Policy and Project Officer (Water Licensing Policy) (Jan 2025)

Have you ever been in just the right place at just the right time?

As a water policy graduate, you will have the opportunity to be a part of policy reform and implementation in addition to being exposed to technical and operational matters relevant to water management in Victoria.  In this role you will have an opportunity to work with different teams across two branches: Water Entitlements, Licensing and Modelling and Water Assessment Monitoring and Systems. One core project is Groundwater Management 2030 which is focussed on transformation in the groundwater space - crucial to ensure the sustainable use of groundwater into the future. If you want to know more about the plans for groundwater management policy reform, download a copy of Groundwater Management 2030.

Working within the Water Resource Strategy Division, the first rotation is designed to give you an insight into all angles of water resource management, from licensing, modelling, water recovery and compliance to water accounting and reporting. You will be engaging with Traditional Owners, working on policy reform, and carrying out technical analysis. 

Although before you get too comfortable with your city job you will be pulling on the boots to get out into the field with our rural water corporation partners to see the other side of compliance and regulation of water. The second and third rotations will be based at two of Victoria’s rural water corporations - Goulburn-Murray Water and Southern Rural Water. Through both rotations you will gain experience in water licensing, understanding customer needs and stakeholders of rural water corporation, rural water resource management and water use regulation. 

You will start, return to, and be supported by the close-knit Water Licensing Policy team, full of vibrant personalities! You’ll be able to utilise a flexible working environment with top of the range learning and development opportunities. What’s more, you will be contributing to the sustainable use of water in our state and the protection of our environment. 

See? Right place, at the right time! What a way to kick start your career!

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 on 9 June 2024 and close 5pm 10 July 2024.