A national planning leadership opportunity
Planners who want to shape bigger decisions.
Build a national planning practice that brings planning, environmental science, social insight, economics and infrastructure thinking further upstream — while the biggest decisions can still be shaped.
About us
Mosaic Insights creates social landscapes of the future, places and systems where communities and nature can thrive together.
We are a strategy, planning, social science and data practice working on complex questions at the intersection of people, place and the environment. Our work is evidence based, human centred and practical: we bring together research, technical analysis and design thinking to help clients understand complexity, make informed choices and translate those choices into action.
Our perspective is deliberately broad. We work across social science, open space planning, urban greening and cooling, nature based solutions, spatial and data science, climate resilience, stakeholder engagement and emerging applications of AI and machine learning. That mix means we can look beyond a single discipline and understand the social, environmental and spatial systems that shape how a place works.
Much of our work is already about the decisions that influence the future of cities, regions and communities. We develop open space and urban forest strategies, assess climate risk and adaptation pathways, map social and environmental need, prioritise investment, design nature based responses and build analytical tools that help decision makers see patterns, trade offs and opportunities more clearly.
We are particularly interested in the connection between evidence and decision making. Our social scientists bring an understanding of values, behaviour, community needs and governance. Our spatial and data specialists turn complex information into usable insight. Our strategy and design work brings those perspectives together to help clients move from analysis to a clear direction.
Planning is therefore not a departure from what Mosaic does. It is a natural next step in the evolution of the business. Planning is one of the places where environmental evidence, social values, infrastructure, investment and policy come together, and where decisions made early can shape landscapes and communities for decades.
Our ambition is to build a planning practice that works further upstream in those decisions: helping clients determine what is possible, what matters, what should be protected, where investment should go and how better outcomes for people and nature can be embedded before the major parameters of a project or place have become fixed.
That creates room for a different kind of planning practice, one that is technically informed, comfortable with complexity, curious about new tools and methods, and focused on helping clients make better decisions rather than simply navigating a process.
About Alluvium Group
Our purpose is to make a difference for nature and communities. We are driven to create positive impact.
The Alluvium Group was founded to bridge the gap between science, policy and on-ground implementation. We believe the pressures of climate change, biodiversity loss and more frequent disasters — and their impacts on communities — are among the defining challenges of our time. Our role is to bring informed, creative and practical advice to those connected and difficult problems.
The Group brings together five specialist organisations that share a collective vision, strategy and commitment to client service. Our model is built on a simple idea: technical depth and excellence better serve our clients and the industry. Each business retains its own leadership, technical focus and capacity to make decisions, while working across the Group when a challenge calls for a more integrated response.
Together, the businesses span science, engineering and strategy for catchments, rivers and coasts; economics, policy and strategy for climate-resilient and sustainable futures; social landscapes; ecological advice, strategy and design; and strategy, planning and analysis for a just energy transition.
For someone building a planning practice, that breadth creates an unusual platform. Planning can sit at the point where these disciplines come together — connecting technical evidence, community and economic considerations with the decisions that determine how places develop, how infrastructure is delivered and how landscapes are managed.
Just as importantly, the Group is designed to give people room to lead. We value independent thinking, creativity and collaboration, and we deliberately create space for people to develop as leaders rather than placing layers between them and the decisions that shape the business.
We measure success by more than revenue.
We invest our time, energy and profit back into the things that matter most: growing the expertise of our people, advancing the science that underpins our work, and building an organisation where talented people can do the best work of their careers.
Purpose and values
A certified B Corp, we only work on projects that deliver a net environmental or social benefit. Our values determine what we do and don’t take on.
Research and insights
Since 2018 our Research and Insights Program has funded over 60 staff-led projects, drawing on lessons from 6,000+ consulting projects. Our work is grounded in the best available science, not established practice from years ago.
Fellowship program
Our Fellowship Program gives our most research-connected leaders a two-year focus to build partnerships, publish insights and drive change across the sector.
People and culture
Flexible work embedded since 2006. As an employee-owned business we prioritise job security, transparency and wellbeing, choosing employment stability over short-term profit.
Recognised employer
Consistently ranked in Australia’s Best Workplaces, reaching #10 in 2022. Named among Best Workplaces for Women for consecutive years. Prosple 2026 Top 100 Graduate Employers.
Alluvium Foundation
Our affiliated not-for-profit directs two decades of knowledge toward the broader public interest, influencing national debate on complex challenges facing society and the environment.
Our footprint
Alluvium began in Melbourne in 2006 and has grown into a distributed environmental group with a presence across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, India and South-East Asia.
Our expansion has never been about simply putting pins on a map. We have grown by following our people, our clients and the environmental challenges where our expertise can make a difference.
Today, our geographic reach combines strong local knowledge and relationships with access to expertise from across the Group, giving our people the opportunity to build meaningful careers locally while contributing to some of the most important environmental challenges across the Asia-Pacific region.
