Delivering services at national scale—reliably, equitably and in line with government expectations—depends on strong operational stewardship, intelligent workforce and workload planning, and the ability to respond quickly to disruption. The General Manager, Operations Management plays a pivotal role in bringing Services Australia’s 2030 Strategy to life by ensuring the agency is operationally prepared, resilient and aligned to meet current and future demand. The role sits at the centre of how government priorities are translated into deliverable, sustainable service outcomes that maintain trust with the Australian community.
The General Manager, Operations Management Division is an enterprise-scale leadership role with responsibility for the frameworks, governance and real-time operational oversight that enable consistent service delivery nationally, supporting a service delivery workforce of 20,000+ staff. The General Manager leads 24/7 monitoring, escalation and coordination of agency responses, and provides executive-level advice on operational risk, capacity and service impacts.
A core accountability is stewardship of the Services Australia Operations Centre, operating on a 24/7 basis and providing national oversight of operational performance, emerging risks, incidents and emergencies. The General Manager ensures the Operations Centre is appropriately designed, governed and resourced to enable timely decision making, clear escalation and coordinated agency responses to high impact events, including natural disasters, system disruptions and significant policy or demand surges with ministerial, public and media interest.
The key duties of the position include:
The role leads the development and application of contemporary, data driven workforce and workload strategies that optimise the deployment of service delivery effort across the agency. This includes demand and capacity forecasting, scenario planning and performance monitoring to support informed executive decision making. The General Manager ensures workforce strategies balance efficiency and productivity with capability, wellbeing and sustainability, and that operational decisions are underpinned by sound evidence, strong governance and a clear customer focus.
As steward of the agency’s operational management framework, the General Manager ensures service delivery models remain fit for purpose in a complex, high volume and highly scrutinised environment. This includes strengthening operational resilience, embedding continuous improvement, and ensuring lessons from incidents and peak events drive improved preparedness and capability over time.
As a key member of the executive leadership team, the General Manager contributes to whole of agency strategy, governance and performance. The role provides authoritative, trusted advice to the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Chief Executive Officer and Ministers on operational risks, workforce and resource implications, and system impacts, and represents the agency in high level cross government and external forums.
The role reports to the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Customer Service Delivery.
Eligibility
Tertiary qualifications in a relevant field are highly desirable.
In accordance with section 22(6) of the Public Service Act 1999, Services Australia requires applicants to be Australian citizens to be eligible for employment with Services Australia.
An applicant's suitability for employment with the agency will be assessed through a pre-employment screening process. This process included but is not limited to a national police check, referee checks, code of conduct check and an employment history integrity check.
Getting to know the Services Australia
We are one of Australia’s largest public sector employers. We are located in every capital city and over 400 local, regional, and remote locations across Australia. Job opportunities in Services Australia can be right where you are or might be right where you want to be. We are looking for people who want to work with us to deliver a simple, helpful, respectful, and transparent experience for our customers. We offer diverse employment opportunities so you can plan to take your career anywhere you want to. We celebrate people with different cultural backgrounds and disabilities. We are also a leading employer of First Nations Australians and a Platinum tier LGBTQIA+ inclusive employer. When you work with us, you will be doing something that matters and be respected for the unique views and skills that you bring. What our people say about working with us: 'It’s rare you find a job that provides such a direct link to the community’ 'You can work for the same agency for your whole career but have the opportunity to work in many different roles' 'Highly supportive team and flexible working conditions where you can be at your best'