About us

The Sunrise Project is a network of passionate changemakers driven by a shared mission to scale social movements that can drive the urgent transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. We believe in the power of people to solve the climate crisis, and we work alongside partners around the world to shift the systems — financial, political, and cultural — that are holding back climate action.

Since launching in Australia in 2012, Sunrise has grown into a global network of independent organisations with over 140 staff across 13 countries. We work behind the scenes to support bold strategies, build capacity in the climate movement, and catalyse collective action for impact at speed and scale. Our work is grounded in strong relationships, deep collaboration, and a fierce commitment to justice.

We’re proud of the culture we’ve built, one that centres trust, care, and the belief that how we work matters as much as what we do. We actively strive to reflect our values in how we lead, collaborate, and show up with our partners and each other. You can read about our values here.

About the Role

The People Systems Manager is accountable for the health, integrity and evolution of our core business platforms that interface with our internal partners - our staff and contractors, translating the employee experience and internal communications into systems, processes and data structures that are simple, trusted and able to evolve as our context shifts.

Grounded in the understanding that adaptability matters more than efficiency when the future is uncertain, you build and maintain the applications, workflows, guardrails and standards that enable entity teams to act with autonomy while staying aligned, compliant and connected. Rather than acting as a gatekeeper, you strengthen the operational backbone so teams can move with confidence and clarity, creating ease where possible and productive friction where necessary, and ensuring our systems remain secure, adaptable and resilient in this complex and ever-changing world.

About You

You are a systems thinker who naturally sees the connections between people, process, data and tools. You know how to design them so they work simply and well. You bring experience in process design and optimisation, and you’re comfortable working within data governance frameworks that balance clarity, compliance and usability.

You’re analytically strong and able to move confidently between detail and big picture. You care about accuracy and rigour, but always in service of strategic outcomes.

You influence without relying on hierarchy. Colleagues experience you as thoughtful, clear and steady. You’re someone who can bring people together around practical solutions, particularly in cross-team and networked environments.

Above all, you have a bias for simplification. You’re motivated to reduce friction, remove unnecessary complexity and build systems that enable our work, not slow it down.

Key Responsibilities

• Product Ownership & System Strategy - Own the vision, roadmap and continuous improvement of assigned systems, ensuring they deliver meaningful norganisational value. Prioritise enhancements based on impact and risk, and act as the single point of accountability for performance and vendor relationships. Manage the license or subscription renewals, contracting and service level support agreements with those vendors. Lead the incorporation of AI capabilities and functionality into the systems and processes you steward.

• System Administration & Configuration - Maintain system health through effective management of access, permissions, configurations, workflows and integrations. Coordinate upgrades, testing and issue resolution, with strong documentation and preventative controls.

• Process Governance & Continuous Improvement - Steward end-to-end processes within the system, keeping them simple, consistent and aligned across the network, and in support of the human-centred experiences curated by the entity teams. Identify friction points and lead practical improvements that strengthen focus and effectiveness. Ensure the process documentation is clear, up-to-date and stored in a secure, but accessible location for relevant stakeholders. Lead improvement initiative projects for these processes across the network.

• Data Governance & Integrity - Treat data as a strategic asset by upholding clear standards, monitoring quality and managing the full data lifecycle. Ensure compliance with privacy, security and regulatory obligations.

• Stakeholder Engagement & Change Management - Partner with functional leads and multiple programs across the network to build trust and translateevolving needs into system solutions that work in practice. Enable confidentadoption through training, guidance and thoughtful change support. Ensure onboarding of new users to the tools is thorough and consistent.

• Reporting & Insights - Design reporting, dashboards and AI agents that provide reliable, decision-useful insights to stakeholders across the organisation. Reduce reliance on shadow systems and strengthen shared visibility of performance.

• Risk & Control - Maintain appropriate controls, segregation of duties and system safeguards to protect organisational integrity. Support audits and ensure business continuity through robust backup and recovery practices.