About the role
This is an opportunity to build a national planning practice, not simply step into an established one.
Mosaic Insights is part of the Alluvium Group, bringing together deep capability across biophysical science, social science, economics, engineering, water and climate. Much of our work already informs planning, development, infrastructure and investment decisions. The opportunity now is to build a planning practice that brings those capabilities together earlier — when clients are still deciding what is possible, where development should occur, what needs to be protected, where investment should go and how better environmental and community outcomes can be built in from the outset.
You’ll lead the development of that practice nationally, with an initial focus on Victoria, NSW and South East Queensland. You’ll have considerable freedom to shape where we play, the work we want to be known for, the clients we work with, the partnerships we establish and the people we bring into the business.
We don’t see the opportunity as building another conventional planning consultancy. Our ambition is to operate where planning becomes more complex and where integration matters — where development, housing and infrastructure intersect with water, biodiversity, natural hazards, climate change, economics, social outcomes and community expectations.
Planning becomes the connection between deep technical expertise and the decisions that shape landscapes and communities.
A significant part of the role will be defining that market position and turning it into a business. You’ll build senior client relationships, develop a strong pipeline of work and establish Mosaic as a specialist provider of integrated environmental, social and planning advice. You’ll work across state and local government, utilities and the private sector, building long-term client relationships rather than simply pursuing individual projects.
Partnerships will also be central to the model. We don’t need to replicate every part of a traditional planning business ourselves. You’ll identify and build relationships with strong planning and complementary firms, determine where Mosaic should lead and where we should partner, and create opportunities that combine the strengths of both. The aim is to build a model that is collaborative, commercially strong and able to respond to complex projects at scale.
As the practice develops, you’ll also help create the service models, tools and intellectual property that make our offer distinctive and repeatable. Over time, we see an integrated offering that can connect strategy, planning, approvals and compliance with the environmental, social and land-management decisions that follow.
This is therefore both a planning leadership role and a business-building role. You’ll be expected to create opportunities, grow revenue, build a team and establish a clear position in the market. But you won’t be doing that from a standing start. You’ll have the relationships, technical capability, geographic reach and specialist expertise of the wider Alluvium Group to draw on.
What we don’t yet have is a planning practice deliberately built around this opportunity. That is what we want you to help create.
What you’ll shape
- Build and scale the planning practice nationally, initially focused on Victoria, NSW and South East Queensland.
- Define our market position and the planning work we want to be known for.
- Build senior client relationships and a sustainable pipeline across government, utilities and the private sector.
- Establish strategic partnerships that extend our reach and create new project opportunities.
- Develop an integrated service model connecting strategy, planning, approvals, compliance and land management.
- Build repeatable tools, frameworks and approaches that create a distinctive planning offer.
- Grow the team and help determine the people and capabilities we bring into the business.
About you
Senior planning judgement
Substantial consulting experience across statutory, strategic and/or environmental planning, with the confidence to work across complex development, infrastructure and policy questions.
Clients and commercial instinct
Strong senior relationships, an established professional network and a practical understanding of how work is won, trusted relationships are built and a successful practice grows.
A builder, not just a manager
Experience creating teams, markets, partnerships or new services, with the ambition to shape what the practice becomes rather than simply inherit an existing model.
A contemporary point of view
An interest in multidisciplinary planning, data and AI, and clear ideas about the work a modern planning practice should pursue, the people it should attract and what it could do differently.
You’ve been in planning long enough to know that the most interesting work rarely sits neatly within the boundaries of planning itself.
You’re an experienced planner and consultant who is comfortable working where development, infrastructure, environment, climate, policy and community expectations intersect. You can navigate complexity, understand the regulatory environment and, importantly, help clients work out what to do when the answer isn’t obvious.
By this point in your career, you’ve probably built more than technical expertise. You’ve built relationships, a professional network and credibility with senior clients. You can sit across the table from executives, government, developers and technical specialists and bring clarity to difficult conversations. You understand the commercial side of consulting too — how work is won, how strong client relationships are built and how a successful practice grows.
We expect you’ll bring significant experience in statutory, strategic and/or environmental planning, with a strong understanding of at least one of the Victorian, NSW or Queensland planning systems and the ability to operate across jurisdictions. You’ll have a relevant tertiary qualification and the professional standing that comes with a substantial career in planning and consulting.
But experience alone isn’t what we’re looking for.
We’re looking for someone who has built things — teams, markets, client relationships, partnerships, new services or perhaps an entire practice. Someone who enjoys creating opportunities rather than simply managing the work already in front of them.
You’ll also be someone who sees planning becoming more integrated, not less. You’re interested in how planning connects with environmental science, water, biodiversity, climate adaptation, economics, infrastructure and social outcomes — and how those disciplines can be brought together earlier to make better decisions.
