Looking for a role where your work creates meaningful impact? Join Palladium's New Colombo Plan Program Support Unit and help deliver a program that equips students with the skills, networks and regional experience needed to thrive in an increasingly connected Indo-Pacific. This role offers the opportunity to work with universities, government stakeholders and program participants across Australia, ensuring the successful delivery of grants that support transformative international learning experiences. If you're highly organised, customer-focused and passionate about education, international engagement and operational excellence, we'd love to hear from you.

• Location - Adelaide, Australia Preferred
  
• Duration - three years

About Palladium

Palladium is a global development and consulting firm, part of the GISI Consulting Group, working alongside some of the world's leading project management and engineering organisations. We partner with governments, businesses, investors and communities to design and deliver complex programs that create lasting impact. With a presence across more than 90 countries, Palladium offers the opportunity to work on meaningful challenges, alongside talented colleagues, in environments where your work can truly make a difference.

About The Project

The New Colombo Plan (NCP) plays a key role in supporting the Australian Government's objectives in building Asia capability. It aims to lift the Indo-Pacific capability and Asia literacy in Australia by supporting Australian undergraduates to undertake study, language learning and internships in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of NCP is NCP alumni contribute their skills, knowledge and networks to Australia's enduring engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. This is achieved through three complementary grants programs: the Scholarship Program, Mobility Program and Semester Program.

The NCP PSU is administered by Palladium on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) under the Australia Awards Global Support Mechanism (AAGSM). The AAGSM provides operational and technical support services to DFAT's International Education and Scholarships Branch, with two End of Investment Outcomes (EOIOs):

• EOIO 1 - Operational Support: High quality and efficient administrative and standard business support services provided to DFAT.
• EOIO 2: Technical Support: High quality, coherent, consistent and fit for purpose technical support services that also promote gender equality, disability and social inclusion outcomes throughout DFAT's international scholarship programs network.

The NCP Program Support Unit (NCP PSU) supports DFAT's New Colombo Plan Secretariat (NCS) with high-quality grant administration and management consistent with the principles of the Commonwealth Grant Rules and Principles. Support service delivery includes end-to-end grants cycle and funds management, as well as technical support in Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), alumni engagement, communications, events management, business sector engagement and risk management.

About the Role

The role of Coordinator, Semester and Mobility is responsible for providing effective administrative and support services for the NCP Semester and Mobility Programs. These programs provide grant funding to Australian Universities and consortia to support Australian undergraduate students participate in projects of between four weeks and semester length, involving internships, mentorships, practicums, and research in 40 host locations across the Indo-Pacific region. 

As a grant program, the Coordinator, Semester and Mobility will focus on ensuring compliance with NCP Guidelines and DFAT requirements in a growing and changing operating environment to provide a consistent, seamless, and high-quality experience for program participants, university partners, and alumni.

Primary Responsibilities

In this role, you will:

• Coordinate grant administration activities for the NCP Semester and Mobility Programs.
• Assess and process program variation requests in accordance with NCP Guidelines and DFAT requirements.
• Review project completion reports and support compliance monitoring activities.
• Monitor data quality and records within grants management systems.
• Support financial administration processes, including tracking unspent grant funding and responding to finance-related queries.
• Provide administrative support for stakeholder meetings, governance forums, training events and other program activities.
• Contribute to quality assurance, reporting, records management and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Assist with system testing, process improvements and development of standard operating procedures.
• Support alumni engagement and communications activities where required.
• Build and maintain positive working relationships with universities, DFAT and internal stakeholders.

Please refer to the Terms of Reference to learn more about the role: Click Here

About You

To be successful in this role, you will bring:

• Experience coordinating administrative or program delivery activities within a compliance-driven environment.
• Experience working with grants, scholarships, higher education, government-funded programs or similar sectors (highly desirable).
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to manage large volumes of information accurately.
• Demonstrated experience using databases, digital systems and records management platforms.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and a professional approach to stakeholder engagement.
• A collaborative, solutions-focused mindset and commitment to continuous improvement.
• Relevant tertiary qualifications in administration, business, public administration, international education or a related field, or equivalent experience.

How to Apply

If you are a highly organised professional who thrives in program administration and stakeholder-focused environments, we encourage you to apply online and contribute to the success of the New Colombo Plan.

Click the "Apply Now" button. Please submit your application online, including your CV and a cover letter, outlining your suitability in line with the requirements of the position.

This is a locally engaged role, people with existing working and living rights in Australia are encouraged to apply.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at [email protected] using the subject line: Coordinator, Semester and Mobility - New Colombo Plan enquiry via EthicalJobs and we will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding

We define Safeguarding as "the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm". We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

A position description is attached.