Principle DevOps Engineer

Guiding the future of NSW education

Position details

• Clerk Grade 11/12
• Temporary, full-time role of up to 4 years
• Close to Wynyard station & hybrid work arrangements available

About us

At the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), we're dedicated to carrying out meaningful work that drives improvements and elevates student achievement across NSW, now and into the future.

We accomplish this by supporting all school sectors with high-quality syllabuses, assessment (including managing the HSC and NAPLAN), teaching standards (e.g., accrediting teachers) and school environments (including setting and monitoring school standards).

NESA is a unique organisation in NSW (of around 740FTE staff) with significant state-wide impact, visit our website to learn more about the important work we do.

About the role

As a Principal DevOps Engineer, you'll play a key role in leading the end-to-end development of product and platform services; driving automation, standardisation, and continuous improvement across systems that support critical digital solutions.

This is an exciting opportunity to use your technical expertise and leadership to shape DevOps practices, enhance operational performance, and foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and excellence.

If you're passionate about building high-quality, resilient, and scalable digital platforms that make a genuine impact we'd like to hear from you

On a day-to-day basis you will:

• Drive and ensure the adoption of DevOps practices, continuous improvement, and performance metrics, providing coaching and professional development initiatives to enable high-quality, efficient and compliant services.
• Collaborate with customers and stakeholders to ensure technological initiatives align with business goals.
• Provide technical expertise to product development and platform solution design, fostering a culture of collaboration across cross-functional teams.
• Design, document and implement approved processes, frameworks and tools that support quality, security, and efficiency across the software development lifecycle.
• Integrate, consolidate, standardise and automate frameworks to deliver resilient and reusable services.
• Partner with colleagues and key stakeholders to establish fit-for-purpose digital services that deliver value for customers.

Our ideal candidate will have:

• Extensive demonstrable experience as a Principal DevOps Engineer or equivalent.
• Proven expertise in CI/CD, platform integration, automation, and building cloud-native solutions.
• Strong capability in standardising and integrating monitoring and alerting to ensure system reliability and proactive performance management.
• Demonstrated experience in cloud cost management and software development governance.
• A collaborative approach to building relationships across digital teams, business stakeholders, vendors and partners to deliver shared outcomes.
• The ability to balance competing priorities, maintain a high standard of service delivery, and stay current with industry best practice in a fast-paced environment.

Note: A current NSW Working with Children Check (WWCC) clearance for paid employment is required before commencing in this role. It is not required at the application stage. The cost of the WWCC clearance is the responsibility of the successful applicant.

We invite you to download therole description for additional information on the position.

At NESA you'll benefit from:

• An organisation where your contribution has a big impact
• An enviable CBD location (all modes of transport nearby, and excellent coffee and eateries) with refurbished offices
• Flexible working arrangements and generous leave entitlements
• Access to discounted health and fitness memberships via Fitness Passport, an employee assistance program and annual flu vaccinations
• Salary packaging options
• Working in a purpose driven and ethical organisation with committed colleagues

Ready to join us?

Select apply and attach an up-to-date résumé (maximum 5 pages) and a cover letter (maximum 2 pages). Also address the 2 targeted questions below in your online application (maximum of 500 words per response):

• Tell us about a time you worked cross functionally with another team to adopt DevOps practices into their workflow. Did you face any cultural or technical challenges? If so, how did you overcome them?
• Provide an example of how you've translated complex technical information for non-technical stakeholders to influence decisions or improve customer outcomes.

Advice on applying for NSW Public Sector roles

If you need reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process and workplace, please reach out to If you need reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process and workplace, please reach out to

Close date: Sunday, 2 November at 11.59pm AEST

Thank you for your interest, we look forward to receiving your application.

Important information

We particularly welcome applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disability, people of all ages, genders, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans and refugees.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. For ongoing roles, you must be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or an Australian Permanent Resident. Australian Temporary Residents may be considered for a fixed term contract for the length of their visa, depending on the requirements of the hiring area and the position.

A Talent Pool (valid for 18 months) may be created for future ongoing and temporary roles.