Using Healthcare Australia’s (HCA) 2026 Salary Guide, this article compares healthcare manager salaries across residential aged care, primary care and community/home care settings, by state and role.
Facility Manager
The facility manager is one of the most important roles in Residential Aged Care delivery, with broad responsibility for all elements of a Residential Aged Care Home. A good facility manager can be the difference between a high-performing, non-compliant site and a low-performing one. They maximise funding by ensuring compliance with the Aged Care Act, AN-ACC funding requirements, quality standards, occupancy, and operational efficiency, while reducing regulatory and financial risk. They also lead the delivery of safe, person-centred care by building a capable workforce, maintaining strong clinical governance, and fostering a culture that improves resident outcomes, satisfaction, and accreditation performance.
Community / Homecare Operations Manager
The operations manager is a critical role in any community setting. Their role ensures compliance with the Aged Care Act, Support at Home or NDIS funding requirements, quality standards and drives operational efficiency while reducing regulatory and financial risk. A good operator needs the right mix of operational, commercial, people, and care skills. The salary range varies considerably based on the number of clients/customers/participants, the mix of funding streams, and complexity. For example, a Homecare Operations Manager could manage multiple funding streams such as Commonwealth Home Support (CHSP), Support at Home / Homecare Packages (HCP), as well as NDIS, DVA and STRC, and may also manage a wide variety of sizes.
Primary Care Division or Operations Manager
Primary Care Division or Operations Manager oversees the daily clinical and business operations of a medical facility or healthcare setting. They manage staff, budgets, and patient services. Their main goal is to help doctors and nurses run a safe, fast, and high-quality clinic or multi-site operation.
Healthcare operations manager salaries in Australia, 2026
The figures below are annual base salaries, exclusive of superannuation (12% from 1 July 2025), and are reasonably expected to rise by a further 3–3.5% from July 2026.
| State | Aged Care – Facility Manager | Primary Care – Division/Ops Manager | Community Care – Ops Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACT | $145,000 | $190,000 | $180,000 |
| NSW | $160,000 | $190,000 | $180,000 |
| NT | $140,000 | $150,000 | $140,000 |
| QLD | $150,000 | $150,000 | $150,000 |
| SA | $140,000 | $140,000 | $140,000 |
| TAS | $140,000 | $140,000 | $140,000 |
| VIC | $150,000 | $180,000 | $170,000 |
| WA | $145,000 | $180,000 | $180,000 |
Source: Healthcare Australia 2026 Salary Guide (HCA market research and workforce surveys). Salaries shown are annual base rates, exclusive of superannuation.
Superannuation increased to 12% from 1 July 2025. Figures are a mid-financial-year benchmark; an increase of roughly 3–3.5% can reasonably be expected from July 2026. Regional variances, Enterprise Bargaining Agreements and awards may affect actual pay.
To view salary bandings in detail, please download our salary guide.
Why Operations manager’s pay differs by sector
All three are genuinely different jobs that share a loosely similar title, which is why comparing salary data by sector, not just by job title, matters.
- An aged care facility manager runs a single residential site and is measured against accreditation, budget, and care-minute compliance. The site may vary in terms of beds, client complexity and may also include respite care and other allied health services.
- A primary care division or operations manager typically oversees a multi-clinic GP or allied health network and pay reflects that multi-site P&L accountability, which is why the top of the primary care range can be quite varied depending on the scope and size of the role as well as the number of sites and geographic footprint.
- A community care operations manager oversees in-home services for home care and NDIS across a region, with Support at Home reform reshaping ratios and operational complexity. They operate in the community and include complex rostering and a wide range of client types. Clients’ homes and needs vary considerably, so the operational setting differs greatly from a more contained Residential aged care setting.
Skills that move the needle on pay
- Multi-site or multi-service P&L experience, particularly for primary care and community care operations roles.
- Accreditation and quality standards expertise, essential and specifically valued.
- A mix of commercial and care delivery skills.
- An understanding of workforce awards, workforce planning and rostering at scale.
- Experience managing through sector reform, including Support at Home, Aged Care Quality Standards and NDIS changes.
- Formal qualifications in health management or administration, which increasingly differentiate candidates at the operations and executive level.
Salary Guide
Where demand is strongest heading into 2026
Reform-driven turnover and burnout across the aged care and disability sectors are creating churn at manager level, not just frontline level, which is keeping demand for experienced facility and operations managers elevated. Southeast Queensland’s populationgrowth, driven partly by retirees relocating from Sydney and Melbourne, and further fuelled by infrastructure investment ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, is expected to sustain particularly strong demand for aged care facility leadership over the next fiveyears. More broadly, employers continue to prioritise permanent hires at the leadership level to stabilise teams during ongoing regulatory change and are increasingly willing to pay for candidates who can demonstrate they have already managed a facility or servicethrough a comparable reform cycle.
If you’re a current Operations manager seeking a new role or you’re looking to find a top performer, contact us now to discuss it.
