Senior Election Security and Operations Officer, Protective Security

Command Centre and Protective Security (CC&PS) supports the AEC’s mission by delivering election security and command centre capabilities that strengthen operational readiness and electoral integrity. The team leads protective security, situational awareness, incident management, and election security preparedness, working closely with AEC business areas and external partners to support the secure and effective delivery of Australia’s electoral system.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the AEC and contribute to work that has a direct impact on Australia's democratic processes.

As a Senior Election Project Officer, you will play a key role in supporting the AEC’s operational readiness and electoral integrity through the delivery of election security and command centre activities. 

Working within Command Centre and Protective Security, you will contribute to security preparedness, situational awareness, incident management, operational support, and the development of security policies and procedures. You will work collaboratively with colleagues across the AEC and external stakeholders to support election delivery in a dynamic and fast-paced environment. Your work will help identify and manage risks, coordinate operational responses, and drive continuous improvement across election security activities. 

This role offers the opportunity to contribute to nationally significant outcomes while developing your expertise in election operations, protective security, stakeholder engagement and operational coordination.

To excel you’ll have:

We are seeking a motivated and capable professional who can demonstrate the skills, knowledge and experience required to perform successfully in this role.

• Demonstrated experience delivering operational, project or security-related outcomes in a complex environment.
• Proven ability to manage complex tasks and enquiries, applying sound judgement and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to analyse information, identify key issues and contribute to clear, accurate and timely advice, reports, briefings or recommendations.
• Experience in applying established processes, frameworks, policies or procedures to support consistent and effective operational outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to work under limited direction while managing priorities and meeting deadlines.
• Demonstrated communication and stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to work collaboratively across teams.
• Demonstrated integrity, professionalism and discretion in handling sensitive information.

Desirable

• Experience supporting election operations, major events or large scale service delivery environments.
• Experience in, or familiarity with, command centre, situational awareness or incident management environments.
• Experience contributing to policy, procedural or SOP development.
• Exposure to protective security functions (e.g. physical security, incident management, workforce assurance).
• Relevant qualifications in protective security, risk management, emergency management or a related discipline.
• Knowledge of, or the ability to quickly gain knowledge of, Australian electoral processes and the AEC operating environment.

• AEC employees must be Australian citizens.
• Any person who is, and seen to be active in political affairs, and intends to publicly carry on this activity, may compromise the strict neutrality of the AEC and cannot be considered.
• Applicants are required to consent to, undergo, obtain and maintain a character clearance.
• Applicants are required to consent to, undergo, obtain and maintain the security clearance required for this role.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is at the heart of Australian democracy. The AEC is responsible for conducting federal elections and referendums, maintaining the Commonwealth electoral roll and making sure the Australian public is informed about all electoral matters. Our goal is to see that all eligible Australians actively participate in our democracy. The AEC values of electoral integrity through quality, agility and professionalism drive strategic and corporate planning and assist in organising the agency in a way that will effectively deliver the business into the future. The AEC is an equal opportunity employer which upholds the APS employment principles and actively encourages a diverse and inclusive workplace. The AEC’s statutory functions in relation to the conduct of elections and referendums require that the AEC and its employees must be, and must be seen to be, impartial and politically neutral. As a result, the AEC Enterprise Agreement and Political Neutrality Policy state that it is an inherent requirement of AEC employment that employees, and prospective employees, are not publicly active in any political affairs and do not publicly engage in such activities. This includes advocating any issues associated with a referendum. Should a prospective employee fail to meet this inherent requirement, they will be ineligible for employment with the AEC.