The chance we have available

As a First Assistant Secretary, you will lead a division within the Department and play a critical role in delivering the Government’s priorities and the Department’s strategic objectives. Reporting to a Deputy Secretary, you will provide advice on complex policy, program, regulatory and operational matters, while leading high-performing teams to achieve significant outcomes. You will work closely with Ministers and their offices, portfolio and other government agencies, state and territory counterparts, industry, community organisations and other stakeholders to address complex challenges and drive reform.

Successful candidates will demonstrate exceptional leadership, strategic thinking and sound judgement, with the ability to foster a positive, inclusive and high-performing culture while delivering results in a dynamic and evolving environment.

What you will do

As First Assistant Secretary, you can expect to:

- Along with colleagues, build and maintain a whole-of-department strategic policy delivery capability to provide advice on emerging and priority issues, including those relating to First Nations outcomes
- Build and maintain effective and productive networks across portfolio agencies, government, academia, and the private sector
- Ensure there are effective quality assurance protocols and business planning arrangements to support the delivery of timely and high-quality outputs
- Contribute to the development and implementation of strategies that strengthen the department’s inclusive culture
- Represent the department across government, industry, and public forums, including Ministerial briefings, Parliamentary engagements, and Senate Estimates hearings

Inherent requirements for the role The inherent requirements for this role include:

- The successful candidate for this position will be able to demonstrate their capability against the Secretaries Charter of Leadership Behaviours and the APS Integrated Leadership Profile (ILS) for the SES Band 2 level
- An ability to consider and assess emerging trends and risks provide well considered guidance to the department to enable informed decision-making about long-term opportunities and achievement of strategic,



operational and tactical priorities
- the ability to lead and inspire staff within your business area, including building and developing a high performing team, managing competing business priorities and psychosocial risk factors to effectively deliver the core priorities of your business and across the department.
- An ability to build and maintain effective, collaborative and productive networks across portfolio agencies, government, academia, and the private sector.

Cultural capability requirement The department believes every role contributes to cultural safety and that building staff cultural capability helps us deliver better policies, programs and services for First Nations people and the broader Australian community. Candidates will be required to demonstrate their willingness to develop their cultural capability as part of the assessment process. In making it a requirement across all roles in our department, we are taking a practical step in delivering our commitments under the Our Stories on Country Agreement and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy 2025–28 .

Eligibility requirements

Employment with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts is subject to conditions prescribed within the Public Service Act 1999 including:

- Citizenship: candidates must be an Australian citizen at the time of submitting your application.
- Health Assessment: The preferred candidate may be required to undergo a medical examination conducted by the department’s preferred medical provider.
- Security Clearance: The successful candidate must be able to obtain and/or maintain a security clearance at Negative Vetting 2 level. You must be willing to disclose all relevant and required information. You must have lived in Australia, or have a checkable background,



for at least the preceding five years for Baseline Vetting clearances. More information on the security clearance vetting process is available on the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) website.
- Police check: The successful candidate must complete an Australian Federal Police criminal history check.
- Integrity and Performance check: The successful candidate must satisfy the requirements in an Integrity and Performance check which is completed by your most recent employer.

How to apply Applications for this opportunity close at 11.59pm AEST, Sunday, 13 September 2026.

Prior to preparing your application for the department, please read our Artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment at the department principles. The principles aim to help you use AI in a way that supports your application and maintains fairness and transparency while maintaining your integrity as a candidate. They outline what is and isn’t acceptable use of AI in APS recruitment.

In applying for this position, you are not required to address individual selection criteria. Rather, you should provide in a PDF document a statement of no more than 2 pages outlining your background, capabilities and experiences and how these align with the advertised role.

You should also provide a tailored CV in PDF, no more than 4 pages. The capabilities and behaviours required to be successful for this role are identified in the ‘inherent requirements for the role’ section.

If you experience any issues with the system please contact the Beaumont and Beaumont via email at [email protected] to discuss an alternative way to submit your application.

Please advise the contact officer if you require adjustments during the recruitment process. We recognise and value diversity as our strength and promote a culture of inclusion to enhance our work performance and the wellbeing of our employees. We are committed to systems that are accessible, inclusive and safe for all. If you need any further information about accessibility and inclusion at our department, please contact [email protected].

📌 First Assistant Secretary, Various Roles (Canberra)
🏢 Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts
📍 Canberra