• Contributes to organisation and team culture, reflecting the vision, mission and values of The Sunrise Project in own behaviours, contributing to/delivering objectives related to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, and proposing and/or implementing innovations in team processes;

• Aligns own work with Sunrise’s mission, values and OKR’s.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Demonstrated ability to see and shape the interdependencies between people, process, technology and governance across a complex organisation, and to design solutions that optimise the whole rather than sub-optimising parts.

• Proven experience leading end-to-end process design and continuous improvement initiatives, balancing user experience, risk management and scalability, and embedding changes that endure beyond initial implementation.

• Experience establishing or stewarding data standards, controls and lifecycle practices within a structured governance environment, with sound judgement on compliance, privacy and risk trade-offs.

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex datasets, identify patterns and risks, and translate insights into clear, practical recommendations for senior stakeholders.

• Track record of influencing diverse stakeholders across functions or entities, building alignment and driving change in matrixed or decentralised environments without relying on positional authority.

• Demonstrated ability to reduce complexity, remove unnecessary friction and design intuitive systems and processes that enable autonomy while maintaining appropriate guardrails.

• Ability to maintain rigour in system configuration, controls and data integrity while holding a clear line of sight to organisational strategy and long-term sustainability.

• Experience leading or playing a senior role in cross-functional initiatives, coordinating inputs across multiple teams, managing competing priorities, and delivering outcomes in dynamic and evolving contexts.

• Advanced/sophisticated/well developed interpersonal, collaboration, influencing, negotiation and relationship building, networking skills

• A passion for supporting action on climate change and a commitment to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. A passion for taking action on climate change and a deep commitment to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Desirable Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Experience of system administration for either Google Sites, Notion, Hibob, CultureAmp, BeApplied, Go1, BoardEffect.

• Practical experience with internal communications or people & culture operational function.

Job Requirements

• Employment background checks are required.

• Previous employment reference checks will be required for successful applicants.

• Intermittent travel domestically, rurally and internationally with advanced notice may be/is required.

• Flexibility to adjust work hours to accommodate multiple time zones.

How Sunrise Supports its Staff

The Sunrise Project is committed to a workplace where staff can do their best work and grow professionally. The following provisions apply pro rata for part-time or fixed-term staff. Note that the successful candidate will be employed via a Professional Employment Organisation (PEO) on behalf of Sunrise, so specific conditions may vary.

• Statutory benefits and entitlements of the country in which you are employed.

• Sunrise may provide additional benefits, where in-country entitlements are less than our standard package, where applicable including:

  • Paid Parental Leave that is gender-neutral & inclusive of all types of families, incl. Parental Return To Work & Keeping In Touch Program

  • Life Leave (up to 40 days p.a. for significant personal reasons)

  • Public Holiday + Cultural Leave

  • Workspace Benefits incl: A Macbook, initial $2,000* for home workspace & IT equipment + $800* every 2 years + up to $75/mth phone/data/internet (equivalent local currency)

  • Shared office support

Additionally we offer:

• Flexible Working Policy

• VIDA - An AI tool to support your health and wellbeing

• Regular all-org and team meetings & retreats

• Learning & Development Program incl. a professional development budget for every staff member

• Coaching & manager support with regular 1:1 meetings

• Annual performance & development reviews with 360 feedback

• A co-developed work plan to ensure clarity on your role & key responsibilities

• We provide our staff with a voice on issues that concern them via consultation, caucuses, working groups, and surveys

How to apply for this job

We recognise that discrimination and structural barriers shape access to formal education and experience. We assess candidates on the full range of skills and knowledge they've developed throughout their life - not just paid roles. For this reason, we evaluate applicants through responses to application questions. Please do not submit a cover letter.

If you're excited by this opportunity, please submit your application as soon as possible. We will review applications as they are received, so we can move quickly to shortlisting once applications close