Who we are

We are the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman (OCO), National Student Ombudsman (NSO) and ACT Ombudsman (the Office). The Office safeguards the community in its dealings with the Australian Government, some private sector organisations and higher education providers. The Office primarily does this by handling complaints, conducting investigations, performing audits and inspections, making recommendations and encouraging good administration.

Our opportunities

We are seeking both Complaints and Investigations Officers at the APS 5 level. These roles are varied across branches. We are looking for people who have a strong sense of curiosity, the courage to challenge ideas and energetic enthusiasm. We are looking for people with broad experience working in complaint handling, investigations or a similar public facing environment, and who are comfortable working with the public by phone, in writing or in person.

Full-time and Part-Time roles are available. Operational needs will often require you to work part of the week in your local office with flexibility requests considered on a case-by-case basis. Offers will be based on candidate performance and operational requirements.

This process will also be used to establish a merit pool for future vacancies across the Office arising from the date of advertisement.

Roles and responsibilities

Duties are to be performed under broad direction of your supervisor and in accordance with the APS Code of Conduct, upholding the APS Values and upholding the office values of independence, impartiality, integrity, accessibility, and professionalism. Responsibilities and duties will be performed in line with APS Work Level standards for the classification and function of each position.

Roles may be available across the following teams.

• OCO Complaints Investigations team
• OCO Strategic Investigations team
• OCO Complaints Assessment team
• OCO Early Resolution team
• NSO Complaint Investigations team
• NSO Strategic Investigations team
• NSO Complaints team

Our ideal candidate

Our ideal candidate will be highly motivated, detail oriented, have sound judgement and be a highly effective communicator. They will have an ability to work efficiently and effectively in a public facing environment.

For further information regarding the specific teams and role requirements please review the job pack on our careers page.

Eligibility

• The successful candidate must:
• be an Australian citizen,
• undergo a National Criminal History records check and
• be able to obtain and maintain a security clearance at a level appropriate to the position offered. The level of the security clearance will be dependent upon the requirements of the position.

Some work can involve exposure to potentially distressing information and materials. It is important we are confident you will be able to engage with this work without experiencing harm to your wellbeing. This means, for certain positions, we may require a pre-employment psychological assessment.