Lead Research Officer

NSW Department of Communities and Justice; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 154,000 - 178,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangements

Job summary

NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) seeks a Lead Research Officer to drive evidence-based decision making by coordinating high‑quality research across NSW and national scopes. You will negotiate data sharing, manage data delivery, and guide complex analyses to support policy and program outcomes.

Joining the Assessment Services directorate, you will lead a team delivering major data requests, build NSW educational data capability, and advise management on priorities and strategic directions

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex quantitative research projects.
• Experience managing stakeholder relationships across government bodies.
• Proven ability to lead a team to meet multiple projects under tight deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Manage annual data exchange programs with Commonwealth and state agencies.
• Oversee ad hoc data delivery requests and advise researchers on data use.
• Negotiate information sharing agreements for data access.
• Analyse data sources and collection processes to improve quality.
• Lead complex quantitative analyses to inform policy and research capability.
• Represent NESA on relevant committees.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes and data integration.
• Prepare briefs, reports and correspondence aligned with agency needs.

Skills

Research leadership

Stakeholder management

Project management

Data analysis

Quantitative methods

Education

Doctorate (PhD) or equivalent publications

Tools

SQL

Python (pandas)

Job description

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• Salary: $154,231 to $178,369 p.a. plus employer’s contribution to superannuation and leave loading
• Close to Wynyard station & hybrid work arrangements available (2 – 3 days in the office)

Note:

At the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), we are dedicated to carrying out meaningful work that drives improvements and elevates student achievement across NSW, now and into the future.

We accomplish this by supporting all school sectors with high-quality syllabuses, assessment (including managing the HSC and NAPLAN), teaching standards (e.g., accrediting teachers) and school environments (including setting and monitoring school standards).

NESA is a unique organisation in NSW (of around 740FTE staff) with significant state-wide impact, visit our website to learn more about the important work we do.

About the role

The Lead Research Officer role sits within the Assessment Services directorate which is responsible for research, policy, and the management and delivery of high-stakes assessment programs for NSW students from Kindergarten to Year 12.

As the Lead Research Officer, you will play a pivotal role in supporting evidence-based decision making by facilitating high-quality research across NSW and on a national scale. Working at the intersection of education, research and public policy, you will negotiate and manage relationships, research methodologies, and information sharing agreements with a diverse range of government organisations, universities and other external agencies, enabling strategic, high-quality research and analysis using NSW educational data. Your work will directly support a broad range of public policy programs and contribute to improving outcomes through high priority, insightful, data-driven evidence.

In this instrumental role, you will project manage a team delivering complex, high profile data requests and provide expert advice to NESA's management to inform decision making on priorities, programs and outcomes. This is a unique opportunity to collaborate with key stakeholders and contribute to the achievement of NESA's strategic objectives while helping drive meaningful impact across the education sector.

On a day-to-day basis you will be responsible for:

• Managing and conducting annual data exchange programs with Commonwealth and state agencies to comply with requirements within the agreements.
• Prioritising, evaluating, negotiating, and overseeing data delivery for applications from researchers for ad hoc access to NESA information and data, including coordinating advice to researchers on data availability, appropriateness and methodology.
• Negotiating and managing information sharing agreements for ad hoc data requests.
• Analysing data sources, data collection processes and the use of data to improve the integrity, quality and usability of the data for research.
• Leading, managing and conducting critical complex quantitative analyses to inform and evaluate NESA policy, building data capability in the Directorate.
• Representing NESA on relevant committees.
• Identifying and leading action on opportunities for process and customer service improvements, the integration of data sets to improve research capability, and data integration projects.
• Preparing correspondence, written reports, publications, and briefs that are informative and aligned with agency requirements to respond to NESA and/or government requests.

Our ideal candidate will have:

• Demonstrated experience leading, delivering and advising on complex quantative research projects, preferably with doctoral qualifications and/or with recognised publications.
• Demonstrated experience managing stakeholder and partner relationships and expectations across state and Commonwealth government departments and/or other research bodies.
• Proven ability leading a team to achieve multiple project objectives within limited resources and tight deadlines, balancing competing priorities and driving continuous improvement.

To be successful, you will need:

• Extensive experience in research, evaluation and using large datasets.
• Programming skills: SQL, python (pandas) (or equivalent) for the purposes of data extraction and transformation.
• Relevant tertiary qualifications involving complex quantitative research, preferably at a doctorate level. (Note that experience in educational research is not essential.)
• A valid NSW Working with Children Check Clearance (WWCC) for paid employment.

A current NSW Working with Children Check (WWCC) clearance for paid employment is required before commencing in this role. It is not required at the application stage. The cost of the WWCC clearance is the responsibility of the successful applicant.

All children and young people have the right to be respected, feel safe, be safe, and protected from harm. NESA is committed to child safety and child safe practices underpinning our purpose of helping children and young people leave school, ready to take advantage of life’s opportunities and rise to its inevitable challenges.

We particularly welcome applications from

We particularly welcome applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disability, people of all ages, genders, cultural and linguistic backgrounds and the LGBTQIA+ community.

Visa sponsorship

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. For ongoing roles, you must be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or an Australian Permanent Resident. Australian Temporary Residents may be considered for a fixed term contract for the length of their visa, depending on the requirements of the hiring area and the position.

A Talent Pool (valid for 18 months) may be created for future ongoing and temporary roles.