Project Officer

About the Department

The role of the Department of Education is to support Victorians to build prosperous, socially engaged, happy and healthy lives. It does this by supporting lifelong learning and healthy development, strengthening families and helping to equip people with the skills and knowledge for a 21st century economy and society.

About the Victorian School Building Authority

The Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) is part of the Department of Education. Established in 2016, it oversees Victoria's largest school building program since the state introduced free public education in the 1870s. 

The VSBA upgrades and expands existing schools and plans, designs and builds new schools to meet enrolment demand. We also support schools to maintain their buildings and grounds by offering expert advice and coordinating maintenance programs and grants.  

With Victoria recently introducing two years of funded kindergarten, the VSBA is also working with the early childhood sector on a massive kindergarten construction program.

About the Division

The Strategy and Planning Division is responsible for the VSBA's operating framework, investment strategy, policy setting, asset information management, budget strategy and coordination, along with the delivery of specific school strategies, costings, allocate resources for growth, maintenance, and projects through school application- based programs. The Division also plans and co-ordinates delivery of new early childhood facilities and support for the wider early childhood sector to build, improve and upgrade infrastructure through a number of grants programs, including programs which provide funding to make kindergartens for inclusive for children of all abilities. 

The Asset Planning Branch designs and delivers school-level infrastructure strategies, manages a number of school application-based and maintenance funding programs, allocates relocatable buildings to address enrolment growth in existing schools, conducts cost analysis of potential school infrastructure projects, and maintains our asset data and management system for school buildings. 

Planned Maintenance Allocations Unit has overarching responsibility for the Planned Maintenance Program (PMP), overseeing the allocations of planned maintenance funding to existing schools to address priority works identified as part of the Department's Rolling Facilities Evaluation. PMP also funds Other Audits and Programs at the VSBA, such as Ramps Safety Audits, Hydraulic Fire Safety Systems (HFSS), A3 Asbestos Removal, the Solar Inspections Program, Demolition Program etc. They also coordinate the front-end processes that support these programs, then unit is also responsible for forecasting, tracking and reporting allocations, as well as strategic advice on emerging funding priorities and safety risks. 

About the Role

The Finance and Reporting Officer role in the Planned Maintenance Allocations Unit provides plays a key part in the overall management of the Planned Maintenance Program, producing reporting, data analysis and forecasting for the program, including: 

• producing monthly reports on funding allocations and forecasting of future allocations; 

• producing dashboards and graphs utilising funding allocation and project level data and updating allocations data into various databases/dashboards; 

• modelling and producing the annual State Budget bid for the program using allocation forecasting; 

• other tasks including reviewing funding requests, general process development, responding to requests for information/data analysis. 

The role also includes the modelling of the annual State Budget bid for the program using allocation forecasting, routine analysis of allocation and project level data, reviewing funding allocation requests and producing reports/graphs on various ad-hoc data analysis requests. 

The key accountabilities for the Finance and Reporting Officer are to: 

• analyse data to articulate trends, provide rationale for variances and develop recommendations for embedding insights from analysis to drive action 

• work collaboratively across the VSBA and broader Department to manage information and processes across the portfolio, acting as a key point of contact for multiple teams and stakeholders 

• contribute to continuous improvements for delivery through automation and process improvement. 

All VSBA staff have a shared responsibility to meet the same service standards outlined in the VSBA Customer Service Charter.  Our goal is to make every interaction with the VSBA a positive one for our customers, colleagues and key partners regardless of our individual role or team. 

Attributes  

The ideal candidate will have a solid understanding of reporting, data analysis and collaborating with various stakeholders along with strong communication skills. 

Desirable Qualifications and Experience  

Desirable: Intermediate/Advanced Excel and PowerBI skills 

Desirable: Financial or project management experience 

Further Information

For more details regarding this position please see attached position description for the capabilities to address in application.

The department values diversity and inclusion in all forms - gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. For more information about our work, working for the Department, diversity and inclusion, and our employment conditions visit the Department website and our Diversity and Inclusion page.

Applicants requiring adjustments can contact the nominated contact person.

Information about the Department of Education's operations and employment conditions can be located at www.education.vic.gov.au.

For further information pertaining to the role, please contact Aaron Shield, Manager, Planned Maintenance Allocations Unit via (03) 7022 2*** or ************@education.vic.gov.au.

Preferred applicants may be required to complete a police check and may be subject to other pre-employment checks. Information provided to the Department of Education will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Please let us know via phone or email if you require any adjustments to ensure your full participation in the recruitment process or if you need the ad or any attachments in an accessible format (e.g. large print) due to any viewing difficulties or other accessibility requirements.

Applications close 11:59pm on May 7th 2025.