Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes's chief of staff, Matt Murray, has resigned to take up a job in the maritime industry.
Mr Murray is a University of Newcastle communications graduate who joined the council in 2017 as a policy adviser. He was promoted to chief of staff in Cr Nelmes's office in 2019.
He will leave the council at the end of this week.
Mr Murray said he came from a "long line of seafarers", including his father, and was looking forward to his new career.
Mr Murray made headlines in January after he formally charged local Labor branch secretary Justin Davis with "disloyalty and unworthy conduct" under party rules.
The complaint to NSW Labor headquarters was part of a long-running feud involving party branch members and elected representatives in Newcastle.
Mr Davis had earlier accused Mr Murray of being involved in an attempt to stack the Georgetown-Waratah branch in August with four new members aligned to Cr Nelmes.
