Office of the eSafety Commissioner – Pyrmont NSW

At eSafety, we are pioneers in online safety regulation, leading global efforts to combat digital harms and foster safer, more positive online experiences for all Australians.

Our mission is bold and far-reaching.

From tackling cyberbullying and child sexual exploitation, to confronting emerging harms brought about by new innovations such as generative AI and immersive technologies, we oversee Australia’s online safety landscape.

About the team

The Complaints and Investigations Branch (CIB) plays a critical role in protecting Australians from online harms. We administer regulatory schemes covering adult cyber abuse (ACA), image-based abuse (IBA), children’s cyberbullying CCB), and illegal and restricted content including violent terrorism and extremist content (TVEC) and child abuse material (CAM).

The Branch focuses on quick, consistent and impact-driven complaint handling—ensuring matters are prioritised and actioned in line with harm, risk and urgency. We place strong emphasis on clear ownership, streamlined workflows and rapid harm mitigation to deliver timely outcomes for individuals and the broader community.

Collaboration is at the heart of how we work. Our teams partner closely across eSafety and with external stakeholders to deliver coordinated, intelligence-led responses to online harms—supporting robust decision-making, knowledge sharing and continuous improvement in our regulatory approach.

The Branch is currently undergoing significant transformational change, including the implementation of a new structure, systems, processes and workflows. The change is designed to strengthen regulatory impact and improve employee experience and workload across the branch.

The new branch structure– which will take effect from October this year - consists of five teams. This process may be used to create a merit list for future roles in all teams, except the Intelligence Team.

About the role

As an EL 1 Senior Regulatory Officer in the Child Abuse Material (CAM) team, you will work under broad direction to lead a small team responsible for undertaking end-to-end management of complaints related to CAM, image-based abuse complaints for people under 18 and sexually explicit adult material.A key component of this role will also be leading close engagement with key stakeholders including INHOPE, ACCCE and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P).

Your expert knowledge and professional judgement will inform decision making and advice that is guided by legislative requirements and eSafety policies and standard operating procedures. Your expertise may also be drawn on to assist with to codes and standards investigations, contributing to eSafety’s broader compliance and enforcement activities.

You will provide strong leadership, oversight and strategic direction to your team to ensure high-quality operational delivery, while actively supporting staff wellbeing in a challenging regulatory environment.

Note: While the EL1 role is expected to have a stronger focus on team leadership and managing more complex complaints, due to the current large volume of complaints, EL1s may also be required to take on a case load of less complex complaints.

About eSafety

At eSafety, we are pioneers in online safety regulation, leading global efforts to combat digital harms and foster safer, more positive online experiences for all Australians.

Our mission is bold and far-reaching.

From tackling cyberbullying and child sexual exploitation, to confronting emerging harms brought about by new innovations such as generative AI and immersive technologies, we oversee Australia’s online safety landscape.

About the team

The Complaints and Investigations Branch (CIB) plays a critical role in protecting Australians from online harms. We administer regulatory schemes covering adult cyber abuse (ACA), image-based abuse (IBA), children’s cyberbullying CCB), and illegal and restricted content including violent terrorism and extremist content (TVEC) and child abuse material (CAM).

The Branch focuses on fast, consistent and impact-driven complaint handling—ensuring matters are prioritised and actioned in line with harm, risk and urgency. We place strong emphasis on clear ownership, streamlined workflows and rapid harm mitigation to deliver timely outcomes for individuals and the broader community.

Collaboration is at the heart of how we work. Our teams partner closely across eSafety and with external stakeholders to deliver coordinated, intelligence-led responses to online harms—supporting robust decision-making,



knowledge sharing and continuous improvement in our regulatory approach.

The Branch is currently undergoing significant transformational change, including the implementation of a new structure, systems, processes and workflows. The change is designed to strengthen regulatory impact and improve employee experience and workload across the branch.

The new branch structure– which will take effect from October this year - consists of five teams. This process may be used to create a merit list for future roles in all teams, except the Intelligence Team.

About the role

As an EL 1 Senior Regulatory Officer in the Child Abuse Material (CAM) team, you will work under broad direction to lead a small team responsible for undertaking end-to-end management of complaints related to CAM, image-based abuse complaints for people under 18 and sexually explicit adult material.A key component of this role will also be leading close engagement with key stakeholders including INHOPE, ACCCE and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P).

Your expert knowledge and professional judgement will inform decision making and advice that is guided by legislative requirements and eSafety policies and standard operating procedures. Your expertise may also be drawn on to assist with to codes and standards investigations, contributing to eSafety’s broader compliance and enforcement activities.

You will provide strong leadership, oversight and strategic direction to your team to ensure high-quality operational delivery, while actively supporting staff wellbeing in a challenging regulatory environment.

Note: While the EL1 role is expected to have a stronger focus on team leadership and managing more complex complaints, due to the current large volume of complaints, EL1s may also be required to take on a case load of less complex complaints.

