Make a difference on a national scale with a digital career in the Australian Public Service.
Contents
What working in the Australian Public Service offers
Our Digital Employee Value Proposition (EVP) highlights the meaningful and unique opportunities and experiences available in digital careers across the Australian Public Service (APS). Whether you're early in your career or have a wealth of experience, you can build your reach, work with purpose and make a lasting impact.
Key attributes of a digital career in the APS
Protect and uplift the nation's most critical systems.
Solve complex problems with digital solutions.
Shape Australia's digital future.
Collaborate to build simple, secure and connected public services.
Transcript – Why choose a digital career in the Australian Public Service?
Lee Hickin – Executive Director, National Artificial Intelligence Centre
Paloma White – Test Analyst, Services Australia
Abir Hassan – Project / Policy Officer, Digital Transformation Agency
Ash Bek – Cyber Security Specialist, Australian Taxation Office
Alison Rose – Chief of Space Division, Geoscience Australia
Han Fay Yap – Assistant Director, Stewardship of AI in Health & Care, Australian Digital Health Agency
Alex Reale – IT Security Advisor
[Background music]
[Digital Careers in the Australian Public Service]
>> Lee Hickin: Digital careers are about always having something new to solve or access to some new means of solving a problem. And it's always centred around this idea of how do we fix something, change something or improve something?
>> Paloma White: We're working on real-time data exchanges so that customers have access to connected government services.
>> Abir Hassan: We're working on a product that helps agencies plan their short, medium, and long-term digital priorities.
>> Ash Bek: Being able to come into work and be like, "I am helping the Australian public be a little bit safer or work a little bit more efficiently," is actually really nice.
>> Alison Rose: The impact that we have is broad and diverse. So we support government, industry, academia, and the community.
>> Han Fay Yap: We are balancing innovation with safety.
>> Alex Reale: My role in software testing of that third-party software still connected me back to that kind of customer cohort that I felt really passionate about.
[Rewarding careers]
>> Abir Hassan: It's quite a unique and complex work environment, but it also means that it's just a much more rewarding place to work.
>> Paloma White: Probably the one thing I'd say about working in the APS, there's opportunity, you just have to take it and lean into it.
>> Lee Hickin: That's what's unique about the public sector is they have some incredibly important and difficult problems to solve. And I felt like those skills I have from software engineering and being a digital literate person have great impact here.
>> Alex Reale: I like to think that the impact that my job has currently is ensuring the delivery of secure and seamless services to the Australian public.
>> Alison Rose: We have experience to learn from others, to see things from different perspectives, but more than anything, to come together to collaborate.
>> Ash Bek: Getting to have a small impact on 25 million people's lives, I think is pretty cool.
[A career with real outcomes]
>> Paloma White: I've been able to work on the project from a number of different angles, and it's given me a really good perspective of how a project is delivered within the agency.
>> Lee Hickin: Not only did the team deliver the product, they'd use the technology, the digital tools, they kind of expanded the remit, and they'd actually created about five different products.
[Values and culture]
>> Han Fay Yap: APS culture values integrity, collaboration, and service.
>> Alison Rose: It's respect. It's dynamism when we need to move. It's steady delivery.
>> Abir Hassan: One of the best parts about working in the APS is just the variety of people that I get to work with.
>> Ash Bek: The ability to bring in a large collection of skills that might not normally be associated with digital or tech work is really valuable.
>> Alex Reale: The ability to draw on such a diverse range of stakeholders and expertise to come together and bring policy together with technology.
>> Paloma White: Coming into a team where I feel like I belong and I'm included, it lets me just be myself.
[Why should digital professionals join the APS?]
>> Lee Hickin: What the APS needs is creative problem solvers.
>> Paloma White: You'll never be bored.
>> Abir Hassan: A digital career can have a lot of meaning, a lot of impact, and it made me really interested.
>> Ash Bek: They're never going to get the opportunity to solve the kinds of problems that we solve here anywhere else.
>> Alison Rose: It supports your skills development in an area where you are directly serving the needs of Australians every day.
>> Han Fay Yap: I think if you want to build your digital skills and be able to make a real difference to people's lives and also build public trust, I think the APS is a place where your work truly matters.
End of transcript
Benefits of a digital career in government
1. Protect and uplift the nation’s most critical systems
- See the difference your work makes across Australia’s most complex and significant digital projects.
- Work on issues that matter across a wide range of sectors - from health, education and the environment, to national security, defence and intelligence.
- Your skills can shape outcomes on a national scale, delivering trusted digital services and safeguarding Australia.
2. Solve complex problems with digital solutions
- Grow your skills by tackling complex real-world problems that require innovative solutions.
- Work on challenging projects at the heart of public policy, harnessing established and emerging technologies, including AI, to deliver meaningful impact.
- Whatever the stage of your career, you will learn and innovate in a complex and rapidly changing environment.
3. Shape Australia's digital future
- Bring your experience and perspective to improve government services.
- Help modernise and maximise service offerings through scalable, secure digital solutions, creating simpler, smarter, safer and more convenient public services.
- You will build the digital and cyber capabilities to ensure that Australia's future is inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable.
4. Collaborate to build simple, secure and connected public services
- Join an inclusive community working together to design and deliver better services and security for Australia.
- Collaborate with colleagues from diverse disciplines and backgrounds – across cyber, information and technology - to achieve shared goals.
- From strengthening Australia’s digital security to delivering accessible, co-designed services, you will have the opportunity to make a difference.
Our culture
- We value diverse identities, abilities and ways of thinking.
- We foster inclusive, flexible and psychologically safe digital and cyber workplaces.
- Your skills and contributions, in all their forms, are genuinely recognised.
Connecting the Digital EVP with the APS EVP
The Digital Employee Value Proposition speaks directly to Digital APS roles, complementing and building on the experiences and commitments highlighted in the broader Australian Public Service EVP and agency EVPs. When read in combination with these EVPs, the Digital Employee Value Proposition offers a holistic picture of what to expect in a digital career in the APS.
The APS EVP describes the overall benefits of a career in the Australian Public Service:
- purpose and meaning
- opportunities to learn and grow
- community and belonging
- flexibility and balance
- conditions and lifestyle.
Resources
If you’re not already a member, existing APS staff can join the Digital Profession to connect with experts, access unique training opportunities and share and discover mobility opportunities which can help to build your digital career.
We’ve also created a range of resources, such as posters, that help explain and promote digital careers across the APS. Some can be accessed below, and some in the Digital Profession Members’ Community Platform.
We encourage Australian Government employees and agencies to download and use these resources to explain and promote digital careers across the APS. The resources can be used to support APS workforce initiatives and align messaging, promote digital career pathways or share information with APS teams.
Agencies can display resources in offices, include them in internal communications and adapt them for recruitment and outreach activities. Additional resources are available for the APS in the Digital Community Platform.