OPERATIONS & COURSE COORDINATOR

OPERATIONS & COURSE COORDINATOR
Exceptional Dental Academy | Remote, Philippines-based | Full-time, long-term

Exceptional Dental Academy runs hands-on clinical education for dentists across Australia. We deliver two-day courses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane — currently around one a month, in hotel conference spaces, with sponsor equipment shipped in and a room full of dentists working at benches.

Both directors are practising clinicians. The operational side of this business currently runs out of their inboxes between patients. We're looking for one exceptionally organised person, based in the Philippines, to take it over.

YOU MUST HAVE WORKED WITH AUSTRALIAN BUSINESSES BEFORE. You'll be dealing with five-star Australian hotels, Australian suppliers and Australian dentists every day. We need someone who already understands how Australian businesses communicate, writes in Australian English, and doesn't need to be taught what AEST means, why nothing moves in the week of Christmas, or how a GST-inclusive quote reads. We'd rather hire someone with three years of genuine Australian client experience than ten years of general VA work.

This is not a marketing or social media role. Our marketing is handled elsewhere. This role is venues, logistics, attendees, deadlines and systems.


WHAT YOU'D OWN

Course venues, end to end.
When we d ---------- to run a course in a new city, you own it from brief to bump-out. That means writing the venue brief, working our venue broker and going direct where it's better, comparing quotes on room hire, day delegate rates, minimum spends and inclusions, checking floor plans against a cabaret layout that has to seat a full cohort doing hands-on work, confirming whether the room has a projector or only a screen, comparing catering packages, negotiating the extras that matter (complimentary bump-in the evening before, waived room hire, a hot item added to the buffet), and bringing the directors a shortlist with a recommendation — not a folder of PDFs.

Then the paperwork that follows a booking.
Venue contracts read, checked line by line against what was actually agreed, and returned signed inside the deadline. Deposit invoices diarised and paid on time. Event detail templates, banquet forms and RFI documents completed — including the catering menu, room set-up, AV requirements, delivery windows and access times — and returned by the date the hotel asked for, not the week of the course. Accommodation for faculty booked. Final invoices reconciled and remittance sent.

Attendees.
Our courses sell through Eventbrite. You'd manage the listings, monitor the questions that come in daily and answer them properly — what's included, what to bring, where it's being held, whether they can transfer to another city. You'd handle transfers, refunds and rebookings with judgement and warmth, keep the attendee list clean, collect and track dietary requirements, chase outstanding case submissions and forms, send the pre-course information and reminders, prepare certificates, and confirm final numbers to the venue by their cut-off.

Suppliers and sponsors.
Our courses are supported by dental industry partners who ship consumables and equipment to the venue. You'd coordinate manifests, consignment notes, delivery windows, and make sure the venue knows what's arriving and when — plus banners, table wraps, printed materials and anything else that has to be in the room by 6pm the night before.

Keeping the directors organised.
Collecting tasks and requests as they come up — from emails, calls and messages — turning them into a single tracked list with owners and due dates, and following them up. If a contract needs a signature by Wednesday, we expect you to have it in front of the right person on Monday and to chase it Tuesday afternoon. You will need to be comfortable following up busy people who are mid-clinic, and comfortable saying "this is now overdue."

Building the systems we don't have yet.
A course checklist and timeline we reuse every time. A venue and supplier database with what we paid, who we dealt with and what we'd do differently. Contracts and invoices filed where they can be found. SOPs for the things we currently redo from memory each cycle. Within a year we want you to be the person who knows where everything is and where every course is up to.

And because this is a full-time role, you'd also own the EDA inbox, the delegate and waitlist database, post-course feedback collection, faculty and speaker scheduling, per-course cost tracking so we can see what each event actually made, and the admin behind our online course products as they come online. We have enough work here for a full week — what we don't have is anyone doing it in an organised way.


ABOUT YOU

- You have real experience working with Australian businesses, and can give us references from Australian employers or clients.
- You are exceptionally organised, and you have a system — not just a good memory.
- You can take an objective ("we want to run in Adelaide in March") and come back with a researched, costed shortlist and a recommendation.
- You read contracts carefully and notice when a clause doesn't match what was quoted.
- You are comfortable picking up the phone to an Australian hotel and negotiating, professionally and pleasantly. A lot of what we need moves faster on a call than over email.
- You will follow people up without being asked to, and without being awkward about it. If a director hasn't approved something and the deadline is tomorrow, we want you to say so plainly rather than wait to be asked.
- Your written English is excellent — your emails go out representing EDA to dentists and to five-star hotels.
- You can run several courses at different stages at once and keep every deadline visible.
- You can work independently once you understand the objective, and you want a long-term role.

Experience in events, conference coordination, executive assistance, operations, project coordination or training/education is highly regarded. Comfort with Eventbrite, Google Workspace, spreadsheets and a task management system is expected. Experience with Xero, Klaviyo or Canva is a bonus, not a requirement. Dental or healthcare background is not required — we'll teach you the content side.


HOURS AND ARRANGEMENT

This is a full-time, long-term role. We are not looking for someone juggling three other clients.

You'd work the Sydney business day. That means 7:00am to 4:00pm Manila time for most of the year, moving to 6:00am to 3:00pm from October to April when Sydney goes to daylight saving — so you are always aligned with 9am to 6pm in Sydney. The early start is not negotiable: it exists because hotels, suppliers and delegates respond in the Australian morning, and it shifts by an hour twice a year. Please only apply if that suits you long-term.

Course weekends. Our courses run Saturday and Sunday, roughly once a month. On those days we need you contactable by phone or message for venue and attendee issues — not working a full day, but reachable. Time off in lieu the following week.


WAGE / SALARY

PHP 1,500 per day, rising to PHP 1,900 per day after six months, subject to performance. On a five-day week that is approximately PHP 33,000 per month to start, rising to approximately PHP 41,800.

The position is permanent and full-time, with 13th-month pay, paid annual leave and paid public holidays, and a three-month probation. This is intended to be a role you stay in and grow with as EDA does — we are hiring the person who will eventually run our operations.


WHAT YOU'LL NEED IN PLACE

- Reliable fibre internet with a real backup connection — mobile data or a second provider.
- Backup power sufficient to get through a brownout or a storm day without going dark mid-course.
- A quiet, private space you can take and make calls from, with a decent headset.
- Your own reliable computer.

We'll provide an EDA email address, and access to Eventbrite, our Google Workspace and our task system.


TO APPLY

Please start your application with "EDA OPERATIONS" so we know you've read the full description, and send us:

1. A short introduction and overview of your relevant experience, including which Australian businesses you have worked with and for how long.
2. An example of an event, project or business operation you coordinated from beginning to end — including what nearly went wrong and what you did about it.
3. An example of a time you researched multiple suppliers or options and made a recommendation to management. Tell us what you recommended and why, not just what you found.
4. An example of a time you had to chase a manager or client for something they hadn't done. What you said, and what happened.
5. How you keep track of tasks that are waiting on other people.
6. The project/task management systems you have used.
7. Your notice period, your earliest start date, and confirmation that the Manila hours above work for you long-term.
8. A short 1–2 minute video introducing yourself, recorded in one take.

We read every application. Shortlisted candidates will have a short video call and be asked to complete a paid practical task — comparing three real venue options and making a recommendation.