And you’re thinking about what comes next. That includes how new tools, data and artificial intelligence might change the way planning is undertaken, and where technology can improve analysis and decision-making without replacing professional judgement.
Most importantly, you’ll have a point of view.
You’ll have ideas about what a contemporary planning practice should look like, the work it should pursue, the people it should attract and what it could do differently.
You don’t need to arrive with every answer. But you do need the experience, judgement, relationships and ambition to help us build them.
The essentials
- Relevant tertiary qualification in urban, regional or environmental planning, or a related discipline.
- Substantial experience in statutory, strategic and/or environmental planning, including significant consulting experience.
- Strong understanding of at least one Australian planning jurisdiction, with the ability to operate across others.
- Established client relationships and a professional network in the planning, development, government or infrastructure sectors.
- Experience leading complex planning work and working across multidisciplinary teams.
- Professional standing and eligibility for PIA membership or an equivalent professional body.
Time for a change
You may not be looking for another job. But you might be ready for a different kind of opportunity.
I work for a large multinational
You’ve built your career in a sophisticated business, worked on significant projects and probably have access to expertise across multiple disciplines and markets.
But scale can come with distance. The people making decisions about the business may be several levels removed from the people closest to the clients and the work. Strategy may be shaped elsewhere. Investment decisions can be influenced by overseas owners, global priorities or external shareholders. And good ideas can sometimes have a long way to travel before they become action.
This is different.
You would be close to the decisions that matter and have a genuine role in making them. You would have the freedom to decide what kind of planning practice we build, where we compete, who we work with, who we hire and what we want to become known for.
And you would still have a substantial organisation behind you. You would have access to established clients, offices, systems and more than 200 people across planning-adjacent disciplines, without needing to navigate layers of hierarchy to put an idea into practice.
The opportunity is to combine the capability and reach of a larger consultancy with the autonomy and influence of building something yourself.
I work in an established planning business
You may already have considerable autonomy. You may know your market exceptionally well, have strong client relationships and work with people you respect.
The question might be less about escaping something and more about what you could do with a different platform around you.
Planning decisions increasingly depend on issues that sit beyond conventional planning: water, biodiversity, natural hazards, climate adaptation, economics, infrastructure, community values and social outcomes.
Alluvium already has deep expertise across those areas.
The opportunity is to put planning alongside that technical capability and use it earlier in the decision-making process. Not simply planning to secure an approval, but helping determine what should happen in the first place, where it should happen, what needs to change and what a better outcome could look like.
You would be able to bring planners, scientists, engineers, economists and social researchers together around the same problem and build a planning practice specifically designed to work that way.
If you’ve ever thought about what you could build with a much deeper technical platform behind you, this is an opportunity to find out.
I work in government
You may have spent years influencing planning policy, major projects, development decisions or the way places grow from inside government.
You understand the system. You understand how decisions are actually made. And you probably understand better than most where the system works and where it doesn’t.
This is an opportunity to apply that experience differently.
There are no ministerial cycles to navigate, no layers of departmental approval around every new idea and no need to build a career around the machinery of government. Instead, you can work directly with clients on difficult problems, develop ideas, build a team and see those ideas translated into projects and outcomes.
You would still work on issues of genuine public importance. The difference is that you would approach them from a business deliberately built around independent thinking, technical evidence and getting good work done.
And this isn’t simply a move from government into consulting. It is an opportunity to help build the consulting practice you think government, communities and industry actually need.
What’s on the table
If you’re going to help us build something significant, we think you should have the opportunity to share in its success.
More than 50% of our staff are shareholders, with the opportunity to benefit from dividends and long-term capital growth.
Remuneration will reflect the skills, experience and leadership you bring, alongside profit share.
Alluvium is listed as a Great Place to Work for women and has built a workplace where our people play a major role in shaping culture and success.
Access international projects, international study tours and opportunities to work across the wider Alluvium Group.
Ownership is central to the proposition. For us, it isn’t simply a benefit on a list — it is a way for senior people to have a genuine voice in the direction of the business and share in the value they help create.
You’ll also have access to ideas and opportunities that extend well beyond planning. Through the Alluvium Foundation, our Research and Insights Program and Group-supported research, you can engage with thought leadership, innovation and new approaches alongside recognised leaders across the business.
We also support flexibility in how you work, access to well-located city-fringe offices and the tools you need to work effectively, including a laptop, mobile phone and enterprise AI subscription.
A business that reflects its values
The Alluvium Group has an active reconciliation program, is listed as a Great Place to Work for women, operates as a carbon neutral business and is a certified B Corp.
Next steps
The title is not fixed. The exact shape of the role, the market position and the scale of the practice will depend in part on the person who joins us. What matters is the experience, relationships, judgement and ambition to build something significant.
If the opportunity resonates, we would like to hear from you. A short conversation is also welcome before you decide whether to apply.