Position Vacant: Lived Experience Manager (12-month maternity cover)

• Australia’s largest organisation supporting people with eating disorders and body image concerns.
• Office based in Crow’s Nest, NSW, hybrid working
• Would consider remote for the right person
• Part time 0.8 FTE, 12-month maternity cover
• Start date as soon as possible
• Great workplace culture, employee benefits and salary packaging options!

Are You Ready to Help Make a Change?

Butterfly Foundation is Australia’s national charity for eating disorders and body image issues, providing a voice for those affected and the people who care for them. Eating disorders are severe and complex mental illnesses with physical complications, and the medical, psychological, physical and social consequences can be long term and for many, life threatening.

Butterfly advocates for improved services from government, health and mental health organisations, and the eating disorder sector, raising awareness in the media and via community engagement. Butterfly runs Australia’s only national Eating Disorders Helpline, seven days a week; evidence-based clinical treatment and support programs; and delivers prevention initiatives in schools and the community to combat negative body image issues.

About the Role

The purpose of the Lived Experience Manager role is to support Butterfly to embed lived experience perspectives in all the work that we do. This position leads Butterfly’s engagement with individuals impacted by eating disorders and body image issues, supporting our strategic goals and priorities and one of the key foundations of our work: Elevate Lived Experience. This includes embedding lived experience in everything we do, amplifying diverse lived experience voices, and role modelling best-practice lived experience engagement.

Accountabilities and Responsibilities

Manage Butterfly’s online lived experience network, the Butterfly Collective

• The Butterfly Collective is an online forum of around 1300 people with a lived experience of an eating disorder; either themselves or as a carer. The LE Manager will facilitate the Butterfly Collective’s engagement across internal and external programs, projects, campaigns, advocacy activities, and research opportunities. This includes responding to internal requests, liaising with researchers and external partners, providing expert advice on best-practice engagement with Collective members, communicating opportunities to the Collective, and collating responses for Butterfly work units.
• Work with the Communications and Engagement team to effectively promote the Butterfly Collective, including to groups who are often overlooked and under-served in the mental health service sector such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, LGBTQIA+ communities and multicultural communities.
• Design, develop, and disseminate content via the Butterfly Collective portal via regular EDMs, including opportunities to provide insight into Butterfly’s work and the work of the broader sector, including a newsletter every 1-2 weeks highlighting new opportunities to be involved in Butterfly’s work and the work of the broader sector. Newsletter elements also include updating members on industry news and featuring members.
• Develop and implement strategies to mitigate risk and to monitor and evaluate and continue to increase lived experience engagement.
• Monitor the Butterfly Collective email inbox and respond to all queries within a 48-hour period.
• Monitor new member applications and accept requests every two business days.
• Build membership of the Collective, with a particular focus on under-represented groups as above

Designing and implementing lived experience training and e-modules

• The Butterfly Collective learning hub currently includes two learning modules – ‘How to share your living and lived experiences safely, meaningfully, and effectively’ and ‘Pathways into lived experience work in the eating disorder sector and beyond’. This role includes administering current Butterfly Collective Education Hub e-learning modules, including troubleshooting and working with external administrators to update the online platform.
• As well as creating content for the third e-module using authoring tool in collaboration with people with lived experience and Butterfly staff.
• Develop and run live e-module training for Butterfly Collective members in collaboration with people with lived experience.
• Evaluate session and make improvements over time based on feedback from participants and emerging training needs.
• Sustain the Education Hub by working with Butterfly’s fundraising team to assess funding needs and apply for grants.

Manage Butterfly’s strategic advisory body, the Lived Experience Committee

• Prepare for and coordinate the bi-monthly online meetings and the in-person, face-to-face Sydney meeting of the seven-person Lived Experience Committee, including logistics and tools to support effective member engagement.
• Update or develop the 2026/2027 induction information for new and existing members for first meeting of the 2nd iteration in September.
• Provide secretariat for the group including preparation of all governance documentation such as the development of Senior Leadership Team, background papers, workshop activities, workplans, agendas, and minutes.
• Manage all communications with members including communicating about out-of-session opportunities as they arise.
• Manage all member payments after each meeting and offer a de-briefing session to all, providing a session to any member who requests one.
• Support the Head of Communications & Engagement as Co-Chair of the group, as well as the LE Committee member who is the other Co-Chair, with the provision of briefing notes, speaking notes, and other advice as required.
• Recruit new members to the group if required (members are appointed for a two-year term).

To see the FULL Accountabilities & Responsibilities and Selection Criteria, please view the Position Description 

Essential

• Essential
  • A minimum of two years of relevant experience in similar or related roles such as program delivery, online community management, or lived experience engagement/coordination.
  • Knowledge of the principles and techniques of the involvement of people with lived experience in: the design and development of programs and services; program review and evaluation; service delivery; media and social marketing campaigns; and public policy advocacy.
  • Highly developed in communicating effectively with a diverse range of audiences, including supporting, mentoring and/or training people with lived experience and their families and carers, and facilitating online discussions.
  • High level written communication skills, with demonstrated excellence in the production of documentation such as background papers, meeting agendas and minutes, thematic analyses, speaking notes, website content and reports.
  • An understanding of the Mindframe Guidelines for reporting on eating disorders, and Butterfly’s internal Safe Language Guidelines
  • Proven ability to manage multiple work priorities and communicate in a cross-organisational context, including managing a changing environment, problem-solving, and being proactive in identifying and pursuing opportunities.

To Apply

All applicants should supply their resume and must address the Selection Criteria as detailed in the Position Description in a separate cover letter to hr@butterfly.org.au

Closing Date: Wednesday 25th March 2026, please note that if we receive a high level of applications, the vacancy may close earlier than stated. Therefore, we would encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.

For enquiries about this position, please email hr@butterfly.org.au