Principal Policy Officer

About Us

The Department of Government Services (DGS) was established on 1 January 2023 to improve everyone’s experience of doing business and interacting with the Victorian government.  We bring important day-to-day services together in one department to make things easy and seamless for Victorians and businesses.  We are doing this by connecting and digitising our systems and platforms across state and local government as well as streamlining our corporate and procurement services.  

You can find out more about our Ministers, leadership and entities here: Department of Government Services. 

About the Group

The purpose of this group is to make it easier for customers and businesses to engage with government. It is accountable for strategy and policy development, regulatory design, sector support and program design and the delivery of regulatory services to – and in the best interests of – Victorians.

The Portfolio Strategy, Projects and Performance division is a collaborative enabling division that supports CALG through the establishment of clear strategic direction, delivery of priority portfolio projects and delivery of whole-of-group data, governance, evaluation, project management and project delivery functions

About the Role

The Principal Policy Officer is a senior expert role within the Group Strategy Projects branch, providing authoritative future focussed strategic thinking and policy leadership across the Consumer Affairs and Local Government portfolios. The role acts as a trusted senior adviser to the Manager, Director, Executive Director and other senior stakeholders, producing high-quality written advice, leading consultation processes, and influencing policy directions across government.

Key Accountabilities

• Develops policies, programs and initiatives that impact on programs or major functional areas
• Contributes advanced expertise and knowledge to strategic planning and decision making processes
• Initiates and manages negotiations with peers (internal and external to work unit) to gain commitment to projects, and delivery of activities to meet timelines
• Provides policy advice to government, senior levels of the organisation and key external stakeholders.

About You

We are seeking applicants who have demonstrated experience from the following criteria:

• Outcomes Thinking: Is up to date with needs of community and formulates strategies that are aligned to community needs; removes barriers that prevents achievement of outcomes for the community.
• Self-awareness: Builds strong commitment of others towards continued personal development. Establishes mechanisms that enable communication of honest and constructive feedback at all levels.
• Partnering and Co-creation: Champions the importance of partnership through co-creation approaches; brings people together to share resources, tools and case studies to build capability and confidence around co-design; takes the lead in complex and high profile VPS wide co-create activities; identifies potential issues and setbacks and is aware of the broader political, organisational and demographic landscape that may influence co-design, sharing expertise with others.
• Systems Thinking: Formulates potential courses of action to achieve objectives based on an in-depth understanding of the business environment and its systems; champions system thinking across the organisation and VPS more broadly acting as a thought leader in this area; establishes an integrated perspective of the organisation’s systems and identifies the leverage points where intervention will add value
• Managing People: Role models ethical leadership through decision making and interactions with people; creates an organisational culture that enables others to perform at their best and achieve outcomes for the organisation; champions people engagement as an organisational priority; provides thought leadership on people management across the services.

This role is a permanent/ongoing position. This position is only open to applicants with relevant rights to work in Australia.

For more information, please see the Position Description

How to apply 

Apply before the advertised closing date 11:59pm on 27 July 2026. All applications should include:  

·       a resume; and  

·       a cover letter which addresses the key selection criteria (within three pagess).

Other relevant information

To be eligible for appointment to this role, applicants will possess corresponding work rights for the advertised employment period. Appointment to an ongoing role is only available to an Australian/New Zealand citizen or an Australian Permanent Resident.  Preferred applicants will be required to undertake pre-employment screening. DGS actively promotes diversity, inclusion and an equal opportunity workplace. We welcome applicants from all diverse backgrounds, including people with disabilities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. All roles at DGS can be worked flexibly, however it may differ from role to role.