks paid parental leave with superannuation and up to an extra 18 weeks of superannuation paid on further periods of unpaid parental leave, multicultural leave exchange and two additional John Holland Days to prioritise health and wellbeing.

Career progression underpinned by our exciting pipeline of work means you'll have the opportunity to work on iconic projects that are shaping cities and communities.

Learning and development opportunities where you'll have access to emerging talent programs, building your career through clear career pathways, and technical and leadership training and development opportunities.

Inclusion and diversity is part of how we work and do what we do at John Holland. Our active commitment to being an employer of choice is evident in the delivery of our Gender Equality Strategic Plan supported by our Pride, Celebrate Women, RAP and Grow networks.

Flexible working that works for you as we know flexibility means different things to different people. Whether it's flexi-hours, flexi-parenting, flexi-leave, flexi-shifts, flexi-work, we're committed to helping our people work flexibly.