How To Apply For Change Manager Jobs At DCS

Thinking of applying for a Change Manager role in the NSW Public Sector?

This Change Manager opportunity with the Department of Customer Service (DCS) offers a strategic role within one of the state’s most significant transformation programs. You’ll be part of a team driving ERP and shared services reform across multiple government agencies. With top pay, hybrid work options, and the chance to influence how the NSW Government delivers services, it’s a standout opportunity for experienced change professionals.

Not sure how to stand out? This post gives you everything you need: all the essentials for your written application, a full cover letter example, and insider tips on using the STAR Method for change management roles to nail your application.

If you’re new to public sector recruitment, check out this unofficial guide to NSW Public Sector recruitment for more insider tips and context.

NSW DCS Change Manager Salary and Overview

What Does A Government Change Manager Do?

This Change Manager position sits within Government Shared Services, a division of the Department of Customer Service (DCS). The team is leading a multi-agency transformation program to consolidate ERP systems, enhance IT service and incident management, and streamline travel and expense processes. The goal is to enable greater mobility and consistency across the NSW Public Sector by aligning core systems and improving employee experiences.

As a Government Change Manager, you’ll play a critical role in shaping and delivering the change strategy across these initiatives. You’ll be responsible for designing and implementing change frameworks, tools, and plans that maximise employee adoption and minimise resistance—ensuring that all interventions are fit-for-purpose and support new behaviours, processes, and technologies.

Key Government Change Manager accountabilities include:

• Developing and implementing targeted change, communications, and learning plans to support systems and process transformation while improving stakeholder experience.
• Leading change evaluation activities, including complexity assessments, stakeholder and impact analysis, to guide decision-making and support sustainable change.
• Monitoring and reporting on change risks, readiness, impacts, and effectiveness to ensure visibility of progress across the program.
• Assessing communication and learning needs, contributing to the design of tailored solutions that align with project objectives and stakeholder expectations.
• Building and maintaining strong relationships to manage key dependencies and ensure a consistent, coordinated approach to organisational change.
• Managing direct reports, fostering a collaborative team culture that encourages initiative and delivers results within established timeframes.
• Contributing to program-level change reporting, working closely with the Director and other Change Leads to meet executive reporting requirements.

Challenges for Government Change Managers

Change in the public sector is often complex and slow-moving. Success in this role will require exceptional stakeholder engagement skills—you’ll need to build trust, communicate clearly, and present each change initiative as a meaningful step forward.

At times, you may also be required to champion changes that aren’t perfect. Government programs can be constrained by funding, policy decisions, or bureaucratic limitations, which means the end solution might not fully meet every stakeholder’s expectations. Your ability to navigate these realities with empathy, pragmatism, and strategic communication will be key.

Why the Change Manager Role is a Great Opportunity

This role stands out as a valuable opportunity for experienced change management professionals to gain high-level public sector experience. If you’re a contractor with a background in delivering large-scale change programs, it offers a clear and credible pathway into a government role.

As a Grade 11/12 position, it comes with a good base salary and the flexibility of hybrid working arrangements. This recruitment is part of a talent pool process, meaning successful candidates will be added to a Grade 11/12 pool for upcoming opportunities across Government Shared Services over the next 18 months. Candidates will be actively considered as roles arise.

The Department of Customer Service (DCS) is widely recognised as one of the NSW Government’s most progressive agencies, known for its innovation, digital capability, and sector-wide impact.

Change Manager Application Requirements

Change Manager Application Process

To apply for this change manager talent pool, you will need:

• A Cover Letter (no page limit)
• A Resume/CV

There is no limit on the number of pages for your cover letter. I recommend that you write a strong, two page cover letter for a role at this level. It will need to address all the requirements explained below. This is your best chance to get noticed during the shortlisting process.

To get started on your government cover letter you can download a free, fully editable template here.

There are no target questions in this application.

Essential Role Requirements For A Senior Change Manager

From the role description, you’ll need to ensure your cover letter addresses the below requirement

In depth understanding of how people go through change and the change process and the ability to apply this knowledge to the build of a consistent, fit for purpose and accepted ‘way’ of delivering change across the diverse stakeholder groups is a core requirement for the role that acknowledges differences in maturity and support requirements.

This quite the wordy requirement. I’ve highlighted in bold the key elements you should think about when writing your cover letter.

Use the STAR Method to share a detailed and effective story that showcases your change management experience, particularly in settings with different levels of change readiness.

You should also address these requirements that were listed in the job ad:

• Experience in delivering change management in an ERP, SAP, or transactional shared services environment.
• Advanced ability to build strong stakeholder relationships.
• Effective prioritisation skills to ensure the most impactful change interventions are delivered with available resources.

Also keep in mind these key knowledge and experience elements that are listed in the job description:

• Extensive experience in Change Management supporting complex enterprise environments in medium/large sized programs of work including experience and knowledge of change management principles, methods, and tools.
• Familiarity with project management approaches, tools, and phases of the project lifecycle and demonstrated hands-on experience working on a variety of large change projects (systems, process, organisation design and culture).
• Experience leading and managing other change managers or resources

What to Include in Your Government Cover Letter

In your cover letter, clearly address the essential requirement listed above. Then, move on to address the three elements that were listed in the job ad.

For each requirement, use a different STAR method example. This will help you showcase the depth of change management experience you will bring to the role.

While doing this, mention any of the other key knowledge and experience (complex enterprise, large programs, project management skills, leading other change professionals) as it relates to your examples.

