Project Officer

**About the Department**

The department provides a wide range of learning and development support and services.

The department provides policy leadership, plans for the future of education in Victoria and leads key cross-sector collaboration. The department plays an important system steward role by providing support, guidance, oversight and assurance across early childhood and school education systems, as well as directly providing school education and 50 new early learning centres.

**About the Victorian School Building Authority**

The Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) is part of the Department of Education. Established in 2016, it oversees Victoria's largest school building program since the state introduced free public education in the 1870s.

The VSBA upgrades and expands existing schools and plans, designs and builds new schools to meet enrolment demand. We also support schools to maintain their buildings and grounds by offering expert advice and coordinating maintenance programs and grants.

With Victoria recently introducing two years of funded kindergarten, the VSBA is also working with the early childhood sector on a massive kindergarten construction program.

**About the Division**
- based programs. The Division also plans and co-ordinates delivery of new early childhood facilities and support for the wider early childhood sector to build, improve and upgrade infrastructure through a number of grants programs, including programs which provide funding to make kindergartens for inclusive for children of all abilities.

**About the Branch**

The Early Childhood Infrastructure Planning - Strategy and Governance Branch collaborates with the other two branches in the Early Childhood Infrastructure Planning area (namely the ECI Planning State Projects Branch, and the ECI Planning - Sector Partnerships and Grants Branch), as well as with other departmental areas, to lead the strategic implementation of early childhood reforms. Key accountabilities include managing, planning, and delivering the roll-out of the Three-Year-Old Kindergarten and Best Start, Best Life (BSBL) infrastructure reforms (including policy development), monitoring the Department's progress on reform milestones, leading the input into the State Budget process for the VSBA component of Early Childhood Infrastructure funding requests, contribute to the PAEC reporting and briefing process for Early Childhood Infrastructure, leading and coordinating key reporting tasks (such as for regular ministerial and governance meetings), developing key foundational policies and guidelines, and coordinating provision of advice on priority kindergarten demand areas and potential infrastructure responses. This branch also plays a crucial role in identifying and evaluating suitable government school sites in Victoria for potential new or expanded kindergarten facilities and in planning, managing and executing the acquisition of land to support the implementation of the BSBL reforms.

**About the Unit**

The Land Strategy Unit is responsible for facilitating the acquisition of land to support the Best Start Best Life reforms and identifies potential site options for early childhood infrastructure where land is likely to be scarce

**About the Role**

Reporting to the Manager, Land Strategy and under the leadership of the Director, Early Childhood Infrastructure Planning - Strategy & Governance, the position will work closely and collaboratively as part of a team responsible for the enabling framework and infrastructure planning for the Best Start, Best Life program.

The key accountabilities and skills for the Senior Project Officer will be to:

- Support senior project managers and manager in undertaking site identification, and coordinating and supporting site investigation and land acquisition activities for early years infrastructure.
- Support with site identification analysis including with other government agencies, Councils, private market research to identify suitable sites for land acquisition for early years infrastructure.
- Support early years land acquisition & disposal analysis to make recommendations on land solutions to meet demand.
- Provide administrative support for strategic planning processes and documents for land acquisition planning, and operational arrangements.
- Provide budget and invoicing support for the BSBL land acquisition program.
- Support governance and reporting activities for site identification, land acquisition activities.
- Provide administrative system-level support to facilitate seamless workflow between teams.
- Maintain accurate records and tracking products to support planning and reporting practices across the team, including monitoring and entering information into databases
- Support continuous improvement efforts in data and administrative management to ensure compliance with internal process requirements
- Provide administrative support for meetings including agendas and meeting minutes
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