* 4 x Full‑time continuing opportunities available
* Lead a high‑performing team driving operational excellence
* Base Salary $126,065 - $142,171 + 17% superannuation
About the opportunity
The new Workplace Operations team works closely with professional and academic colleagues to ensure the University meets its operational compliance obligations in relation to casual academics. The team drives continuous improvement, embeds consistent best‑practice processes and frameworks, and oversees operational compliance across all faculties and business areas—ensuring cohesive, rigorous standards and that casual academic staff are paid accurately in line with University policies, procedures and legislative requirements.
The Casual Academic Administration Team Lead plays a key leadership role in overseeing the compliant, accurate and efficient administration of the University's casual academic workforce. This includes providing expert operational advice, resolving complex planning‑to‑pay issues, coordinating semester readiness activities, and ensuring work allocations, timesheets and paycodes are aligned with the University of Sydney Enterprise Agreement and relevant legislation.
Responsibilities
* Lead and oversee the full planning to pay process, including work allocation updates, timesheet discrepancy resolution, timesheet reconciliation and paycode alignment.
* Act as the primary escalation point for operational and compliance matters relating to casual academic employment.
* Manage, mentor and develop a team of Casual Academics' Administration Officers, including recruitment, training, performance management and workflow coordination.
* Ensure strong compliance with employment legislation, governance requirements, University policies and enterprise agreements, supporting audit activities where required.
* Oversee systems, reporting and data quality across OTA, CASS, Workday, Ascender and related HR or compliance platforms, including data analysis, dashboards, SLA/KPI tracking and risk identification.
* Collaborate with HR, ICT, faculties and Student Services to support semester readiness, service quality, operational consistency and continuous improvement initiatives.
About you
* Strong operational experience, ideally within HR, compliance or workforce administration.
* Demonstrated people management capability, including coaching and supporting team performance.
* A strong understanding of HR policies, enterprise agreements and employment legislation.
* High attention to detail with confidence working with complex data and systems.
* Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence and provide high‑quality advice.
* A continuous improvement mindset and commitment to service excellence.
Sponsorship / work rights for Australia
You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this employment to be eligible to apply. Visa sponsorship is not available for this appointment.
Pre‑employment checks
Your employment is conditional upon the completion of all role‑required pre‑employment or background checks to a satisfactory level to the University. Similarly, your ongoing employment is conditional upon the satisfactory maintenance of all relevant clearances and background check requirements. If you do not meet these conditions, the University may take any necessary step, including the termination of your employment.
EEO statement
At the University of Sydney, our shared values are trust, accountability and excellence and we strive to be a place where everyone can thrive. We are committed to creating a University community that thrives through diversity and reflects the wider community that we serve. We deliver on this through our commitment to diversity and inclusion, evidenced by our people and culture programs, as well as key strategies to increase participation and support the careers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, women, people living with a disability, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and those who identify as LGBTQIA+. We welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds. We are proud to be recognised as an Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) Platinum Employer. Find out more about our work on diversity and inclusion.
How to apply
Applications (including a cover letter, CV, and any additional supporting documentation) can be submitted via the Apply button at the top of the page.
For employees of the University or contingent workers, please log in to your Workday account and navigate to the Career icon on your Dashboard. Click on USYD Find Jobs and apply.
For a confidential discussion about the role, or if you require reasonable adjustment or any documents in alternate formats, please contact Toby Berryman, Recruitment Operations by email at
Desired Skills and Experience
* Business operations
* Process improvement
* Operational compliance
* HR policies and procedures
* Casual academic lifecycle management
* Planning‑to‑pay processes
* Timesheet reconciliation
* Data analysis
* Data reporting
* Dashboard development
* Systems management (OTA, CASS, Workday, Ascender)
* Stakeholder engagement
* Relationship management
* Team leadership
* People management
* Performance development
* Training and onboarding
* Recruitment support
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