Senior Compliance And Program Officer

Department of Education & Training, Victoria; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

VECRA, Victoria's independent regulator for early childhood education and care, seeks a Senior Compliance and Program Officer to enforce non-compliance and drive risk-based regulation across services. The role requires expertise in investigations, regulatory processes and providing evidence-based advice to internal and external stakeholders.

You will lead high‑quality audits, develop guidelines, and collaborate with co-regulators to ensure safe, high‑quality education and care.

Qualifications

• Desirable: qualifications in regulation, investigations or enforcement.
• Desirable: experience in regulatory compliance, enforcement and risk-based regulation.
• Desirable: investigations, compliance audits, risk-based regulation, or intelligence and risk analytics.
• Essential: Certificate IV in Government Investigations or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead investigations into non-compliance with laws and regulations.
• Prepare recommendations and sanctions for the delegate with evidence-based submissions.
• Prepare briefs of evidence for enforcement decisions and prosecutions.
• Provide authoritative legal/regulatory advice to stakeholders.
• Lead risk-based compliance audits and investigations.
• Undertake research to identify emerging compliance risks.

Skills

Regulatory compliance

Investigations

Risk-based regulation

Audit & records

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

Certificate IV in Government Investigations

Regulation/enforcement qualifications

Job description

About VECRA

The Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA) is Victoria's independent early childhood education and care regulator. Our job is to ensure that Victoria's early childhood services are providing safe, high-quality education and care that children need to thrive. VECRA carries out the regulatory functions of the Victorian Regulatory Authority and has oversight of more than 5,000 early childhood education and care services operating across the Victoria is undertaken through licensing, assessment and rating of quality, compliance monitoring, investigation and enforcement functions.

Compliance and Enforcement Branch

The Compliance and Enforcement Branch comprises several specialist regulatory teams with responsibility for VECRA's compliance and enforcement functions. The Branch also facilitates risk-based regulation through the analysis of risk intelligence and provides expert regulatory advice, strategic direction, and leadership on a broad range of regulatory issues and complex compliance and enforcement matters.

About the Team

The Joint Compliance and Monitoring Team functions as a critical component of the regulator's high-risk compliance and enforcement capability. The team undertakes targeted, intelligence-informed monitoring and compliance activities in relation to high-risk early childhood education and care services. The current team draws on the cross functional capability including intelligence analysis, inspections and enforcement. They also work closely with co-regulators and other state and territory regulators, conducting co-regulatory activities to ensure sound regulatory practice, judgement and decision making.

About the Role

The Senior Compliance and Program Officer plays a critical role enforcing non-compliance with relevant laws and regulations to ensure children attending early childhood education and care service are safe from harm and can maximise their educational and developmental opportunities. The position holder is expected to be able to demonstrate expertise in contemporary risk-based regulation, behavioural compliance and the ability to undertake complex audits, reviews and/or investigations to motivate or enforce compliance with the relevant laws and regulations and deter non-compliance.

Responsibilities

• Leading investigations into non-compliance with relevant laws and regulations and applying best practice investigative techniques and methods, including collecting evidence and conducting records of interviews.
• Preparing recommendations and sanctions for the delegate based on proportionate, impartial and evidence-based submissions.
• Preparing high-quality briefs of evidence to support enforcement decisions and legal proceedings, including prosecutions.
• Interpretating legislation and applying legal and regulatory principles to provide authoritative, clear and accurate advice to internal and external stakeholders.
• Leading and conducting risk-based compliance audits and investigations to assess compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
• Undertaking research and analysis to identify emerging compliance and enforcement risks to inform evidence-based responses.
• Developing, leading and participating in targeted compliance projects involving cross-functional teams and a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• Collaborating with internal and external stakeholders, including co-regulators and government departments to facilitate information sharing and effective co-regulation.
• Contributing to strategic and responsive regulation by identifying emerging risks, trends and industry issues through risk managed data analysis.
• Developing and implementing guidelines, frameworks, policies and procedures to ensure effectiveness of regulatory compliance and enforcement processes.
• Travel across Victoria will be required and, in some instances, overnight stays.

Desirable Qualifications and Experience

• Relevant qualifications in areas such as regulation, investigations or enforcement.
• Demonstrated experience working in a regulatory compliance, enforcement and risk-based regulatory environments.
• Experience and technical competency in investigations, compliance audits, risk-based regulation, or intelligence and risk analytics.
• Certificate IV in Government Investigations or equivalent experience.

Essential

Required to hold a valid Working with Children Check and Victorian driver's licence.

Further Information

The Authority values diversity and inclusion in all forms - gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants requiring adjustments can contact the nominated contact person. Information about the Department of Education's operations and employment conditions can be located at www.education.vic.gov.au. For further information about the role, please contact Leanne Pallot, Manager, Joint Compliance and Monitoring via [e-mail] or 0428 234 157. Preferred applicants may be required to complete a police check and may be subject to other pre-employment checks. Information provided to the Department of Education will be treated in the strictest confidence. Please let us know via phone or email if you require any adjustments to ensure your full participation in the recruitment process or if you need the ad or any attachments in an accessible format (e.g large print) due to any viewing difficulties or other accessibility requirements.

Applications close 11:59pm on 20 November 2026.