Principal Program Officer

About us

As a department our purpose is to help the community to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from the impact of fire and emergency events.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) is the primary provider of fire, rescue and emergency management programs and services throughout Queensland. The department encompasses the Fire and Rescue Service, disaster management services, the Rural Fire Service and the State Emergency Service, and also supports other volunteer groups providing emergency response to Queenslanders.

QFES is one department with many services, many capabilities and many partners.

Purpose of the role

Operational Communications provides strategic direction, advice and planning to deliver initiatives for the advancement of frontline communications capability, equipment and infrastructure used by QFES' operational workforce. The team is responsible for the delivery of projects and initiatives to enhance operational communication systems including radio, cellular and satellite systems and managing ongoing contracts with government wireless network vendors and other service providers. The team also provides direct support with specialist communications equipment and personnel to support field-based operations as required, including deploying at short notice to incidents and disasters to meet operational requirements.

Key requirements

Highly desirable requirements
- Knowledge and operational experience in an emergency service organisation or similar environment.
- Experience and/or knowledge in Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System (AIIMS).

Special requirements
- It is expected that the incumbent will undertake operational duties and participate in an out of hours on call roster during emergency operations. This may require work outside of normal hours (e.g. night shift), including weekends, working extended hours and may include deployment to other parts of the state.

Your key accountabilities

Your part in the ongoing success of our department, in supporting key frontline services will see you responsible for a variety of work, including, but not limited to:

- Provide leadership and advice on the current and future utilisation of operational communications systems and platforms to meet operational and strategic objectives.
- Undertake research and analysis of communications usage, emerging technologies, operational objectives and communications best-practice to improve the overall safety of the QFES workforce.
- Manage complex projects related to the development and deployment of operational communications equipment and strategies, including management of contracts suppliers to deliver equipment and services to QFES standards and requirements.
- Research, analyse, interpret and solve problems and issues to support project implementation and integration, and identify opportunities for improvements in processes and service delivery.
- Build and maintain effective working relationships and manage communications with key internal and external stakeholders to ensure communication and technology outcomes for QFES.
- Prepare and review complex, reports, submissions, briefs correspondence and presentations on related issues and initiatives, in accordance with departmental requirements.
- Represent QFES on industry, community, government and volunteer representative groups to monitor trends and design solutions to address business needs and meet agreed outcomes.
- Build team capability through leadership, coaching, mentoring, skills transfers and positive performance management.

Capabilities

To determine your suitability for the role, you will be assessed on the following Leadership Competencies for Queensland behavioural profiles that link to the "key accountabilities" for this role:
Leadership Competency Stream - Team Leader (leading others)
Vision
- Leads strategically
- Leads change in complex environments

Results
- Develops and mobilises talent
- Drives accountability and outcomes

Accountability
- Fosters healthy and inclusive workplaces
- Demonstrates sound governance

Once you join us we will want you to exemplify the QFES shared values:

- Respect
- Integrity
- Trust
- Courage
- LoyaltyThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License.