Principal Consultant - Darling Downs South West Region

Join a newly established statewide initiative supporting safer schools across Queensland.
The Department of Education is seeking an experienced Principal Consultant, Health Safety and Wellbeing (AO7) to lead regional coordination and implementation of health, safety and wellbeing initiatives across the Darling Downs and South West Region state schools.
This newly created regional role forms part of the department's significant investment in strengthening workplace health and safety capability through the rollout of Workplace Health and Safety Coordinators across schools.
This role is integral to strengthening consistent workplace health and safety practices, coordinating local responses and building capability across school communities.

About the Department of Education:  

Working for the Queensland Department of Education means joining an organisation that values its people and promotes leadership and innovation. Be part of an environment that respects professionalism and diversity, offers training and development opportunities and embraces flexible careers and work-life balance. Find out more about working with us.  

About the Role:

As the Principal Consultant, Health Safety and Wellbeing, you will work within at times a complex and high-risk operating environment to support schools in preventing, managing and responding to health, safety and wellbeing risks, with a strong focus on occupational violence and aggression (OVA).  You will lead regional responses to complex incidents and provide strategic advice and operational leadership to principals, regional leaders and school-based Workplace Health and Safety Coordinators. The role works closely with regional and central office teams to drive consistent, trauma-informed and risk-based practices across schools.

Responsibilities Include:

• Leading and coordinating regional responses to complex health, safety and wellbeing incidents across schools and workplaces.
• Acting as the primary escalation point for significant and complex incidents, including occupational violence and aggression.
• Providing strategic advice and high-level consultancy on risk management, incident response, injury management and recovery practices.
• Leading implementation of key health, safety and wellbeing initiatives across geographically dispersed school environments.
• Building capability across schools and regional teams through coaching, guidance and development of consistent practices and procedures.
• Leading multidisciplinary responses by partnering with workplace health and safety, human resources and wellbeing teams to support impacted schools and staff.
• Supporting small and complex school environments through tailored health, safety and wellbeing advice and targeted intervention strategies.
• Monitoring regional trends and emerging risks to inform continuous improvement and strategic decision making

We are seeking an experienced and collaborative leader who can operate in complex environments, coordinate multidisciplinary responses and influence positive workplace health and safety outcomes across diverse school settings.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• Experience in workplace health, safety and wellbeing or related operational leadership environments.
• Strong governance and risk management capability aligned to legislative and departmental frameworks.
• Strong stakeholder engagement, communication and relationship management skills

This role will provide an exciting opportunity to contribute to a significant statewide reform initiative and help shape the future of workplace health and safety across Queensland state schools.

Interested? To Apply:  

• Attach a brief resume including contact details for 2 referees (referees should have an understanding of your relevant work history);
• Attach a 2-page written statement in response to the attached role description. 

We welcome all applicants to share any support needed to ensure our recruitment process is inclusive.  

Applications remain current for 12 months from the closing date and may be considered for appointment to identical or similar vacancies within the Department.  

Applications from recruitment agencies will not be accepted.