Senior Planning Officer

About the City of Ballarat:

The City of Ballarat, 100km west of Melbourne’s CBD, is one of Australia’s largest inland regional cities. Ballarat is uniquely located with easy access to Melbourne, Geelong and Bendigo and is the Western Victorian capital for a region of 250,000 people. 

The City of Ballarat has a growing economy that attracts and retains innovative businesses, employs a highly skilled workforce and attracts new residents whilst promoting the city’s unique heritage and vibrant cultural life. It has all the services, retail and entertainment opportunities you'd find in a capital city but with a relaxed country attitude. With affordable housing at a fraction of Melbourne prices and a progressive leadership team, now is a great time to join the City of Ballarat.

The role:

Reporting to the Manager, Statutory Planning, this role forms a key part of the Statutory Planning Team. The Senior Planning Officer will be responsible for managing a variety of challenging planning permit applications. As a key member of the team, the Senior Planner will also be responsible for identifying necessary process improvements as part of a broader suite of new measures to be implemented. The Senior Planner will be an active participant in team meetings and contribute to discussions regarding technical and team matters as well as provide informal guidance to junior members of staff. 

About you:

The City of Ballarat is seeking an experienced and motivated technical professional. You will ideally have rural/regional experience and an understanding of the suite of planning controls typical of such environments. You should also bring a positive attitude and have a desire to coach more inexperienced officers. Whilst previous experience in a similar level position is desired, this is not essential. Candidates will be judged as much upon fit and attitude as their technical capabilities.

Key Selection Criteria:

• Tertiary qualification in town planning or closely related discipline and several years’ experience working in a statutory planning environment, preferably in the state or local government sector or a lesser formal qualification and substantial experience in a town planning environment, preferably in the state or local government sector;   
• Advanced understanding of the Victorian planning system and related statutory controls/legislation with demonstrated knowledge of statutory planning principles;
• Understanding of heritage, urban design and environmental planning principles and their relationship to statutory planning processes;
• Experience in advocating at, or briefing representatives for, VCAT or similar formal legal environments;
• Developed written skills, particularly report writing and preparation of external correspondence;
• Demonstrated verbal communication skills, including the ability to mediate outcomes;
• Demonstrated ability to effectively manage own time and workload to ensure that the Statutory Planning Unit meets its Key Performance indicators; and 
• Demonstrated ability in developing and implementing process improvement initiatives.

To apply:

This position closes Wednesday 31st January 2024.  Please ensure that you provide a cover letter, current resume, address the key selection criteria as well as complete an application cover sheet. 

Contact:

For any additional questions, please contact Connor Perrott, Manager Statutory Planning on 0419 108 ***. 

The City of Ballarat is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a safe and inclusive working environment that embraces and values diversity, flexibility and child safety. We welcome applications from all walks of life and celebrate the diversity and richness this brings to our workplace and reasonable adjustments will be made to the process to ensure equitable access.  We undertake an employment screening process to ensure this commitment is upheld, this includes ensuring the successful candidate holds a valid working with children check and satisfactory criminal history record check.