The role

The South Australian State Operations team is seeking to engage a Team Leader to support election delivery. This is an exciting opportunity to join the AEC and contribute to work that has a direct impact on Australia’s democratic processes.

We are seeking an experienced manager to lead a team responsible for divisional election planning, delivery and evaluation. The successful candidate will deliver high-quality outcomes within tight timeframes, work effectively both independently and as part of a team, and exercise sound judgement when operating with limited guidance.

During the preparation phase of the electoral cycle, you will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the electoral roll within your division and leading your team in preparation for the next federal electoral event.

You will contribute to the development of team objectives for both short-term tasks and longer-term strategic initiatives. This includes setting priorities for the work area, maintaining team cohesion, and ensuring the quality of team outputs.

You will be responsible for the overall supervision of your divisional office team and temporary election staff. Using your leadership skills, you will support the rapid expansion of the workforce and ensure operational requirements are delivered effectively and efficiently. You will join a leadership team committed to continuous development and learning and play a key role in building capability and supporting professional development within your team.

To excel you’ll have:

We are seeking a motivated and capable professional who can demonstrate the skills, knowledge and experience required to perform successfully in this role, including:

• Demonstrated experience leading the planning and delivery of events, including managing logistics, resources and competing priorities, and achieving outcomes in a complex operational environment.
• Demonstrated leadership experience building team capability, developing productive working relationships, and communicating, collaborating and negotiating effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience managing compliance obligations, work health and safety requirements and operational risks, including applying legislation, policy and procedures to support safe and compliant operations.
• Proven capacity to lead projects, implement improvements or drive change initiatives that enhance operational effectiveness and business outcomes.
• Ability to exercise sound judgement and make effective decisions in a complex operational environment, including responding to issues, solving problems and maintaining composure under pressure.
• Ability to work independently while contributing positively within a team environment to achieve organisational objectives and support the AEC's strategic direction.

Job description

The AEC has a dispersed network of 150 electoral divisions, ten of which are located in South Australia.

Team Leader positions are based in the Adelaide Office. You will be part of a network of Team Leaders/Senior Project Leads across the country, responsible for managing your work unit to ensure the proper conduct of federal elections and referendums. You will work closely with our State Office, National Office, and colleagues across other States and Territories.

Each APS 6 Team Leader will typically oversee a team of around 2–10 staff. However, team size increases significantly during an electoral event as we scale up and engage our temporary election workforce. During the delivery of an election, the Team Leader will undertake the legislative responsibilities of the Divisional Returning Officer for a federal electoral division and will work to ensure that the division delivers an election result with transparency and integrity.

For the delivery of a federal election or local by-election, staffing levels expand rapidly to help manage increased workloads associated with risk management, project delivery, logistical activities, and media and public scrutiny.

At the AEC, you will develop strong connections with colleagues and supportive networks as we work together to deliver an impartial, independent, and high-integrity electoral system.

Eligibility requirements

• AEC employees must be Australian citizens.
• Any person who is, and seen to be active in political affairs, and intends to publicly carry on this activity, may compromise the strict neutrality of the AEC and cannot be considered.
• Applicants are required to consent to, undergo, obtain and maintain a character clearance.
• Applicants are required to consent to, undergo, obtain and maintain the security clearance required for this role.

About the agency

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is at the heart of Australian democracy. The AEC is responsible for conducting federal elections and referendums, maintaining the Commonwealth electoral roll and making sure the Australian public is informed about all electoral matters. Our goal is to see that all eligible Australians actively participate in our democracy. The AEC values of electoral integrity through quality, agility and professionalism drive strategic and corporate planning and assist in organising the agency in a way that will effectively deliver the business into the future. The AEC is an equal opportunity employer which upholds the APS employment principles and actively encourages a diverse and inclusive workplace. The AEC’s statutory functions in relation to the conduct of elections and referendums require that the AEC and its employees must be, and must be seen to be, impartial and politically neutral. As a result, the AEC Enterprise Agreement and Political Neutrality Policy state that it is an inherent requirement of AEC employment that employees, and prospective employees, are not publicly active in any political affairs and do not publicly engage in such activities. This includes advocating any issues associated with a referendum. Should a prospective employee fail to meet this inherent requirement, they will be ineligible for employment with the AEC.