Academic Operations Specialist

RGIT Australia; Sydney; On-site; AUD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Matrix Education is seeking an Academic Operations Specialist to maintain the staffing rhythm across all subjects and campuses. You will actively engage teachers, negotiate shifts, and ensure every scheduled class has a qualified teacher ready each day.

The role focuses on relationship-building with teaching staff, coordinating with the Academic Operations Manager and CX teams, and ensuring smooth communication with families during schedule changes.

Qualifications

• Proven background in fast-paced rostering, customer service, event coordination, or operational support.
• Experience managing high-volume phone communications, building rapport, and negotiating outcomes under time pressure.
• Familiarity with CRM/scheduling systems and LMS or spreadsheet tools.

Responsibilities

• Roster ownership across Mathematics, English, Sciences, and Primary to ensure qualified teachers are allocated.
• Secure class covers and manage last-minute changes via direct outreach to staff.
• Maintain real-time rostering records in Salesforce, NeoLMS, CMS3, and Matrix+ to ensure data accuracy.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Stakeholder engagement

Attention to detail

Tools

Salesforce

NeoLMS

CMS3

Matrix+

Excel/Sheets

Job description

Matrix Education is Australia's leading and fastest-growing tuition college for ambitious students from Year 3 to Year 12. For over 25 years, we've helped tens of thousands of students achieve their academic goals through remarkable teaching, fanatical customer support, and exceptional outcomes.

We're now in the middle of something exciting. Matrix is expanding nationally, growing our online platform Matrix+, and re-thinking what new techniques and technologies can unlock within our already world-class learning programs. The Academic team you will be joining is the heart and soul of Matrix.

Role Purpose

The Academic Operations Specialist maintains the operational rhythm at Matrix Education, class by class. This is the hands-on, execution-focused role that ensures every scheduled class across every subject and campus has a qualified, highly engaged teacher in front of it every day.

At its core, this is a relationship-driven and people-focused role. Managing the active teaching roster requires active verbal communication and interpersonal influence rather than simple spreadsheet administration. The Specialist spends their day engaging with teachers and tutors, building genuine rapport, and persuasively negotiating shifts to cover absences and secure class coverage. The ideal candidate is warm, outgoing, and highly approachable, possessing the resilience and poise required to handle fast-paced operational adjustments.

Key Scope

The Academic Operations Specialist owns roster integrity across all Matrix subject areas, including Mathematics, English, Sciences, and Primary. By maintaining strong relationships with teaching staff, working alongside Faculty Leads, and coordinating closely with Customer Experience (CX) when schedule changes affect students and parents, this role keeps delivery uninterrupted. While the function aligns with the Operations Manager’s domain, this position operates as an active execution engine, requiring strong interpersonal skills, telephone confidence, and a commitment to operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities

1. Rostering Execution and Staffing Integrity

Roster Ownership: Maintain staffing integrity across all subject disciplines (Mathematics, English, Sciences, and Primary), ensuring every scheduled classes are allocated with the right teachers.

Proactive Coverage Negotiation: Secure class covers and fill shift gaps via direct phone contact, leveraging strong interpersonal rapport to negotiate shift pickups and relief coverage.

Absence & Relief Management: Respond swiftly to last-minute leave requests and timetable changes, reallocating staff efficiently to protect delivery continuity across all campuses.

Relationship Management: Build and nurture positive, trusted relationships with teachers and tutors, acting as a reliable, approachable primary point of contact across the academic cohort.

2. Delivery Support, Logistics and Stakeholder Coordination

Term Planning Support: Assist with term-by-term planning and teacher-to-class allocations under the direction of the Academic Operations Manager, aligning rosters with Faculty Lead sign-offs.

Customer Experience Alignment: Partner closely with CX teams whenever staffing modifications impact students or schedules, ensuring changes are communicated smoothly and professionally to families.

Rostered Coverage: Execute weekend shift coverage on a rostered basis to oversee live operations, resolve immediate staffing changes, and maintain campus support.

Resource & Logistics Assistance: Support on-site stock checks, physical resource organisation, and campus setup coordination in tandem with Casual Academic Assistants (CAAs).

3. Systems Administration and Operational Intelligence

System Maintenance: Maintain accurate, real-time staffing and rostering records across Salesforce, NeoLMS, CMS3, and Matrix+ platforms to guarantee data fidelity across all learning portals.

Availability Tracking: Log teacher availability, attendance patterns, and coverage reliability, providing direct quantitative insights to the Academic Operations Manager to refine future master scheduling.

Continuous Improvement: Identify operational bottlenecks in daily rostering and system workflows, contributing practical recommendations to streamline shift allocation processes.

Experience and Qualifications

Interpersonal & Coordination Experience: Proven background in a fast-paced rostering, customer service, event coordination, or operational support role.

Stakeholder Engagement: Demonstrated experience managing high-volume phone communications, building rapport quickly, and negotiating outcomes under tight time constraints.

Systems Familiarity: Working knowledge of CRM software (Salesforce), scheduling systems, Learning Management Systems (LMS), or spreadsheet tools (Excel/Google Sheets).

Skills and Attributes

Persuasive & Engaging Communicator: Exceptionally strong telephone presence and interpersonal skills, capable of influencing staff and securing shift commitments cheerfully and effectively.

Resilient Under Pressure: Calm, adaptable, and solution-focused when managing sudden cancellations or live operational changes.

High Attention to Detail: Precise with administrative updates, ensuring system records and class rosters remain accurate across multiple platforms.

Collaborative & Customer-Centric: Low-ego approach with a focus on supporting fellow team members, teachers, students, and families.