Unlock a career in finance with NSW Trustee and Guardian as a Finance Officer. This role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact in the lives of over 47,000 people annually. Dive into a position that not only challenges your financial acumen but also allows you to contribute to a greater cause.
Joining the NSW Trustee and Guardian as a Finance Officer means being part of a dedicated team that values diversity and inclusion. With a competitive salary range and flexible working options, this role is perfect for those looking to balance professional growth with personal commitments. For more insights on navigating NSW Government recruitment, check out our Unofficial Guide to Mastering NSW Government Recruitment and don’t forget to use our free NSW cover letter template to get started.
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Finance Officer Salary and Overview
| Position Title | Finance Officer |
| Organisation / Entity | NSW Trustee and Guardian |
| Location | Sydney Region / Sydney – Greater West |
| Work Type | Full-Time |
| Base Pay | $84,659 – $92,701 plus super |
| Closing Date | 27/07/2025 |
About the Finance Officer at NSW Trustee and Guardian
The Finance Officer role at NSW Trustee and Guardian is a pivotal position within the Financial Performance and Investments division. This team is responsible for delivering a comprehensive suite of financial services, including budgeting, procurement, and investment management. As a Finance Officer, you will support the Customer Financial Services team by managing high-volume, complex customer finance transactions. This role requires you to independently handle transactions, ensuring accuracy and timeliness, while providing guidance to internal Client Service Officers.
Operating in a high-volume transaction environment, you will be expected to produce accurate reports for both internal and external stakeholders. Your role is crucial in maintaining the high standards of customer accounts and investment management services, aligning with NSW Trustee and Guardian’s Customer Excellence Principles. This position not only demands technical expertise but also a passion for supporting vulnerable communities, including people with disabilities and older individuals.
Why Finance Officer Is a Great Opportunity
Becoming a Finance Officer at NSW Trustee and Guardian is more than just a job; it’s a chance to contribute to meaningful work that impacts lives. Here’s why this role stands out:
- Competitive salary range of $84,659 to $92,701, ideal for those transitioning from the private sector.
- Ongoing full-time position with 35 hours per week, offering job security.
- Flexible and remote working options, promoting work-life balance.
- Ideal for candidates with financial services experience, even if new to government roles.
- Opportunities for career development, including study leave and acting opportunities.
Application Requirements for Finance Officer
NSW Trustee and Guardian Application Process
To ensure your application is considered, it’s crucial to meet all requirements exactly. Missing documents can result in immediate disqualification. Here’s what you need to prepare:
- Online application submission
- Resume (maximum five pages)
- Brief cover letter (maximum two pages) outlining your skills, experience, and suitability
- Responses to targeted questions (maximum two pages – one page each):
- Describe a situation where you identified issues with a process and any recommendations you made to resolve.
- Give an example of a situation you dealt with where the priorities changed and you have needed to be adaptable and willing to contribute to overall team need.
For guidance, use our NSW Government Cover Letter Template.
What to Include in Your Finance Officer Cover Letter
To apply for the Finance Officer role, use your cover letter to introduce yourself to the Hiring Manager and clearly explain how your experience relates to this role. In your cover letter, make sure to use the exact language from the job ad wherever possible.
