Operations Leader

Company description:

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 Operations Group delivers frontline customer services to Victorians and the public service. It maintains the foundational digital infrastructure and platforms that support efficient, secure and reliable service delivery. The group uses industry-leading delivery principles for shared services and supports the development of sustainable and efficient whole-of-Victorian Government (WOVG) shared services.

Job description:

About the Role

The Operations Leader provides leadership to multiple frontline Team Managers, reporting to the General Manager and playing a key role in building a capable, engaged and values led workforce. The role supports Team Managers to deliver consistent, high-quality services by translating organisational strategies, policies and priorities into effective day‑to‑day practice, while fostering a positive, inclusive and accountable workplace culture. Working collaboratively with the General Manager and operational peers, the Operations Leader strengthens leadership capability, promotes staff wellbeing, and embeds a culture of continuous improvement across frontline service delivery.

Key Accountabilities

• Interprets and applies business plans and policies within own operational area, providing practical advice and support to teams to address implementation issues.

• Manages the frontline delivery of a defined service, with accountability for staff performance, budget controls and the management of daily operational issues.

• Provides clear operational leadership to frontline team managers, embedding organisational frameworks and priorities into daily service delivery.

• Collaborates with the General Manager and operational peers to support coordinated planning, issue resolution and effective delivery of services.

About You

To be successful in this role, you will need to demonstrate experience in leading operational teams, setting clear performance expectations and establishing daily/weekly operational rhythms.

• Outcomes Thinking: Establishes mechanisms to monitor impact of work on the community; ensures team/ organisation's operating and delivery model is designed in ways that creates a positive impact on community.

• Promote Inclusion: Establishes a workforce that is diverse and takes advantage of relevant knowledge and skills; creates opportunities to improve knowledge of teams in the area of diversity and inclusion.

• Managing Difficult Conversations: Seeks and evaluates options to resolve problems; negotiates agreed actions to deal with problems; coaches others in negotiation.

• Self-awareness: Coaches others to improve level of self-awareness. Leverages emotional intelligence to create a safe space for sensitive conversations which leads to increased level of people engagement.

This role is an ongoing position and based in our Ballarat office. 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 25 August 2026. All applications should include:

·       a resume; and

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

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.