Introduction
The Director Legal, Compliance and Risk Governance at TAFE NSW combines senior legal judgement with responsibility for how a large education organisation manages compliance and risk. The portfolio covers contract and policy governance, privacy and information access, assurance and risk governance initiatives. Your application needs to show the scale of the advice you have led and the practical changes that followed it.
This guide explains how to apply for Director Legal, Compliance and Risk Governance, with a focus on making a two-page cover letter work at executive level. Start by choosing examples in which you made a difficult judgement, influenced a decision and improved organisational practice. Those examples give the panel a clearer basis for assessing your experience than a long list of legal responsibilities.
The position is permanent full time, with a NSW campus location negotiable subject to availability. Check the official Director Legal, Compliance and Risk Governance job ad and linked role description before writing. The documents, eligibility conditions and capability levels all deserve attention, particularly if your recent work has been outside the NSW public sector.
In this guide
- Role snapshot
- Application requirements
- Candidate requirements and evidence
- Example application structure
- Before you submit
Director Legal, Compliance and Risk Governance role snapshot
| Organisation | TAFE NSW |
|---|---|
| Role | Director Legal, Compliance and Risk Governance |
| Location | Negotiable across NSW, subject to campus availability |
| Reference | 505345; NSW job ID 605164 |
| Work type and level | Permanent full time; PSSE Band 1 |
| Salary package | $216,714 to $242,408, including base salary, employer superannuation and annual leave loading |
| Applications close | 28 October 2026 at 11:55 pm AEDT |
| Official job ad | View the role and application links |
Application requirements for Director Legal, Compliance and Risk Governance
Prepare the complete document set before you start uploading. The cover letter is your opportunity to explain suitability and relevant senior experience, while the résumé gives the panel the career history behind those examples. Keep each document within the stated instructions so the panel can assess the application as intended.
- Current résumé.
- Copies of qualifications, where applicable, combined into one PDF.
- Cover letter, maximum two pages, addressing suitability and relevant senior experience in legal, compliance and/or enterprise risk management in a large, complex organisation.
No separate targeted-question response is listed in the advertised document requirements. Check the application form before submitting and follow the exact wording and limits of any additional questions it presents. The two-page limit applies to the cover letter; a résumé page limit is not specified in the advert.
Essential role requirements
The vacancy advert requires a law degree and an unrestricted NSW legal practising certificate. The linked role description uses broader qualification wording, referring to a related degree or equivalent experience alongside the certificate. If your qualification relies on that broader wording, clarify eligibility with TAFE NSW before investing time in the application.
You must hold a valid Working with Children Check before starting. TAFE NSW also conducts a national criminal record check on the preferred applicant. The advertised citizenship or residency conditions are Australian citizenship, Australian permanent residency, or New Zealand citizenship with a current New Zealand passport.
Candidate requirements for Director Legal, Compliance and Risk Governance
Make the advertised senior experience requirements the organising structure for your application. TAFE NSW is asking for someone who has led legal, compliance and/or enterprise risk advisory services in a large, complex organisation and provided authoritative advice on difficult public-sector legal matters. Your cover letter should make that experience clear, then show the additional value you bring through frameworks, assurance, system implementation and executive governance work.
First, check the law degree and unrestricted NSW legal practising certificate requirements explained above. Confirm your credentials clearly in the application. Use the examples that follow to demonstrate your experience and judgement.
