Team Leader – New Colombo Plan Program Support Unit

TL;DR

Team Leader – New Colombo Plan Program Support Unit (International Education): Lead the Program Support Unit administering Australia's New Colombo Plan grants programs, including scholarships, mobility, and semester initiatives with an accent on operational delivery, grants management, and Indo-Pacific engagement. Focus on coordinating multidisciplinary teams, establishing performance frameworks, and ensuring compliance with DFAT policies in a high-accountability environment.

Location: Australia (ideally Adelaide based)

Company

Global development and consulting firm partnering with governments to deliver complex programs across 90+ countries.

What you will do

• Lead and manage the NCP PSU, ensuring adaptive delivery aligned with DFAT policies and priorities.
• Drive service delivery across grants programs, scholar support, financial management, alumni engagement, communications, and risk management.
• Establish Annual Work Plans, performance systems, and results frameworks for outcome assessment.
• Represent NCP PSU in governance meetings and maintain strategic dialogue with DFAT.
• Motivate and develop multidisciplinary teams, fostering high-performance and continuous improvement.
• Oversee risk management, safeguarding, compliance, and high-quality reporting.

Requirements

• Location: Australia based (ideally Adelaide)
• Significant senior experience leading complex program support units or service delivery under government contracts, ideally DFAT.
• Experience in international education, scholarships, or grants programs highly desirable.
• Ability to operationalise policy into scalable delivery models.
• Proven coordination of multidisciplinary teams in high-accountability environments.
• Financial, risk, and compliance expertise including safeguarding.
• High-level stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
• Relevant tertiary qualifications in management, public policy, international relations, education, or equivalent.

Culture & Benefits

• Commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion across all operations.
• Focus on safeguarding, protecting people, clients, and communities from harm.
• Collaborative environment with talented colleagues on meaningful global challenges.
• Three-year contract duration.
• Applications assessed on rolling basis; close 6th May 2026.