Principal Technical Specialist

Principal Technical Specialist – Azure Virtual Desktop

At the NSW Department of Education, we educate and inspire lifelong learners – from early childhood, through schooling to vocational education and training.

• Ongoing, Full-Time
• Location: Eveleigh
• A talent pool may be created through this recruitment process to fill anticipated vacancies over the next 18 months.
• Competitive remuneration ranging from $149,739 to $173,174 plus super & annual leave loading.

Are you a technical visionary who thrives at the intersection of strategy and hands-on delivery?

The NSW Department of Education is seeking a Principal Technical Specialist to lead Edge Infrastructure that powers critical government ICT services.

What you'll do

• Provide technical leadership and domain expertise for our Edge Infrastructure platforms and services.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, vendors, and IT teams to design innovative, scalable, and resilient solutions aligned with ICT strategy and architecture.
• Engineer upgrades and large-scale integrations to industry standards; produce clear technical docs and drawings.
• Offer pre-project and project-level guidance to identify risks, interdependencies, and mitigation strategies.
• Develops high-level options, approaches, and estimates to transition designs into operations.
• Gather and translate requirements for current and future needs; draft executive reports and maintain timely, consistent records.
• Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships to ensure seamless ICT delivery.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, on quality, using endorsed methodologies.
• Sustain existing services while driving strategic initiatives in a complex, large-scale environment with internal and external suppliers.

For further information please click here to view the role description

About you

• Demonstrated extensive knowledge across Edge Infrastructure technologies at scale, in a large complex organisation
• Extensive experience across large scale multi-platform environments with diverse vendors and stakeholders.
• Experience with risk and dependency identification, and transitional design and operations.
• Effective stakeholder management with vendors, stakeholders and business units.
• Strong leadership and exceptional communication abilities.
• Proven experience in balancing urgent business needs with long-term strategic vision
• Knowledge of and commitment to implementing the Department's Aboriginal Education Policy and upholding the Department's Partnership Agreement with the NSW AECG and to ensure quality outcomes for Aboriginal people.

Essential requirements of the role

• Industry certification in relevant technologies or equivalent industry experience.
• Hold a valid NSW Working with children Check (WWCC) for paid employment.
• Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to the value of public education.

Benefits

• Flexible working arrangements
• 35 hour working week
• Competitive, salary sacrificing, employer's contribution to superannuation and annual leave loading
• Flex Leave entitlements, generous holidays & leave conditions
• Opportunities for advancement and mobility across the Department to support your career growth

How to apply

Attach a resume (maximum 5 pages) and a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) outlining how you meet the requirements and capabilities of this role and attend to the following targeted questions:

• Describe a time when you led a team to successfully implement a scalable and complex Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) solution. Outline the steps you took to structure the initiative, demonstrating strong technical depth of the platform and effective delivery of the outcome. Include the challenges you encountered, how you overcame them, and any specific platform tooling you utilised for automation. Detail your approach in managing the technical team responsible for the initiative, including how you guided the development and implementation process, managed competing priorities, and ensured the ongoing operational maintenance and stability of the production solution. (500 words)

• Provide an example when you led a collaborative engagement with a senior internal or external stakeholder to resolve a complex technical AVD service outage. Describe the technical analysis you conducted to troubleshoot the outage, the decision-making process that guided your approach, and how you managed the stakeholder relationship to achieve a positive outcome while maintaining business confidence during the outage. Include how you ensured stakeholder accountability, overcame engineering difficulties, and maintained alignment with timeline deliverables. (500 words)

Applicants are encouraged to prepare their application materials independently. The selection panel values authentic and personally written responses that reflect your own experience, insights and alignment with the Department's values and priorities.

Please refer to the Applicant's Guide to Applying to assist you with your application.

If you are an existing Education Support Staff (corporate staff) with the NSW Department of Education, click here for instructions on how to submit your application.

All other applicants please submit your application by clicking 'Apply Now'.

Note: the selection process will include a range of assessment techniques to assist in determining your suitability for the role. Successful candidates will be required to undertake pre-employment screening for this role which includes a National Criminal History Check.

This is a child-related role. As a condition of employment you will be required to provide a valid Working with Children Check (WWCC) Clearance number (for paid employment). Visit the website for more information.

Candidates must have Australian work rights (citizens, permanent residents, New Zealand citizens or a valid work visa). Ongoing (permanent) roles are open to Australian citizens and permanent residents and New Zealand citizens, while temporary roles welcome applicants with a visa.

Closing Date: Monday 1 December 2025 at 11:59pm

For role enquiries please contact Stephen McKenna at

We welcome applications from all ages and genders, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, refugees and people with disability. If we can make some adjustments to our recruitment/interview process to better enable you to shine, please contact the Diversity and Inclusion Team ) or visit NSW Department of Education Diversity and Inclusion.

A recruitment pool may be created through this recruitment process. A recruitment pool is a group of applicants who have been assessed and identified as suitable for this role, and who may be considered for a range of similar roles, including temporary, term or ongoing roles, over the next 18 months.