Government Change Manager Application Checklist

Candidate For This Change Manager Opportunity

Meet Sarah, a senior HR business partner with extensive experience leading ERP implementations and organisational restructures in large corporate environments. Over the past several years, she has taken on 12–24 month contracts with two of Australia’s largest banks and a major insurance provider, primarily supporting enterprise-wide change initiatives.

Now, Sarah is looking to transition into the public sector for two key reasons: stability and work-life balance. While her contract roles have been well paid, they’ve come with high workloads and no access to leave entitlements. Her long-term goal is to secure a permanent government position where she can contribute to meaningful reform while enjoying more predictable conditions.

This temporary talent pool presents the perfect stepping stone. It gives her the chance to gain hands-on government experience, build a portfolio of public sector change management examples, and establish relationships with senior leaders who may be looking to hire for future roles.

Change Manager Example Cover Letter

Click here to download a free public sector cover letter template

Change Management STAR Method Examples

The STAR method is the foundation of strong public sector applications—especially in roles like Change Manager, where your ability to influence, deliver, and manage complexity needs to be backed by real-world results.

STAR stands for:

• Situation: What was the context or challenge?
• Task: What was your role or responsibility?
• Action: What steps did you take?
• Result: What was the outcome, and how did it add value?

To be effective, your STAR responses need to feel natural—not robotic. Instead of labelling each section, use STAR to guide how you tell a story in your cover letter, resume, or interview.

Here’s how Sarah, the fictional candidate in our example, used STAR effectively in her cover letter:

In a recent role at a major bank, I led the change strategy for the restructure of a customer operations division that included over 1,000 staff across multiple regions. One of the key challenges was the differing levels of change maturity across teams—some had experienced similar reforms in the past, while others were deeply resistant and had no exposure to structured change. Rather than apply a one-size-fits-all model, I developed a change framework with core pillars that were consistent (communications, leadership alignment, impact tracking), but left room for tailored local engagement. I ran early change readiness assessments and held co-design workshops with regional leaders to adapt the approach to their needs. As a result, we saw a steady increase in engagement over the transition period, and post-implementation surveys showed a 30% improvement in staff confidence in leadership and change communication.

Here’s how this maps to STAR:

• Situation: The restructure of a large division with over 1,000 staff and varied change readiness.
• Task: Design and deliver a fit-for-purpose change strategy that accounted for those differences.
• Action: Built a flexible framework, conducted readiness assessments, and co-designed localised plans with leaders.
• Result: Significant uplift in engagement and a 30% increase in confidence in change leadership.

This is exactly the type of example that resonates in NSW Government hiring panels—it’s specific, relevant, and clearly aligned to a capability like “Manage Reform and Change.”

If you’re not sure how to apply the STAR method in your own cover letter—or if you’ve written something but don’t know if it’s strong enough—then my Cover Letter Review service is for you.

For just $29, I’ll personally review and edit your draft cover letter as an experienced government hiring manager. I’ll show you how to:

• Use STAR correctly to highlight your strengths
• Match your examples to the exact job you’re applying for
• Improve your structure, tone, and impact
• Avoid the mistakes that get strong candidates ruled out too early

You’ll also receive a full assessment of how well your cover letter meets the public sector requirements—and unlimited revisions to make sure it’s your strongest possible submission.

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Don’t leave your government job application to chance. This is the easiest and most affordable way to give yourself a real edge.

How to Prepare for a Change Manager Government Interview

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NSW Government interviews are structured around the NSW Public Sector Capability Framework. Each question is designed to assess how well you demonstrate the behavioural indicators linked to the role’s focus capabilities.

To prepare effectively:

• Review the Focus Capabilities: Open the role description and study the capabilities marked as “focus.” These are the ones most likely to shape your interview questions.
• Brainstorm Real Examples: Think of situations from your past roles where you demonstrated those capabilities—particularly in change management, stakeholder engagement, or project delivery.
• Align Your Examples: Make sure your stories reflect the level and type of behaviour outlined in the capability indicators (e.g., influencing without authority, managing ambiguity, or delivering through others).
• Use the STAR Method: Structure each response around Situation, Task, Action, Result.
• Practise & Use Notes: If allowed, bring notes into your interview. If not, prepare and rehearse them beforehand so your delivery feels confident and structured.

Sample interview questions for a Change Manager (Grade 11/12):

• Talk us through a time you led or managed other change managers or resources on a large-scale transformation program. What strategies did you use to ensure consistency and effectiveness across the team?
• Tell us about a time you applied your understanding of how people go through change to support a successful transition across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Describe a situation where you delivered change management in an ERP or shared services environment. What was your role and what were the outcomes?
• How have you prioritised change initiatives to ensure the most critical interventions were delivered with limited time and resources?
• Share an example of how you built strong, trust-based relationships with stakeholders to support the adoption of a challenging or complex change.

Download the public sector interview questions and answers workbook here for more examples, structured responses, and practice questions that reflect real government interviews.

Get Your Change Manager Application Ready

Everything in this guide is designed to give you a clear, practical path to writing a government application that gets you shortlisted. Remember, the only purpose of your cover letter is to land you an interview—so it’s worth taking the time to get it right.

Start by using the free template and guide above to draft your strongest possible cover letter. Then, send it in for review to make sure you’re presenting yourself as clearly and competitively as possible. If I can’t improve your draft or don’t return it in time for your application, I’ll give you a full refund—no questions asked.