Senior Project Officer - Payroll, Event Workforce

The Event Workforce team sits within the Event Workforce, Property and Supply Chain Branch in the Service Delivery Group, which is responsible for delivering federal electoral events.

The team manages the systems and processes that enable temporary election workers to register for employment opportunities, receive offers of employment, complete training, and be paid during electoral events. The team also administers the Collective Determination and delivers helpdesk support to internal staff and the temporary election workforce.

This function supports a geographically dispersed national workforce that delivers elections, referendums and by-elections. During an electoral event, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) employs approximately 100,000 temporary workers to support election delivery activities.

As a Senior Project Officer - Payroll within the Event Workforce team, you will play an important role in delivering payroll services for the temporary election workforce and supporting the successful delivery of electoral events.

You will be responsible for administering payroll processes, managing payroll-related enquiries, and providing accurate and timely payroll advice and support. Working both independently and collaboratively, you will lead and support a high-performing helpdesk team, ensuring staff have the knowledge, guidance and resources required to meet operational demands and deliver excellent customer service.

The role offers opportunities to contribute to and lead a range of initiatives, including business process improvements, policy and procedure reviews, system enhancement recommendations, testing activities, and election readiness planning. You will work closely with internal and external stakeholders to build productive relationships, support change initiatives, and foster a positive and inclusive team culture that values diverse perspectives, experiences and contributions.

To excel you’ll have:

We are seeking a motivated and capable professional who can demonstrate the skills, knowledge and experience required to perform successfully in this role.

• Experience working in payroll, human resources or workforce administration, including the application of Human Resources Management Information Systems (HRMIS), policies, procedures and practices.
• Demonstrated experience conducting research and analysis to develop recommendations, solve problems and support policy, procedural or project outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience supervising staff to deliver high-quality outcomes, including supporting capability development and fostering a collaborative team environment.
• Ability to build and maintain productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders to achieve business and organisational outcomes.
• Demonstrated communication skills, including the ability to provide clear, accurate and well-reasoned advice informed by legislation, policies, procedures and operational guidance.
• Experience managing competing priorities and delivering outcomes within tight timeframes and legislative requirements.
• Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills, including identifying opportunities for continuous improvement and contributing to business improvement initiatives.
• Demonstrated personal drive, integrity and sound judgement while delivering results within legislative, policy and budget parameters.

Desirable

• Relevant qualifications and/or experience working in HRMIS payroll administration.
• Knowledge of, or ability to, quickly gain knowledge of Australian electoral law and practice.

Additional responsibilities during an electoral event

During electoral and referendum events, the volume and urgency of requests for advice and support increase significantly. In addition to their usual responsibilities, the successful applicant will:

• Provide escalation support and guidance to the Employ Train Pay (ETP) Helpdesk team.
• Ensure training materials, operating procedures and key resources are current and ready for deployment.
• Support program and project activities as required to meet event delivery priorities.

• AEC employees must be Australian citizens.
• Any person who is, and seen to be active in political affairs, and intends to publicly carry on this activity, may compromise the strict neutrality of the AEC and cannot be considered.
• Applicants are required to consent to, undergo, obtain and maintain a character clearance.
• Applicants are required to consent to, undergo, obtain and maintain the security clearance required for this role.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is at the heart of Australian democracy. The AEC is responsible for conducting federal elections and referendums, maintaining the Commonwealth electoral roll and making sure the Australian public is informed about all electoral matters. Our goal is to see that all eligible Australians actively participate in our democracy. The AEC values of electoral integrity through quality, agility and professionalism drive strategic and corporate planning and assist in organising the agency in a way that will effectively deliver the business into the future. The AEC is an equal opportunity employer which upholds the APS employment principles and actively encourages a diverse and inclusive workplace. The AEC’s statutory functions in relation to the conduct of elections and referendums require that the AEC and its employees must be, and must be seen to be, impartial and politically neutral. As a result, the AEC Enterprise Agreement and Political Neutrality Policy state that it is an inherent requirement of AEC employment that employees, and prospective employees, are not publicly active in any political affairs and do not publicly engage in such activities. This includes advocating any issues associated with a referendum. Should a prospective employee fail to meet this inherent requirement, they will be ineligible for employment with the AEC.