Graduate Recruit Project Officer (Forest, Fire and Regions) (Jan 2025)

About the Position

The Grampians region is a supportive, inclusive and progressive team environment that allows flexibility to work across the region and other areas of the department to deliver for the government and the community.

Your introduction to DEECA will immerse you in the region with the Community and Partnerships Programs team. You will be involved in engagement activities to support public consultation about Lake Burrumbeet and its future management. This project is led by Wadawurrung Traditional Owners. Further opportunities for other public facing programs, including climate action and renewable energy, will also be available.

The second rotation is within the Climate Change Policy, Adaptation Branch in Melbourne. You will work with stakeholders and across government to use future climate information to inform decision making. Your well-developed communication skills will be applied to distil complex information to make this accessible to users.

The third rotation is based in the Grampians in Forest Fire Operations. Your focus will be in risk and evaluation to support fuel management and operations in monitoring, evaluation and reporting. You will help to plan and deliver a range of research and reporting projects to improve the delivery and understanding of the fuel management program. You will work closely with staff to improve the measurement and inclusion of ecological values in planning operations for bushfire management.

This role is well suited to someone who enjoys using their stakeholder engagement skills and working collaboratively, communicating ideas, and having a future focus in your critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

About us:

DEECA brings together Victoria’s energy, environment, water, agriculture, forestry, resources, climate action, and emergency management functions into a single department to maximise connections between the environment, community, industry and economy.

Our challenge is to improve Victoria’s liveability with a population that is expected to almost double by 2050, while responsibly tackling climate change and protecting our natural environment, infrastructure and heritage for future generations.

The opportunity for you:

The DEECA Science Graduate Program is a two-year learning and development initiative open to recent graduates of science, natural resource management including ecology, conservation, sustainability, geoscience and geology, agriculture, urban and regional planning, computer science, engineering or related fields.

As a graduate, you'll:

• have diverse roles across the Department.
• work across metro and regional Victoria
• enjoy flexible work principles, including start times (7am-7pm) and hybrid work teams (mix of on-site and remote work).
• commence as an ongoing employee - with guaranteed job at the end of the program
• upon successful completion of the program, be reclassified to a VPS 3 salary of $74580.
• be supported with mentors and buddies
• participate in extensive learning and development - program guided and self-directed!

We recognise the significant responsibility our Department has as land and natural resource manager to support self-determination and create opportunities for Traditional Owners to care for the Country and provide opportunities to enhance First Peoples' connection to the Country. We are committed to creating a culturally safe environment, where individuals feel safe, valued and able to enable their culture, spiritual and belief systems.

Next steps:

Applications for the 2025 program open in June 2024 and close in July 2024.