Your responsibilities

As the General Counsel & Assistant Commissioner, Policy and Legal, you will:

• Provide strategic leadership and direction to the Policy and Legal Command, ensuring effective governance, risk management, assurance, compliance, and service delivery across each functional area.

• Coordinate and deliver QCS’s legislative program to ensure the department’s operations are supported by a modern legislative framework.

• Lead the effective delivery of legal services on a wide range of matters including contractual and administrative law issues, statutory interpretation, workplace issues, and managing litigation and other court or tribunal proceedings.

• Oversee the development, implementation, management and review of all QCS standards, operational policies and procedures, delegations and guidelines to ensure consistency in application across QCS and alignment with QCS legislative and government requirements.

• Oversee QCS’s Right to Information (RTI) and Privacy obligations and statutory compliance, including the establishment of a robust framework and system to manage RTI and Privacy activities and associated risks across QCS.

• Provide expert and trusted legal advice to the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners, and other Executives on complex and sensitive legal risks and matters relating to the operations and legislative framework of QCS.

• Effectively manage the engagement of Crown Law and other external legal service providers, as appropriate.

• Ensure proactive identification and management of legal and organisational risks, and compliance with all relevant legislative and statutory obligations through the implementation and management of robust systems and processes.

• Ensure that the Policy and Legal Command has the required capability and capacity to meet the organisation’s current and longer-term requirements for legislation, legal, RTI and Privacy services.

• Lead the delivery of the transformational change program across the Policy and Legal Command focused on reshaping the way services are being delivered and ensure effective change management to embed and reinforce new ways of operating.

• Develop and inspire a culture which fosters collaboration, evidence-based decision making, innovation, and performance-orientation, where employees are passionate about their work and take personal accountability for their actions.

• Ensure that the reputation and interests of the organisation is protected in a high public exposure environment through proactive risk management, leadership, and transparent and accountable decision making within the Policy and Legal Command.

• Establish and maintain strategic partnerships and networks with key stakeholders, including representing QCS at a senior executive level in a range of forums and committees to facilitate collaboration and advance the interests of QCS.

What we are looking for

Within the context of the role responsibilities described above under “About the role’’, the ideal applicant will be someone who can competitively demonstrate their knowledge, skills and experiences and their suitability against the Leadership competencies for Queensland (Executive): Vision, Results and Accountability in the context of the essential requirements for this role:

The essential requirements for this role are:

• Extensive senior legal experience in criminal justice or a related area

• Deep knowledge of relevant regulatory frameworks and legislation and the ability to provide expert legal advice in a dynamic, complex and multi-faced environment

• Proven experience in strategically leading the delivery of legal related services and navigating complex and contentious areas of criminal justice

• Extensive experience in successfully developing and implementing strategic and operational plans that are aligned with the organisation’s strategic goals and plans

• Highly developed leadership skills in creating and maintaining effective teams, driving performance and achieving effective service delivery

• Demonstrated ability to lead and drive transformative change in the delivery of services to improve organisational performance and service delivery

• Highly developed interpersonal skills to build effective and strategic relationships with internal and external stakeholders who may have competing interests on sensitive and complex issues, and to influence operational policy and legal decisions

Qualifications, professional registration, conditions and other requirements:

Bachelor of Laws or equivalent degree and current admission as a Solicitor, Barrister or Legal Practitioner in the Supreme Court of Queensland or eligibility for such admission