Assistant Director - Recruitment and Planning

Australian Energy Regulator; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Australian Energy Regulator is seeking an Assistant Director - Recruitment and Planning to lead recruitment, capability and workforce planning functions. You will identify, acquire and onboard capabilities, and provide strategic guidance across recruitment, capability and workforce planning within the organisation.

The role involves developing strategies, overseeing end-to-end SES recruitment processes, coordinating governance and risk management, and driving an inclusive high-performance

Qualifications

• Leadership in HR or recruitment functions.
• Experience shaping workforce planning and recruitment strategies.
• Ability to provide strategic and operational workforce advice.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver capabilities for recruitment and onboarding.
• Lead recruitment and workforce planning strategies and activities.
• Enhance configuration for recruitment and organisation management in TechOne ERP.
• Provide strategic workforce advice.
• Oversee SES recruitment activities from planning to merit-based outcomes.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to deliver regular recruitment and development plans.
• Develop work plans for the Recruitment and Planning team.
• Lead and coach the team to foster high performance and capability.

Skills

Leadership

Recruitment

Workforce planning

Stakeholder engagement

SES recruitment

Governance

Risk management

Coaching

Tools

TechOne

Job description

Assistant Director - Recruitment and Planning

As the Assistant Director - Recruitment and Planning you will develop and deliver the functions to identify, acquire and onboard the capabilities the AER requires. You will provide strategic and operational leadership across recruitment, capability and workforce planning functions. This role is a career-defining opportunity to apply your deep recruitment and/or workforce planning expertise to evolve and operate a critical HR function in a new organisation.

The key duties of the position include:

Working under limited guidance and exercising considerable discretion, the Assistant Director - Recruitment and Planning will:

• Develop and deliver the functions that identify, acquire and onboard the capabilities the AER requires.
• Lead the development and implementation of recruitment and workforce planning strategies and activities
• Review and enhance standard configuration for recruitment and organisation management modules in the AER’s enterprise resource planning system (TechOne)
• Provide strategic and operational advice about workforce matters.
• Lead and support end‑to‑end SES recruitment activities, including planning, stakeholder engagement, assessment design, panel coordination, candidate management, governance, risk management and preparation of high-quality selection documentation to support timely and merit-based outcomes.
• Collaborate with key AER stakeholders to develop, deliver, evaluate and improve regular plans to recruit and develop the capabilities the AER requires to deliver its strategic plan.
• Develop and implement work plans for people in the Recruitment and Planning team that directs the work area, defines expected outcomes, articulates the purpose and importance of the work;
• Develop and lead the team, fostering an inclusive culture, high performance, and build capability through coaching, providing performance feedback and opportunities for career development.

Eligibility

• Australian Citizenship – our successful candidate must be an Australian Citizen
• Security clearance – our successful candidate is required to hold, or have the ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance at the required level
• Employment check – your suitability for employment will be assessed through a screening process.

Getting to know the Australian Energy Regulator

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) works to make energy consumers better off, now and in the future. We focus on ensuring a secure, reliable and affordable energy future for Australia as it transitions to net zero emissions.We regulate electricity networks and covered gas pipelines, in all jurisdictions except Western Australia. We set the amount of revenue that network businesses can recover from customers for using these networks.From 1 July 2026, the AER structurally separated from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and transitioned into a standalone non-corporate Commonwealth entity with its own accountable authority, staff and budgetary control.The separation of the AER from the ACCC is a significant regulatory reform aimed at improving the governance and operational autonomy of the AER.