Assistant Director

EL 1 - $112,294 - $120,780 per annum plus superannuation
- Trade, Market Access & International Division
- Canberra, ACT
- Have you ever wanted to:
- _work on international trade topics? _
- _develop strategies to grow Australia's international trade? _
- _work as an Agricultural counsellor overseas? These are some of the activities that our Assistant Directors do and we are looking for talented individuals to join our team to do more of these activities._

**Who we are**
The Trade, Market Access and International Division (TMAID) maximises the impact and influence of the department’s international work by:

- engaging in relevant multilateral and regional fora to shape global rules and norms consistent with Australia’s interests
- maintaining and improving our agriculture trade and market access through support for free trade agreement negotiations, tackling non-tariff barriers to trade, leading high level bilateral meetings and mobilising the counsellor network
- ensuring the department has joined up and informed policy and posture across all international functions
- investing in the departments culture and capability to deliver on our international interests.

The Agricultural Trade and Market Access Branch advances the interests of Australia’s rural industries by leading the department’s bilateral interactions with regional trading partners and coordinating associated portfolio input. This supports efforts to maintain and improve of market access, resolve trade impediments and manage partner-country engagement across the portfolio.

There are three bilateral sections and one strategic cross-cutting policy team in the Branch. The bilateral work across relevant DAFF divisions, other departments, overseas counsellors and stakeholders to lead the development of geographic market strategies, maintain and improve agriculture market access and support bilateral negotiations for their respective markets. Our work involves maintaining strong relationships with government departments particularly DFAT, Austrade, Treasury and industry stakeholders to advocate for and provide reporting on trade matters, and engagement and cooperation opportunities. These teams are:

- North Asia (Japan, China, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia)
- India. Malaysia and Indonesia team (Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Maldives and Bhutan)
- Regional Markets (South East Asia, Middle East, Oceania, and Africa)

The Agriculture Trade Expansion and Change section works across the department as well as with peak industry bodies to boost activities that expand Australia’s agricultural export markets. This includes collaborating with technical divisions that support export market access and international engagement teams to drive department-wide strategy for market access and diversification and linking with trade reform initiatives. The section works closely with Australian export industries in delivering the Agricultural Trade and Market Access Cooperation (ATMAC) grant program, partnering to support trade expansion into emerging and high-growth export markets.

**The Job**
Across the branch there are a wide range of duties required for EL1 positions including:

- leading a team, managing performance and establishing effective team culture
- developing agricultural policy positions on markets for international engagement in bilateral trade negotiations and via multilateral approaches
- supporting the work of the Overseas Agriculture Counsellor network
- representing the department in negotiations with stakeholders and bilaterally with trading partners
- developing consolidated, strategic policy advice to Cabinet, ministers, departmental executive and other Commonwealth agencies on geographic market specific bilateral agricultural trade matters
- building constructive and collaborative relationships with ministers’ offices, across the department, Commonwealth agencies, stakeholders, international organisations and foreign counterparts
- providing intelligence and analysis to industry, government on bilateral agriculture trade
- providing support to international agriculture trade activities including through effective procurement, project and program management
- ensuring robust governance, risk management and probity to grant programs and the selection and management of grants through adherence to whole of government Commonwealth Grant Rules and Guidelines and other applicable legislation, and
- working with grant recipients to negotiate agreement of planned activities, track and record progress and final project outcomes, and provide ongoing support as required.

**Skills and capabilities**
- strong leadership and people management skills and experience
- strong organisational skills to support management of a program of work
- strong focus on supporting staff, peers, and senior executive to achieve the goals of the work area, agency and minister
- solid judgement and the ability