For this role, you must address all of the following capabilities:
- Demonstrated experience in a related field such as finance, accounting or systems
- has experience in either payments processing, accounting or financial services and is passionate about supporting people with disability, vulnerable or older people
- is adaptable and willing to contribute to overall team priorities, business and customer need
- able to produce accurate and timely reports to provide updates to both internal and external stakeholders
- is comfortable working in a high-volume transaction environment
- has strong collaboration skills that will allow you to build and develop working relationships and open channels of communications across all teams in other NSW Trustee and Guardian divisions and with external stakeholders
Finance Officer Application Checklist
| ✅ | Read the full job ad — Open the listing on I Work for NSW and make sure it’s a role you’re genuinely interested in. |
| ✅ | Want to apply? — Just copy the job ad URL and submit it via the Write It For Me form to get started right away. |
| ✅ | Let me do the hard part — I’ll prepare your complete application pack, tailored specifically to the role |
| ✅ | Fill in your story — You’ll receive pre-filled, easy-to-use documents with prompts to help you add your personal experience and examples. |
| ✅ | Get expert review — Send it back for a final polish from someone who’s worked on real government hiring panels. |
| ✅ | Apply with confidence — Submit a professional application that meets all the criteria—and positions you as a standout candidate. |
Candidate Profile — Finance Officer
Meet Alex, a seasoned professional transitioning from the private sector. With a background in financial services and experience as an Accounts Payable Specialist at a leading corporate firm, Alex is adept at managing high-volume transactions and delivering accurate financial reports. Passionate about supporting vulnerable communities, Alex is eager to bring their expertise to NSW Trustee and Guardian.
Finance Officer Example Cover Letter
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am excited to express my interest in joining NSW Trustee and Guardian. With over five years of experience in financial services and a proven track record in finance and accounting roles, I bring strong technical capability, process discipline, and a commitment to ethical service delivery. I am particularly drawn to this opportunity due to my passion for supporting people with disability, older Australians, and other vulnerable community members.
As an Accounts Payable Specialist at a national finance and property firm, I was responsible for end-to-end payment processing of over 500 invoices per week across multiple entities. I managed invoice coding, batching, approvals, and payment runs within SAP and Oracle systems. Faced with tight month-end deadlines and high-volume transactions, I introduced a colour-coded tracking spreadsheet to prioritise urgent payments and flag outstanding approvals. This helped reduce overdue payments by 30% and contributed to improved supplier relationships and internal compliance.
My drive to serve vulnerable populations developed further through volunteering with my company’s finance team during a pro bono project supporting a not-for-profit disability provider. I assisted in streamlining their vendor payment process and trained their staff on basic reconciliation practices. This hands-on experience gave me insight into how financial systems impact service continuity and quality of life for individuals reliant on funded support—cementing my decision to seek a more values-aligned career.
During a major system upgrade to a cloud-based financial platform, I proactively took on the role of team lead for knowledge transfer. I attended early training sessions, mapped legacy processes to the new system, and created reference materials tailored to our team’s workflows. By mentoring others and troubleshooting initial data integration issues, I demonstrated strong adaptability and helped reduce system downtime, ensuring our department met all processing and reporting deadlines during the critical quarter-end period.
I was also responsible for preparing accurate and timely reports for senior finance leaders and external auditors. This included reconciliations, accrual summaries, and variance analyses across multiple cost centres. To ensure accuracy, I cross-checked ledger entries with source documentation and liaised with procurement to resolve mismatches. My diligence resulted in timely, audit-ready reports and contributed to successful external audits over three consecutive years.
The scale and pace of my previous role demanded precision and resilience. During financial year-end, I regularly processed up to 700 invoices while managing urgent staff reimbursements and payment queries. I used structured planning techniques to meet all cut-offs and consistently maintained a processing accuracy rate above 98%, demonstrating my capacity to thrive in a high-volume transaction environment.
Strong collaboration skills were essential to maintaining this standard. I worked closely with procurement, IT, and compliance teams to clarify coding, resolve system bugs, and uphold policy standards. Externally, I liaised with vendors and service providers to ensure correct invoicing and resolve disputes diplomatically. My clear communication and dependable follow-through helped build strong working relationships across teams and enhance our overall financial operations.
I am eager to bring this experience and mindset to NSW Trustee and Guardian.
Thank you for considering my application.
Sincerely,
Alex
Target Question Response Examples — Finance Officer
Describe a situation where you identified issues with a process and any recommendations you made to resolve.
In my role as an Accounts Payable Specialist at XYZ Corporation, I identified persistent issues within our payment processing system that were affecting turnaround times and increasing the risk of errors. The existing workflow required invoice details to be manually entered into multiple systems, and approval chains were not clearly defined, which often led to duplicate entries, delays, and confusion about responsibility. As processing volumes grew, these inefficiencies became more visible and began to affect supplier relationships due to late payments.