| Requirement or experience area | How to demonstrate it |
|---|---|
| Extensive senior-level experience leading legal, compliance and/or enterprise risk management advisory services within a large and complex organisation | Establish the scope of the service you led: organisational size, team responsibilities, the complexity of the portfolio and the senior decision-makers you advised. Choose an example showing how you set priorities, directed the advisory work and improved the organisation’s response to a significant issue. Explain your own leadership decisions and the result. |
| Extensive legal experience providing authoritative advice on complex government, administrative, regulatory and compliance matters | Use a matter that required careful legal judgement and had meaningful consequences for the organisation. Explain the issue, competing interpretations or obligations, your recommendation and how it informed the final decision. Show how you made the advice useful to executives while maintaining professional independence. |
| Highly regarded: experience leading enterprise-wide compliance, governance or risk frameworks and assurance arrangements | Describe a framework or assurance approach you led across multiple business areas. Explain the weakness or need, how you established ownership and oversight, and how you checked that the approach worked in practice. Support the result with evidence such as clearer accountabilities, stronger assurance coverage or completed remediation. |
| Highly regarded: experience with system change and implementation in compliance and risk, and engagement with executive governance forums | Choose a system or process change you helped implement. Explain how you translated compliance or risk needs into practical requirements, supported adoption and dealt with implementation issues. Show how you engaged an executive committee or governance forum, what decision you sought and how you reported progress or unresolved risks. |
Address the two senior experience requirements directly. Then use relevant experience from the highly regarded areas to strengthen your case. Where one example covers several areas, explain those connections clearly; only claim the scope and outcomes you can substantiate.
Example application structure for Director Legal, Compliance and Risk Governance
Structure the cover letter around the advertised experience requirements and highly regarded areas. Keep it to a maximum of two pages. The table below shows how to organise your credentials, examples and reasons for applying.
| Cover letter section | What to include |
|---|---|
| Opening and professional credentials | Name the role, explain your interest in TAFE NSW and briefly establish your senior legal background. Confirm your law degree and unrestricted NSW practising certificate accurately, having clarified any qualification question with TAFE NSW where necessary. |
| Leading advisory services in a large, complex organisation | Describe the scale of your leadership remit and one relevant example. Show how you directed the team or service, managed competing demands and improved the quality or effectiveness of legal, compliance or enterprise risk advice. |
| Authoritative advice on complex public-sector matters | Develop an example showing the legal issue, your judgement, the advice you provided and its effect on an executive or organisational decision. Make the government, administrative, regulatory or compliance complexity clear. |
| Enterprise frameworks and assurance | Show how you led a compliance, governance or risk framework across the organisation, including implementation, oversight and evidence that it worked. Connect this to an earlier example where that gives the letter a clearer flow. |
| System implementation and executive governance | Explain a relevant change you delivered and your engagement with executive governance forums. Include the decisions, adoption challenges or assurance reporting you handled and the resulting improvement. |
| Closing paragraph | Summarise the contribution this experience would enable you to make at TAFE NSW. Keep the close brief and consistent with the evidence already presented. |
Give the strongest examples enough space to explain your personal contribution. Two or three substantial examples can support several requirements, while the résumé establishes your appointments, career progression and breadth of experience. Use the highly regarded areas where you have relevant evidence, keeping the distinction between required experience and additional strengths clear.
What to make clear in your examples
- The size and complexity of the organisation, service or portfolio you led.
- Your own authority and responsibility for the advisory work.
- The legal or regulatory issue and the judgement behind your advice.
- How a framework, assurance arrangement or system change was implemented and used.
- The decisions you supported through executive governance forums and the outcomes you can substantiate.
Protect confidentiality when selecting legal examples. Describe the issue, your approach and the outcome at an appropriate level, and remove identifying or privileged details. Avoid invented percentages or claims that every risk was eliminated.
Use the focus capabilities as a supporting check
Once the experience-based draft is in place, review the focus capabilities in the role description. Check that your examples also show sound legal analysis, integrity, clear advice, influence, accountability and leadership. These qualities should come through in the way you describe your decisions and actions; the advertised experience requirements provide the main structure for this letter.
Before you submit
Check that the cover letter fits within two pages, the résumé is current and the qualification copies form one readable PDF. Compare the letter with the role description once more: the examples should demonstrate the seniority and complexity of your work. Allow time to check every upload and any additional form questions before 11:55 pm AEDT on 28 October 2026.
Use the official job ad and application portal to submit. TAFE NSW’s recruitment contact can clarify qualification wording or application requirements before you proceed.
Help with your application
If you would like help choosing and presenting your evidence, Team 3Thirty can prepare a Complete Government Application for $497 incl. GST. We review the role, work with your real experience and prepare the required written documents for you to check and submit. Include the role link and closing date in your request so we can assess the work and deadline.