APS5 – EL1 Policy Officers

Seeking expressions of interest to become registered with HorizonOne Recruitment. Get access to suitable roles as they become available.

The Opportunity

HorizonOne Recruitment specialises in the recruitment of Policy professionals. The roles we recruit for range from short term contracts (3 months) to long term contracts (12 months or more), as well as permanent s26 transfer positions. It is very common for high performing contracting candidates to receive repeated extensions on their contracts or secure permanency in the APS.

We are seeking expressions of interest from high performing and experienced Policy Professionals to become registered with HorizonOne. Being a registered candidate means you have access to suitable opportunities as they become available, some of which aren’t externally advertised.

Our client base is focused primarily in the ACT region and require candidates to be attend their Canberra office for at least a portion of the week, thus we are only seeking candidates located in Canberra.

The Role

The responsibilities of each position will vary, but as a Policy Officer in government, you will often be required to:

• Prepare quality policy advice that aligns with the department/agency’s strategic objectives for various decision-making bodies, senior management and other decision makers.
• Prepare government briefing documents including question time briefs, senate estimates briefs, media releases and ministerial submissions.
• Engage with a range of internal and external stakeholders to support the development of informed, strategic policy advice and the achievement of desired outcomes.

The Ideal Person

Given the requirements of our clients, we are looking for candidates that already have established experience in policy (or a related area) in a government environment (Commonwealth).

To be successful as a Policy Officer, you will typically have strong research, analytical and conceptual thinking skills to produce high quality and timely policy advice. You’ll have excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to build productive and collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. You’ll exercise sound judgement, work to tight deadlines, manage high workloads and be flexible in responding to changing priorities.

A strong policy candidate will often have a tertiary qualification and subject matter expertise in a specialist policy area.

To be eligible to work in federal government, you must be an Australian citizen, be willing to undergo a police check and have a Baseline security clearance. 

Salary / Rate

Salaries will be dependent on the enterprise agreement of the government department/agency. An approximate salary range at each level is:

• APS5: $80k – $90k + Super
• APS6: $95 – $105k + Super
• EL1: $110k – $135k + Super
• Seeking candidates located in the ACT only as our client base is located primarily in the Canberra region