About TAFE Queensland and Australia Pacific Training Coalition

TAFE Queensland is proud to be the largest and most experienced Vocational Education and Training provider in the State. For more than 140 years, TAFE Queensland has delivered practical and industry-relevant training to provide students with the skills and experience they need to build lifelong careers. TAFE Queensland been named the Large Training Provider of the Year at the prestigious 2023 Australian Training Awards. Our training is delivered to students and apprentices on-site, online, in the workplace, or on-campus to give people the skills they need to enrich their communities, support their industries, and strengthen their local economies. 

TAFE Queensland also implements the Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). APTC is a centre for training excellence, providing Australian-standard training qualifications and skills across the Pacific and Timor-Leste. As Australia’s key Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) investment in the region, APTC works collaboratively with TVET stakeholders to achieve training delivery outcomes and reforms to national and regional TVET systems. 

APTC has country offices in Fiji, Vanuatu, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste and representatives in Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu. The Country Offices are supported by a range of services provided from a regional head office located in Suva, Fiji.

By working at TAFE Queensland, you can be part of a highly experienced workforce closely connected with their industries and dedicated to delivering best practices and innovative training for our students, TVET partners and the Government of Australia.

Your Opportunity

As the Country Director you will be responsible for transitioning APTC from an Australian technical college to a vehicle for forging coalitions with partner institutions, industry/enterprises, and the Government of Timor-Leste to achieve sustainable country driven TVET reform. The Country Director will be politically astute and well-connected in the Pacific. In this role you will have a sound understanding of the local context and enhanced capability for ‘thinking, working politically’. You will ensure continued quality delivery of training programs most relevant to national and international labour market needs whilst engaging nationally and negotiating partnerships and coalitions with stakeholders interested in and critical to, reform of TVET in Timor-Leste.The Country Director will work cohesively as part of the APTC Senior Leadership Team and has overall responsibility for ensuring the successful operation of APTC against its goals and objectives, including discussion with DFAT and other key stakeholders on the strategic and longer-term direction for TVET provision in Timor-Leste.

This position reports to the Executive Director, APTC.

This is a temporary, full-time opportunity, to 31 March 2025.

The position will be based primarily at Dili, Timor-Leste.  

The Total Remuneration Package (TRP) for this role is AU$166,668 per annum.

Key Responsibilities

Stakeholder Relationships

• Manage effective stakeholder relationships with the Government of Timor-Leste, DFAT Post, other regional and bilateral TVET programs, development partners, industry groups and national TVET institutions;
• Represent APTC at high-level official meetings and functions, the Joint Steering Committee, the Joint Management Committee with partner institutes and at other meetings as required with DFAT, Government of Timor-Leste or other stakeholders;
• Develop and maintain engagement and strategic communication with government, employer and community stakeholders, and the Pacific Labour Facility to identify current and future labour demand, meet current training requirements and foster a culture of co-investment to the cost of training.

Quality TVET Training Delivery

• Manage the delivery of accredited training of Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) Certificate to Diploma including skills sets, ensuring high quality, ASQA compliant, flexible and innovative training delivery and assessment practices at both APTC and partner institute locations;
• Work with the Director Skills & Systems Strengthening to develop courses that meet national and international labour market demand for skills and qualifications including Recognition of Prior Learning services, flexible, off-the-job or on-the-job training delivery.

Strategy, Communications, Monitoring and Evaluation 

• In collaboration with the Director Skills & Systems Strengthening, develop a Timor-Leste Transition Plan outlining pathway to transition APTC Timor-Leste to a training coalition;
• Conduct Timor-Leste labour market analysis to determine demand for TVET courses and skills sets to enable the Annual Training Profiles - Domestic and International to accurately reflect demand.

APTC Country Office Operations

• Provide leadership and operational management to the team of training and administrative staff in Timor-Leste, for the benefit of students, employers, industry, community and program stakeholders;
• Ensure effective risk management; 
• Manage the provision of secretariat services to the Joint Steering Committee and Joint Management Committee.

How you will be assessed

The ideal applicant will be someone who has the following key capabilities:

1. Tertiary qualification in international development or education or another relevant discipline such as political science, international business or change management.

2. Extensive demonstrated experience leading and managing in a complex environment.

3. Established conceptual, analytical and Thinking and Working Politically (TWP) skills including the ability to identify emerging issues, and expertise to resolve operational issues and manage innovative solutions to complex problems in an adaptive manner.

4. Practical experience in negotiating and developing new business opportunities as demonstrated through industry relationships management.

5. Experience working in the Pacific, preferably in TVET management or a development program.

6. Proven ability to establish priorities, organise and manage staff performance, achieve end-of-program objectives and to meet tight deadlines within a complex organisation.

7. Excellent verbal, written and ICT skills, stakeholder and relationship management skills, change management skills and an ability to prepare high-level responses and reports.

Highly Desirable Requirements

1. Experience working within an educational organisation, preferably TVET. 

2. Experience working on an aid funded project, preferably Australian Government.

How to apply

If you’re interested in this role, click the ‘Apply’ button to submit your application via the TAFE Queensland Recruitment Portal.  When submitting your application, please ensure you provide the following:

• A detailed resume; 
• A cover letter that outlines your known skills, abilities, knowledge and experience in response to the “How you will be assessed” criteria above (maximum of 2 pages in total); and
• The contact details for two referees (one of whom is your current supervisor)

Closing date: 11:59pm, Wednesday, 22 May 2024.

Job Reference Number: TQ2024-505

For further information, please contact:

Veniana Yaya, Human Resources Business Partner

Email: veniana.yaya@aptc.edu.au