About the Department
The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) is responsible for improving employment outcomes, workplace relations, and skills development across Australia. The department designs and delivers national policies and programs that support job creation, fair and productive workplaces, and access to education and training. DEWR works closely with employers, unions, training providers, and community organisations to build a skilled, inclusive, and resilient workforce that supports Australia's economic and social wellbeing.
About the Role Provide senior project leadership and policy capability to plan, coordinate and deliver the Digital Literacy Foundation Skills outputs by 30 June 2026, working collaboratively with DEWR and other APS agencies and stakeholders.
Key Duties
* Establish and maintain the project plan, delivery schedule, dependencies and quality controls.
* Lead governance processes including steerco / working group including the production of related documentation such as agendas, actions, decision records. (Include meeting attendance requirements in RFQ "Governance Meetings".)
* Manage project scope including the prevention of scope creep using demonstrated project management methods.
* Lead structured engagement with DEWR and relevant APS agencies to: confirm scope boundaries, validate terminology choices, and ensure outputs are usable across Foundation Skills practice and broader policy settings.
* Coordinate messaging in a "saturated stakeholder environment" using staged engagement and existing governance channels.
* With an understanding of the digital literacy policy landscape in Australia, deliver a gap analysis of the Digital Literacy Skills Framework and DigiComp 3.0, explicitly considering issues flagged in the ACER review (such as currency, structure, equity/validity).
* Lead development of an Australian pathway from foundational literacy to capability so DigComp 3.0 concepts translate into Foundation Skills contexts supported by an external supplier. This to consider include necessary prerequisites, cohort analysis and the identification of support needs.
* Deliver a glossary to manage potential "terminology ambiguity" risks. Avoiding competency language unless tightly defined.
* Shape and draft the measurement pathways (2-3 options) that are credible and decision ready, without committing to tool build/prototype.
* Ensure the project outputs consider the need to be interoperable to the National Skills Taxonomy. This will require exemplar mapping to test and confirm that the proposed outputs are coherent and defensible.
* Support external suppliers to develop stakeholder consultation (to test language, usability, equity impacts and interpretability (especially for priority cohorts).
* Engagement of project supports as required to meet the deadline and quality expectations. This would involve identifying, scoping and supporting procurement/engagement of specialist supports for deliverables such as research,
* Provide concise weekly status reporting and monthly progress and deliver a handover pack, including final outputs, decision log, stakeholder map, and "how to maintain/update" guidance.
Expected Deliverables
* Project initiation pack: plan, schedule, governance, Risks, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies (RAID log), stakeholder map (within 2-3 weeks of start).
* Engagement plan and comms approach.
* Quality assured drafts and finals of all outputs (see Deliverables).
* Decision ready measurement pathways paper
* Knowledge transfer / transition pack
* Required skills/experience
* Demonstrated leadership of complex, multi stakeholder APS projects delivering policy/strategy artefacts to hard deadlines.
* Understanding of the digital literacy or foundation skills policy landscape in Australia.
* Strong experience coordinating cross agency work (including DEWR or similar central agency stakeholder environments).
* Proven ability to translate frameworks into practitioner usable artefacts; excellent drafting and facilitation skills.
How to Apply
Click APPLY or contact Marisa Conlon, Senior Consultant, Talent Acquisition at for further information on the role.
Please submit applications in Word format only by 10am, 18th January 2026.
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Our Head Office is based in Canberra with a national reach to all the states and territories, regional and remote areas of Australia.
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