Principal Engagement Adviser

Location: Melbourne | CBD

Job type: Full time / Ongoing

Organisation: Department of Health

**Salary**: $127,467 - $170,579

Occupation: Communications, Marketing and Media

Reference: VG/DH/CE/1653407

***:
**Role purpose**

The Principal Engagement Adviser is a strategic role within the Department of Health's newly established Stakeholder, Community and Consumer best practice team within the Communications and Engagement Branch. Central to assisting the branch support the department in ensuring engagement best practice, the role is responsible for establishing best practice engagement frameworks for stakeholders, community and consumers to ensure they are kept informed and provided opportunities to participate in the reform and delivery of Victoria's health system, as well as other health initiatives.

Key to the success of the role is the ability to create best practice approaches that enable strong and mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships between the Department and its diverse stakeholders and communities.

The Principal Engagement Adviser will identify existing barriers to the effective engagement of department stakeholders and develop communication and engagement initiatives that enable increased stakeholder satisfaction and improve risk and reputation management.

**Key accountabilities**

**Operating at value range 1, you will**:

- Provide authoritative and expert advice to executives, business units and other key internal and clients on the development, delivery and evaluation of change communication and staff engagement strategies and related change and reputation risk management.
- Develop contemporary and integrated engagement strategies that are audience and insight led. In addition, the strategies need to ladder up to the department strategy and meet ministerial requirements and key Government priorities.
- Work collaboratively across the branch and other areas of the department to build and maintain positive and productive relationships with colleagues, senior internal and external stakeholders and ministerial office staff
- Contribute engagement expertise and insight, providing advice and guidance to the Communications and Engagement Branch and business units on opportunities, emergent issues, risks and ministerial priorities.
- Forge strong connections across the department and with external stakeholders to facilitate a partnership approach to developing high quality, contemporary and cost-effective communications outcomes.
- Represent the department on government and non-government committees and bodies concerned with achieving government and departmental objectives.
- Maintain an understanding of issues impacting the department's clients and investigate and lead critical engagement activity that enhances service delivery, budget effectiveness, efficiency and improved consumer outcomes.
- Develop a stakeholder engagement plan that links to departments overall business plan objectives that identifies the specific requirements of each stakeholder group
- Devise, coordinate, deliver and evaluate the effectiveness of events, workshops and consumer consultation activities to maximise engagement and feedback, including customer information, internal communication, and issues management
- Build and maintain collaborative and consultative working relationships with internal teams and external stakeholders, including consumer groups and associations to promote open communication and facilitate delivery of best practice communication and engagement
- Keep accurate and complete records of your work activities in accordance with legislative requirements and the department's records, information security and privacy policies and requirements.
- Take reasonable care for your own health and safety and for that of others in the workplace by working in accordance with legislative requirements and the department's occupational health and safety (OHS) policies and procedures.
- Demonstrate how the actions and outcomes of this role and work unit impact clients and the department's ability to deliver, or facilitate the delivery of, effective support and services.

**Operating at value range 2, you will perform all the above together with increasing involvement to**:

- Operate within increased level of autonomy and accountability in delivering within broad strategic directions.
- Provide leadership and guidance based on advanced expertise.
- Contribute advanced expertise and knowledge to benefit strategic planning and organisation/sector-wide outcomes.
- Manage a range of projects/functions each with increased budget, staff responsibilities or strategic importance.
- Respond productively to deliver solutions and outcomes in an organisational environment complicated by scale, heterogeneity and complexity.

**Mandatory Vaccination Policy**

**HOW TO APPLY**:
For this position, you are not required to address each of the key selection criteria in a separate written document.

Applicants must be a