The key duties of the position include:

- Maintain oversight of complaints within your team to ensure allocations are evenly distributed, matters progress efficiently, and decisions meet legislative and administrative law requirements, eSafety policy and procedural requirements, and quality standards.
- Lead the team’s triage function by undertaking the initial categorisation and prioritisation of matters using set criteria and professional judgement.
- Take the lead on highly complex, or more sensitive and high-risk complaints, including reviewing and assessing content, collecting evidence, and documenting investigations and decision-making to ensure management of statutory complaints is supported by appropriate records.
- Act as a statutory decision-maker in line with delegation and provide quality control of statements of reasons and supporting documentation in accordance with statutory and administrative law requirements and operational policies and procedures.
- Proficiently use online and other technologies to assist in identifying appropriate routes for removal of content.
- Manage disclosure of investigations to Law Enforcement.
- Liaise effectively with complainants, platforms and relevant stakeholders to resolve complaints swiftly while balancing relevant stakeholder needs and managing expectations about outcomes.
- Communicate with complainants who may be distressed or agitated, with confidence and empathy. and use deescalation techniques as required.
- Exercise delegations/brief the delegate as appropriate and drive timely, consistent, and defensible regulatory decisions in line with legislative requirements and eSafety policy and procedures.
- Ensure accurate recording of evidence, decisions and rationale to support transparency and withstand internal and external scrutiny.
- Routinely handle sensitive and at times highly distressing material.
- Provide high quality written and verbal advice to management on regulatory matters, and emerging risks and contribute to briefings, responses and submissions to Parliamentary Committees and other stakeholders.
- Prepare coordinated team responses to media and other enquiries under tight time constraints
- Lead quality assurance and continuous business improvement activities and projects.
- Build and maintain effective stakeholder relationships internally across eSafety and externally with industry,



government and non-government agencies, and take the lead on more complex stakeholder engagements.
- Represent the team and eSafety at internal and external forums.
- Provide surge support or perform other duties within the team and across other teams as required.

The following qualification is essential:

- Diploma of Government (Investigations), or equivalent, or ability to obtain the qualification while undertaking investigative functions under appropriate supervision.

Eligibility

To be eligible for employment with eSafety, applicants must be Australian citizens.

Psychological assessment

As part of the selection process, preferred candidates will be required to undertake a psychological assessment conducted by an independent provider. This assessment is designed to ensure candidates are well placed to work in roles that involve high emotional demands, including exposure to sensitive and potentially distressing material, and to support both individual wellbeing and workplace safety. Candidates will only progress in the recruitment process if the assessment confirms their suitability to work in this environment. Further information about the assessment process will be provided to preferred candidates.

The successful applicant must be able to obtain and maintain a Baseline Security Clearance or hold a current security clearance of an appropriate level. More information on the security clearance vetting process is available on the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) website.

The successful applicant must be able to obtain and maintain a Working with Children Check (or equivalent) .

Successful applicants are required to satisfy an employment screening process which may include demonstrating Australian citizenship, satisfactory completion of security and integrity checks and successful completion of a medical assessment.

Notes

At eSafety, you’ll be part of a passionate team under the leadership of an independent Commissioner who is supported by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Our eSafety staff are ACMA employees who are subject to the terms and conditions of employment in the ACMA's Enterprise Agreement .

Suitable candidates may be placed in a merit pool from this selection process and the pool may be used to fill similar ongoing or non-ongoing roles.

On call support

The branch operates a 24-hour response function to support online content removal in response to significant incidents and urgent or high-risk complaints. Staff in this role can opt-in to participate in a rotating roster to support the on-call function.

Exposure to content and challenging interactions

Due to the nature of eSafety’s regulatory scope, among other duties, occupants in these roles are frequently exposed to highly sensitive and distressing material. In addition to reviewing such material, these roles also involve providing advice and support to complainants who may be in distress or demonstrate inappropriate behaviours.

To support the emotional and psychological demands of these roles, eSafety provides a range of proactive wellbeing supports such as structured induction and training, quarterly wellbeing check‑ins and mobility and job rotation opportunities. Role occupants are also expected to take personal responsibility for their wellbeing by actively engaging with available supports, maintaining strong professional boundaries, and applying appropriate self‑care strategies.

Access to versatile work/remote working

CAM cannot be viewed while working from home, limiting the ability for staff in the CAM team to work remotely. This is to manage security, privacy and wellbeing risks. While staff are not viewing content all day, they may need to view it periodically, making it more challenging to accommodate regular working from home days.

We acknowledge that staff value the opportunity to work from home and are committed to working with individuals and the team to build flexibility in the roles where possible, while also meeting operational requirements.

The introduction of new technologies will significantly reduce the amount of CAM staff need to view. This may create more opportunities for CAM staff to work from home in the future. Staff will also have regular opportunities to rotate out of the team (short or long term) and into teams where there are more opportunities to work from home.

Getting to know the Office of the eSafety Commissioner

The eSafety Commissioner’s (eSafety) purpose is to help safeguard Australians at risk from online harms and to promote safer, more positive online experiences.

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📌 Senior Regulatory Officer (Sydney)
🏢 Office of the eSafety Commissioner
📍 Sydney