#993 Assistant Secretary, External Workplace Reform, SES Band 1, Department of Defence

All applications MUST be submitted via the Department of Defence vacancies page.

Defence is seeking dynamic senior executives to drive the organisation forward and deliver on Defence’s mission – to defend Australia and its national interests.

As part of the Senior Leadership Group, you will play a key role in promoting and influencing a shared commitment to the strategic direction of Defence, as most recently detailed in the National Defence Strategy.

Defence operates with an integrated model between Australian Public Servants, Defence personnel and external industry. With the largest external workforce in the Commonwealth, how we engage support and partner with industry is critical to achieving the defence mission.

A reform program is being led within Defence to step change how Defence utilises its external workforce. Central to this is managing when Defence should procure services, in which roles Defence procures external services and how Defence achieves maximum value from these services. Supporting these initiatives, Defence has established the Australian Defence Consulting. The Assistant Secretary External Workforce Reform leads the team of internal consultants which looks to bring a mix of industry and internal capability to support internal projects.

Candidates are invited to consider their credentials against the following areas of responsibility:

External Workforce Reform

• Lead the External Workforce Reform Branch to drive accountability to reduce ‘Above the Line’ contractor numbers.
• Bring whole of department focus improved contractor management.
• Work across the Commonwealth and internally to foster the delivery of the Whole of Government initiatives under the Strategic Commissioning Framework.
• Continue to establish the Australian Defence Consulting function within Defence, including launching of frameworks and associated consulting services.
• Stand up the Strategic Market Management function to improve how Defence engages the provision of external workforce from the broader market.
• Drive behavioural change across the organisation in its use of the external labour market.
• Lead whole of Department reporting on external workforce size and activities.
• Improve the data management of contractors within Defence so as to inform effective reporting of the workforce size, cost, job family and organisational location. This should support changing organisational culture to ensure the achievement of value for money and the use of APS in the first instance where appropriate.
• Provide superior leadership and management of a Branch.
• Provide quality advice to senior staff, the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force and Ministers.
• Deliver required outcomes through effective management of resources.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships both inside and outside the organisation, with particular connection to the Australian Public Service Commission and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.