Principal Investigations Adviser

**Fixed Term Job Opportunity - VPS6 Principal Investigations Adviser**

An exciting opportunity exists to join the Conduct and Integrity Division as a VPS6 Principal Investigations Adviser in the Preliminary Investigations Team for a Fixed Term period commencing **8** **September 2025** until **15** **July** **2026.**

**About the Department**

The Department of Education (DE) leads the delivery of education and development services to children and students both directly through government schools and indirectly through the regulation and funding of early childhood services and non-government schools.

**About the Division**

The Conduct and Integrity Division provides expert advice and support to Victorian government school principals and other people managers in the Department of Education on managing employee conduct and performance including child safety concerns and fraud and corruption.

**There are four branches within the Division**:

- Preliminary Investigations Branch
- Child Safety Investigations Branch
- Child Safety and Fraud Investigations Branch
- Child Safety and Integrity (Policy and Operations) Branch.

The Division leads critical functions with respect to both school and corporate employees and operations:

- child safety misconduct and reportable conduct investigations, including notifications to the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) under the Reportable Conduct Scheme in relation to departmental employees and others engaged in departmental workplaces and notifications to the Disability Worker Regulation Commission
- fraud and corruption investigations, including mandatory reporting to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) and public interest disclosures
- developing and maintaining the department's guidelines on managing complaints, misconduct and unsatisfactory performance for the government teaching service and the public service
- providing expert advice and support to principals and people managers to manage allegations of misconduct, unsatisfactory performance, fitness for duty and
- expert advice and management of fraud and corruption, conflict of interest, and integrity performance monitoring and reporting
- pre-employment screening, and expert advice on suitability for employment and management of the department's Employment Limitation policy
- managing relationships with oversight and integrity bodies (including the Victorian Institute of Teaching, CCYP, IBAC, Victorian Ombudsman and the Victorian Public Sector Commission)
- capability building and training activities aimed at increasing staff confidence to prevent, speak up, identify and respond to inappropriate behaviour, reportable conduct and misconduct
- strengthening avenues for staff to speak up about inappropriate behaviour and misconduct
- driving behavioural and system change to build a stronger culture of integrity in the department.

**About the Role**

Reporting to the Manager, PIT, the Principal Investigations Adviser manages a caseload of complex matters and mentors and supports Senior Investigation Advisers and Investigations Advisers in the team.

The Principal Investigations Adviser is responsible for:

- modelling the Public Sector Values and ensuring relevant departmental policies and procedures are followed
- assessing and triaging complex matters, and ensuring effective management of complaints, misconduct and unsatisfactory performance, including consideration of risks to student and staff
- providing expert support and advice to the department's people managers in relation to conduct and performance matters
- preparing high quality written materials including briefings and correspondence
- managing contracts with outsourced service providers (including investigators) as required
- building strong relationships with internal stakeholders, including senior decision-makers and with external regulators, including the CCYP and the Victorian Institute of Teaching
- contributing to branch, division and system improvement activities
- supporting the Manager to foster talent and build team capability

**About You**

This role will suit an experienced adviser who can guide and support a team, leveraging their expert knowledge and experience to drive success. You will be a logical, problem solver, with strong experience providing advice and support to a broad range of stakeholders.
- proven experience within an investigations environment, working within defined polices and procedures
- excellent stakeholder engagement and relationship building skills, working within a complex, multi-stakeholder environment
- high level written communication skills, developing a range of complex written documentation
- a successful record of supporting the professional development / capability of a team
- sound conceptual thinking ability, as well as excellent problem solving and conflict resolution skills
- a current Employee Working with Children Check, or ability to obtain one.

**How to appl