Guiding the future of NSW education

- Sydney CBD location, close to transport & hybrid work arrangements available
- Full-time, ongoing
- $154,231 to $178,369 plus super and leave loading

About the role The Lead Research Officer role sits within the Assessment Services directorate which is responsible for research, policy, and the management and delivery of high-stakes assessment programs for NSW students from Kindergarten to Year 12.

As the Lead Research Officer, you will play a pivotal role in supporting evidence-based decision making by facilitating high-quality research across NSW and on a national scale. Working at the intersection of education, research and public policy, you will negotiate and manage relationships, research methodologies, and information sharing agreements with a diverse range of government organisations, universities and other external agencies, enabling strategic, high-quality research and analysis using NSW educational data. Your work will directly support a broad range of public policy programs and contribute to improving outcomes through high priority, insightful, data-driven evidence.

In this instrumental role, you will project manage a team delivering complex, high profile data requests and provide expert advice to NESA's management to inform decision making on priorities, programs and outcomes. This is a unique opportunity to collaborate with key stakeholders and contribute to the achievement of NESA's strategic objectives while helping drive meaningful impact across the education sector.

On a day-to-day basis you will be responsible for:

- Managing and conducting annual data exchange programs with Commonwealth and state agencies to comply with requirements within the agreements.
- Prioritising, evaluating, negotiating, and overseeing data delivery for applications from researchers for ad hoc access to NESA information and data,



including coordinating advice to researchers on data availability, appropriateness and methodology.
- Negotiating and managing information sharing agreements for ad hoc data requests.
- Analysing data sources, data collection processes and the use of data to improve the integrity, quality and usability of the data for research.
- Leading, managing and conducting critical complex quantitative analyses to inform and evaluate NESA policy, building data capability in the Directorate.
- Representing NESA on relevant committees.
- Identifying and leading action on opportunities for process and customer service improvements, the integration of data sets to improve research capability, and data integration projects.
- Preparing correspondence, written reports, publications, and briefs that are informative and aligned with agency requirements to respond to NESA and/or government requests.

Our ideal candidate will have:
- Demonstrated experience leading, delivering and advising on complex quantative research projects, preferably with doctoral qualifications and/or with recognised publications.
- Demonstrated experience managing stakeholder and partner relationships and expectations across state and Commonwealth government departments and/or other research bodies.
- Proven ability leading a team to achieve multiple project objectives within limited resources and tight deadlines, balancing competing priorities and driving continuous improvement.

To be successful, you will need:
- Extensive experience in research,



evaluation and using large datasets.
- Programming skills: SQL, python (pandas) (or equivalent) for the purposes of data extraction and transformation.
- Relevant tertiary qualifications involving complex quantitative research, preferably at a doctorate level. (Note that experience in educational research is not essential.)
- A valid NSW Working with Children Check Clearance (WWCC) for paid employment.

About us

At the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) we work with the NSW community to drive improvements in student achievement.

We achieve this by supporting all school sectors with high-quality syllabuses, assessment (including managing the HSC and NAPLAN), teaching standards (e.g., accrediting teachers) and school environments (including setting and monitoring school standards).

For full information and to apply, click on the apply button at the top of this page.

Applications close Wednesday 4 November 2026 at 11.59pm AEST

Note:

A current NSW Working with Children Check (WWCC) clearance for paid employment is required before commencing in this role. It is not required at the application stage. The cost of the WWCC clearance is the responsibility of the successful applicant.

NESA’s Statement of Commitment to Child Safety

All children and young people have the right to be respected, feel secure, be safe, and protected from harm. NESA is committed to child safety and child safe practices underpinning our purpose of helping children and young people leave school, ready to take advantage of life’s opportunities and rise to its inevitable challenges.

We particularly welcome applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disability, people of all ages, genders, cultural and linguistic backgrounds and the LGBTQIA+ community.

📌 Lead Research Officer (Sydney)
🏢 NSW Education Standards Authority
📍 Sydney