Assistant Director

EL 1 - $115,663 - $124,403 per annum plus superannuation
- Exports & Veterinary Services Division
- Adelaide (SA), Brisbane (QLD), Canberra (ACT), Melbourne (VIC), Perth (WA) and Sydney (NSW)
- _Work with a motivated team to plan, implement & deliver operational improvements._
- _Generous employment conditions._
- _Flexible working arrangements._

**Who we are**

**The Exports and Veterinary Services Division** provides export inspection and certification services and develops strategies to gain, improve or maintain market access for a wide range of food, inedible products of animal origin, live animal and reproductive materials. It provides residue monitoring services to Australian primary industries and administers 40 tariff rate quotas for products to the European Union, United States of America, Indonesia and Japan. The division also includes the Codex contact point which coordinates technical input from both industry and government to develop Australia’s position on international food standards.

**The Veterinary and Export Meat Branch (VEMB) **undertakes regulatory functions by providing inspection and certification for the export of meat, meat products and the import and export of live animals and reproductive material in order to meet importing country requirements and Australian legislative requirements.

**The Strategy and Governance and Workforce Planning and Regulatory Culture Team** is responsible for the development and coordination of both the EVSD and VEMB organisational reporting, workforce management, triage of organisational requests and secretariat services. The team monitors and provides advice on branch performance measures and their effectiveness to ensure nationally consistent service delivery operations. This includes performance reporting, financial management and verification, workforce and workload management, co-ordination of WHS including wellbeing strategies, training, strategic communication, change management and liaison with relevant departmental corporate services.

**The Live Animal Team** is comprised of Principal Veterinary Officers, Veterinary Officers and Biosecurity Officers, and provides veterinary and technical services for the import and export of animals and animal genetic material.

**The Export Meat Team** delivers inspection and verification services at export registered meat establishments at various locations across Australia. These services are aimed at achieving compliance with Australian export standards and overseas importing country market requirements. The team is responsible for administering appropriate export legislation and delivering ante mortem, post-mortem and meat and meat product inspection services. The team is comprised of Operational Managers, On-Plant Veterinary Officers (OPVs), Food Safety Assessors (FSAs), Food Safety Meat Assessors (FSMAs) and a Staff Resource Unit who provide the services required at over 88 abattoirs and various other registered premises nationally.

**The Jobs**
The main duties of the Assistant Director role include, but are not limited to:

- leading and taking responsibility for teams delivering regulatory services within geographically dispersed locations whilst ensuring adherence to departmental policies for corporate governance and financial management
- providing leadership direction and support across the branch and communicating VEMB and EVSD strategic direction and priorities to staff and stakeholders
- actively participating in the VEMB and EVSD leadership groups and sharing responsibility and accountability for delivering priorities and outcomes
- in consultation with senior leaders and national service delivery management, contributing to the development, promotion and implementation of innovative and contemporary business strategies to address operational requirements.

**Please note** this recruitment process will initially be used to fill two vacancies, one in Brisbane and one in Perth. The merit pool established through this selection process, which is valid for a period of eighteen months from the date the vacancy was advertised in the Public Service Gazette, may also be used to fill future ongoing and non-ongoing vacancies in the branch, in any of the locations listed on the job description, where the duties are of a similar nature.

**What we are looking for**

**Knowledge and experience**
- Experience in leading, managing and supporting staff to work collaboratively in a challenging, complex and fast paced work environment.
- An understanding of, and experience working in, a service delivery environment.
- A working knowledge of legislative frameworks/regulation and government decision-making.
- Experience in building and maintaining stakeholder relationships.