Principal Policy Officer

**About the Department/About Us Section**:
The Department of Education is dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce that reflects the community and schools we support by treating everyone with respect and dignity. This starts with recruitment and selection. The methods of assessing suitability in the recruitment process may vary. This includes making reasonable adjustments to support applicants at all stages of the process and employee lifecycle.
**About the Role**:
As a Principal Policy Officer, you will provide the support to the Assistant Director-General and the executive team on current and emerging department priorities.
**Responsibilities Include**:

- Provide strategic and operational advice through the Principal Advisor to executive officers including the Assistant Director-General (DI&SS) and Deputy Director-General (Schools and Student Support);
- Manage processes for ministerial and executive advice, and processes for input to departmental and whole of government policies, strategies, action plans, and reporting;
- Communicate, negotiate and build productive working relationships with internal and external stakeholder groups;
- Analyse, research and assess strategic policy initiatives and implementation of operational actions;
- Research and assess strategic initiatives occurring at the community, local, state, national and international levels that may impact on the department's policies;
- Coordinate and prepare documentation on behalf of executive officers including the Assistant Director-General (DI&SS) and Deputy Director-General (Schools and Student Support); such as cabinet submissions, responses to ministerial or departmental correspondence, briefing notes, policy or research papers, and departmental or government reporting;
- Represent the department on stakeholder working groups, committees and forums, including matters relating to the education portfolio's policies and legislation; and
- Contribute to building an inclusive work environment, work design, and team culture to enable a positive and healthy workplace.

**Our ideal applicant will have the following key attributes**:

- Ability to communicate complex ideas clearly;
- Demonstrated ability to conduct and critically analyse research and translate it into practice for education environments;
- Exceptional interpersonal communication skills, with an ability to consult and negotiate persuasively on strategic policy issues and facilitate briefing material to senior management;
- Ability to build and sustain effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders; and
- Ability to work as part of a high functioning team, meet deadlines and function autonomously.

**Interested? To Apply**:

- Attach a brief resume including contact details for 2 referees (referees should have an understanding of your relevant work history);
- Attach a 2-page response to the How you will be assessed section of the attached role description

We welcome all applicants to share any support needed to ensure our recruitment process is inclusive.
Applications remain current for 12 months from the closing date and may be considered for appointment to identical or similar vacancies within the Department.
Applications from recruitment agencies will not be accepted.
When working in regulated employment an employee must have a current Working with Children Clearance (blue card) issued by Blue Card Services.
Salary rate shown is reflective of full-time (1.0 FTE).
The Department of Education is a family inclusive workplace. Click here to find out more about our Inclusion and Diversity strategies.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License.