Principal Evaluation Officer (Quantitative Focus)

Job posted: 17/10/2024 The Department of Health plays a critical role in the Victorian health system and is responsible for shaping it to meet the health needs of all Victorians.
We're focused on supporting Victorians to be as healthy as they can; whether through alerting them to seasonal risks like thunderstorm asthma, notifying them of contact with communicable diseases, safeguarding their drinking water, developing the best health, wellbeing and care facilities in the world, being at the forefront of mental health and wellbeing treatment or accelerating medical research.
It's all part of the way we partner with the community to help every individual lead a healthy life.
About the role: The Principal Evaluator (quantitative focus) is pivotal in driving and delivering evaluation projects within the Victorian Government (Department of Health and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing), ensuring timely and high-quality outcomes.
This role involves spearheading the design and execution of evaluations using diverse methodologies, applying a pragmatic understanding of service operations to develop actionable recommendations that align with government priorities and budgetary constraints.
Leading internal consultancy efforts, the role synthesises and distils insights from across departments to tackle complex issues, providing grounded, practical evidence-based advice tailored to local needs and operational realities.
In this role, you will cultivate a culture of continuous improvement within project teams, guiding them to achieve outstanding results on schedule.
You will set clear expectations, monitor performance, and provide constructive feedback to drive team effectiveness.
Empowering team members with the authority and resources they need, you will promote innovation and adaptability.
By leveraging new technologies, managing priorities, and integrating feedback, you will enhance performance and contribute significantly to the strategic and operational goals of the Victorian Government.
Knowledge and Skills Quantitative Analysis: Expertise in conducting quantitative analyses, such as cross-tabulation, tests of independence, regression, predictive and trend analyses using statistical tools such as R or other coding software for use with large administrative datasets.
Proven ability to apply statistical techniques to derive actionable insights grounded in practical findings and recommendations and contextualised in operational and policy realities.
Excel Skills: Strong Excel skills including ability to develop models using tools such as pivot tables, INDEX and MATCH, conditional formatting and other methods to organise, prepare and present data.
Able to develop financial models in Excel as required.
Evaluation Design and Execution: Skilled in designing and executing evaluations using diverse methodologies involving survey data, program level administrative and funding data, and large government administrative datasets.
Experience in developing practical recommendations based on thorough evaluation processes.
Internal Consultancy: Extensive experience in providing internal consultancy services.
Proficient in identifying needs and delivering tailored solutions and advice, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and operational realities.
Stakeholder Engagement: Demonstrated ability to engage with government officials, community leaders, and policy experts.
Experienced in drawing insights from across government to inform and address complex issues.
Continuous Improvement: Strong record of accomplishment in fostering a culture of continuous improvement and a feedback culture.
Capable of leading teams, guiding performance, and supporting innovation and adaptability.
Communication and Reporting: Proficient in creating clear and impactful reports and presentations.
Skilled in effectively communicating complex data and recommendations to diverse audiences.
Personal Qualities Initiative and Accountability: Proactive and self-starting; seizes opportunities and acts upon them, takes responsibility for own actions.
Demonstrated willingness to be flexible and adaptable to changing priorities with the ability to meet deadlines while working in pressured situations.
Teamwork: Cooperates and works well with others in pursuit of team goals.
Collaborates and shares information, shows consideration, concern, and respect for others' feelings and ideas.
Accommodates and works well with the different working styles of others.
Encourages resolution of conflict within the group.
Creativity and Innovation: Generates new ideas, drawing on a range of information sources to identify new ways of doing things.
Actively influences events and promotes ideas.
Translates creative ideas into workplace improvements and reflects on experience and is open to new ways to improve practice.
Flexibility: Remains open to new ideas and adapts to changing priorities effortlessly.
Flexibly adjusts strategies and approaches to achieve the best outcomes.
Evaluates various options and demonstrates the courage to alter strategies when necessary.
Builds commitment in others to embrace and implement new strategies effectively.
Integrity: Committed to the public interest and operates in a manner that is consistent with the organisations code of conduct.
Inspires trust by treating all individuals fairly.
Qualifications / Specialist Expertise Qualifications: Tertiary qualifications in quantitative analysis, statistics, public health, evaluation, epidemiology, psychology, health and social sciences, public policy, economics, or another discipline with a strong statistical component would be desirable.
Applicants with a tertiary qualification in other fields but with work experience in the above fields and experience in quantitative evaluation techniques would also be considered suitable.
Specialist Expertise: Experience and expertise in program or policy evaluation, particularly quasi-experimental and micro-econometric methods like difference-in-difference, instrumental variables etc.
Expertise and experience in economic evaluation and cost-benefit analysis.
Project management: The ability to prepare and submit schedules for projects, monitor performance against these schedules and deal with administrative problems that arise.
Effective communication: particularly translating technical work to policy makers and managing stakeholders.
Providing expert advice and recommendations: Translating your expertise to a policy audience and senior staff based on your professional judgement and expertise.
What we offer: The opportunity to perform meaningful work, making direct contributions toward enabling Victorians to be the healthiest people in the world.
A wide range of growth and development opportunities within the department and wider Victorian Public Service & Sector.
A strong commitment to work-life balance, including a diverse array of flexible working arrangements.
How to apply: All roles can be worked flexibly and we encourage applications from Aboriginal people, people with disability, LGBTIQ+ and people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
Please contact us if you require any adjustments to participate in the recruitment process at Preferred applicants may be required to complete a police check and other pre-employment checks including proof of 3 vaccinations (including booster) against COVID-19.
Information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence in line with our Privacy Policy.
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