Recognising the need for improvement, I took the initiative to conduct a detailed review of the end-to-end accounts payable process. I documented each step, interviewed team members to understand pain points, and mapped out recurring delays. My analysis revealed that redundant data entry and a lack of real-time tracking were the primary bottlenecks. I prepared a business case proposing automation of key tasks, including invoice data capture and approval routing, supported by projected efficiency gains.
I collaborated with the IT team to explore technical solutions and worked closely with them to design a software enhancement that integrated optical character recognition (OCR) for invoice scanning and introduced automated approval workflows based on predefined thresholds. I also developed training materials and ran sessions for staff to ensure a smooth transition to the updated system.
Following implementation, we recorded a 20% reduction in average processing time and a 35% decrease in manual data entry errors within the first three months. Supplier feedback improved markedly due to more consistent payment cycles, and the finance leadership team endorsed the changes as a model for broader process improvements. This experience reinforced the value of taking ownership of systemic issues and demonstrated how collaboration across departments can drive lasting operational benefits.
Give an example of a situation you dealt with where the priorities changed and you have needed to be adaptable and willing to contribute to overall team need.
During my time at XYZ Corporation, I was deeply involved in preparing for an annual financial audit, with my initial focus limited to overseeing the accounts payable documentation. I had developed a clear schedule for collating invoices, reconciling vendor statements, and preparing audit evidence specific to my department. However, midway through the process, a major internal restructure was announced, which significantly shifted our team’s priorities. Several departments were merged, and the audit scope was rapidly expanded to include procurement and contract management areas that had previously been outside my remit.
This sudden change meant our team had to quickly absorb new responsibilities while continuing to meet original deadlines. Rather than resist the disruption, I stepped up to support the team through the transition. I volunteered to take on additional audit preparation for the newly included departments and immediately began building relationships with key contacts in procurement. I reviewed their data structures and helped them align their documentation with audit requirements. I also worked with the internal audit team to clarify expectations and created a revised work plan that accounted for the expanded scope without compromising quality.
To support my team further, I initiated regular status updates to track progress across both the original and expanded areas. My flexibility, organisation, and willingness to assist wherever needed played a key role in ensuring we met the adjusted timeline. Despite the upheaval, the audit was completed successfully and received positive feedback for its thoroughness and clarity.
This experience highlighted the importance of being adaptable and maintaining a team-first mindset, particularly during periods of organisational change. It also reaffirmed my confidence in navigating uncertainty and contributing beyond my immediate responsibilities—qualities I am eager to bring to the Finance Officer role at NSW Trustee and Guardian.
How to Use the STAR Method for Finance Officer Applications
The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is a powerful tool for structuring your responses to behavioral interview questions. It helps you clearly articulate your experiences and achievements in a way that highlights your problem-solving skills and impact.
For example, in the targeted question response about identifying process issues, I described the situation at XYZ Corporation, outlined the task of streamlining the payment process, detailed the actions I took to implement automation, and concluded with the positive results achieved. This structured approach not only showcases my analytical skills but also demonstrates my ability to drive meaningful change.
For more guidance on using the STAR method, check out our STAR Method Guide.
Preparing for Your Finance Officer Government Interview
Government interviews require thorough preparation, especially in articulating STAR method examples. You need to naturally discuss the situation and task, focus on the actions you took, and highlight the results to demonstrate the impact of your work. Practicing this can make your responses more natural and effective.
Here are three practice interview questions to help you prepare:
- Describe a time when you had to manage a high-volume workload. How did you ensure accuracy and timeliness?
- Can you provide an example of how you handled a challenging stakeholder relationship?
- How do you prioritize tasks when faced with multiple deadlines?
For a value-packed practice session, consider our Government Interview Practice Session, which includes custom questions and detailed feedback.
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