Statutory AppointmentOpen to various locations across AustraliaSalary determined by the Remuneration Tribunal
About The Department Of Employment And Workplace Relations
We are committed to empowering futures, ensuring rights and enriching lives. We support people to have safe, secure and well-paid work with the skills for a sustainable future as we ourselves strive to be a model employer.
We provide the framework for fair and productive relationships between employers and employees. We also oversee skills development and training initiatives to support those entering the workforce or re-training to take advantage of emerging employment opportunities.
With us your work directly contributes to shaping the employment landscape. Whether you're engaging in policy development, program implementation, or direct support services, your efforts will have a tangible impact on job seekers, employees and the economy by giving them a framework to build a future anchored and realised through employment.
The Role And Responsibilities
We are seeking candidates for the Student Identifiers Registrar (Registrar) position, a statutory office that is responsible for delivering functions per governing legislation, including the administration, compliance, security and overall performance of the Unique Student Identifier (USI) initiative.
The Student Identifiers Act 2014 (SI Act) establishes a national USI for every learner in the vocational education and training (VET) and higher education sectors. With more than 17 million individuals now holding a USI, the initiative is an important part of Australia’s education data system. Under the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, the USI will also be expanded to include all school students in the coming years.
The Registrar is a full-time statutory office holder appointed by the Commonwealth Minister for up to 5 years to lead the national implementation, governance and performance of the USI initiative. The Registrar is assisted by staff that are provided by the Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) under section 45 of the SI Act. These staff assist the Registrar but remain employees of the department.
As part of core statutory functions (section 32 of the SI Act), the Registrar is responsible for:
assigning, verifying and managing USIs and ensuring accurate records for every studentproviding access to authenticated VET transcripts and managing transcript access controls for individualsresolving identity or duplication issues where USIs are assigned incorrectlymaintaining robust systems and processes that meet all legislative, privacy and security requirementscarrying out any additional functions conferred by the SI Act, regulations or other Commonwealth laws including the Public Service Act 1999 and Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013
As the public face of the USI initiative, the Registrar will be expected to:
build strong relationships across government (including with states and territories), DEWR, the Department of Education, their Secretaries and Ministers, education providers and other relevant stakeholdersabide by and support any contracted or APS staff assisting them to abide by Australian Government and departmental policies.proactively prepare for and respond to operational risks, system interruptions or security incidentsbe responsible for the Student Identifiers Special Account, ensuring strong financial governance, transparency and accountabilityadvise the Government on potential changes to the scope, coverage or design of the USIprepare a formal report yearly to the Minister for Skills and Training, tabled in Parliament and provided simultaneously to Skills Ministersappear, as called, to Parliamentary Committees and Senate Estimates to account for financial and operational performance.
The head office of the Registrar is in Adelaide, South Australia. The successful candidate is eligible to work primarily from any major Australian city. Travel to Adelaide, Canberra or other locations within Australia may be required in the performance of the Registrar’s duties.
Skills And Capabilities
The successful applicant will have significant senior management experience, with proven strengths in strategic planning, organisational performance and delivery in complex, legislated environments.
They will possess a strong understanding of governance, privacy obligations, risk management and APS obligations, exercise sound technical judgement and professionalism while proactively identifying and addressing emerging challenges and risks.
The ideal candidate will have the following:
Strategic leadership and organisational performance: Demonstrated senior leadership skills, including the ability to set strategic direction, drive organisational performance and deliver outcomes in complex and dynamic environments.Governance and risk: Proven ability to operate effectively within legislated and policy?driven environments, with a strong understanding of governance, privacy obligations and operational frameworks. Demonstrated sound technical judgement and effective risk management, including the identification and mitigation of emerging risks and issues.Leadership, integrity and people management: Exemplary integrity and professionalism, with strong people leadership and management capability. Ability to foster a positive, inclusive, and high?performing workplace culture that supports staff wellbeing, innovation, continuous learning and excellence.Stakeholder engagement and influence: Highly developed stakeholder relationship skills, including the ability to build, maintain and leverage trusted relationships across the Australian Public Service, with Ministers and with a diverse range of external senior stakeholders including state and territory governments and education providers. Demonstrated ability to provide insightful, persuasive and trusted advice.Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly convey complex information and represent initiatives confidently. Proven capability to engage publicly, including with the media where appropriate, and to manage sensitive or high profile and program delivery: Demonstrated experience working in or with government, ideally including exposure to large, ICT enabled programs or initiatives, and an understanding of the complexities of government delivery environments.
This includes the ability to develop and maintain productive working relationships across multiple departments and with various stakeholder groups. As a secondary statutory structure situated within DEWR, the role requires a strong commitment to partnership with corporate and policy partners, as well as alignment with departmental governance, policy, and program delivery frameworks.
Eligibility
Our successful candidate will need to hold a valid Baseline clearance to undertake the role.
How To Apply
Applicants are required to provide up to a two-page summary (no more than 1000 words) that outlines skills, knowledge, and experience and why you should be considered for this vacancy. You should take into consideration the position overview (including any detailed position specific requirements) when drafting your response. Where possible include specific relevant examples of your work.
The SES Work Level Standards accommodate the diversity of roles across the APS and are structured to clearly differentiate between the work expected (i.e. responsibilities and duties) at each classification level.
In eRecruit (the department’s online recruitment system) you will also need to:
upload a Curriculum Vitaeprovide contact details for 2 Referees.
Please refer to the Job Information Pack for more information about the role.
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