Introduction
The Project Officer – Portfolio Management and Assurance at the Department of Communities and Justice helps project teams keep their information accurate and useful for decisions. The Sydney CBD role covers project documentation, status updates, research and action, issue, risk and decision logs. The appointment is temporary full-time, up to April 2028.
Knowing how to apply for Project Officer – Portfolio Management and Assurance means preparing three distinct pieces: a cover letter, a resume and a 500-word pre-screening response. The question asks how your reporting and governance records helped stakeholders make informed decisions. A concrete example of a risk you surfaced or an action you helped resolve will give you more to work with than a list of reports you produced.
Use the letter to establish the breadth of your project experience and stakeholder relationships, then develop the reporting example in the separate answer. Read the official vacancy before you finalise the documents so the wording and limits stay aligned with the current application.
In this guide
Project Officer – Portfolio Management and Assurance role snapshot
| Detail | Role information |
|---|---|
| Role title | Project Officer – Portfolio Management and Assurance |
| Organisation | Department of Communities and Justice |
| Location | Sydney CBD |
| Job reference | 600179 |
| Work type | Temporary full-time, up to April 2028 |
| Salary | Clerk Grade 7/8, $116,981 to $129,492 plus superannuation and leave loading |
| Closing date | 30 September 2026 at 11:59 pm |
| Official vacancy | View the official job ad |
Application requirements for Project Officer – Portfolio Management and Assurance
Prepare the requested documents within the stated limits so the panel can assess your evidence in the required format.
- Cover letter, maximum two pages, outlining how you meet the role requirements.
- Up-to-date resume, maximum five pages.
- Response to one pre-screening question in the online application, maximum 500 words.
Pre-screening question
Tell us about your experience preparing project reports and maintaining project governance documentation (such as status reports, risk and issue registers, action logs, and meeting papers). How have you used this information to support stakeholders and informed decision-making?
Maximum 500 words, answered in the online application.
Essential role requirements and conditions
Appointment is subject to reference checks, a National Criminal History Record Check and an Australian Right to Work Check.
Candidate evidence for Project Officer – Portfolio Management and Assurance
These practical evidence areas draw on the role’s duties and candidate requirements. Use examples you can explain accurately, including your own decisions and the result.
| Requirement or evidence area | How to demonstrate it |
|---|---|
| Managing projects and supporting portfolio assurance | Explain the projects you supported, the competing requirements and how you kept delivery information reliable. |
| Stakeholder engagement and consultation | Show how you gathered updates, clarified inconsistencies and agreed actions with project owners or external stakeholders. |
| Project or program management experience | Describe the planning and review work you owned, including your use of schedules, risks, issues and decisions. |
| Project documentation | Give examples of status reports, budgets, discussion papers or governance records and explain the decisions they supported. |
Example application structure for Project Officer – Portfolio Management and Assurance
The cover letter establishes your wider project-management fit, while the separate pre-screening response develops your governance example. The limits are a maximum two-page letter and a maximum 500-word response. Use the outline below to avoid repeating the same detail in both.
| Cover letter section | What to include |
|---|---|
| Opening | Introduce your project or program background and why portfolio assurance is a good match. |
| Project delivery | Describe the scope and complexity of work you managed and how you supported portfolio-level oversight. |
| Stakeholder relationships | Explain how you obtained reliable information and helped people agree actions or resolve a delivery issue. |
| Link to the separate response | Briefly introduce your reporting experience, leaving the full governance example for the pre-screening answer. |
| Closing | Confirm your interest in the temporary appointment and readiness to complete the required checks. |
Response to the pre-screening question
| Pre-screening question | What a strong response would include |
|---|---|
| Tell us about your experience preparing project reports and maintaining project governance documentation (such as status reports, risk and issue registers, action logs, and meeting papers). How have you used this information to support stakeholders and informed decision-making? | Choose one project with a real information or governance problem. Explain which records you maintained, how you checked the information and what risk, delay or decision emerged. Describe the advice you gave stakeholders and the action they took. Finish with the outcome and how you knew your reporting had helped; keep the complete answer within 500 words. |
What the panel will want to see in your examples
- Your personal responsibility for project records.
- How you checked status updates and investigated inconsistent information.
- A clear link between a report or register and a stakeholder decision.
- How you tracked actions until they were resolved.
- The effect on project risk, timing, cost or accountability.
Before you submit
Choose your governance example before drafting the letter. You should be able to name the information problem, your response and the decision or result that followed. Recheck the official vacancy and application form and submit before 30 September 2026 at 11:59 pm.
Our NSW Government cover letter template can help you organise your own examples. If you need help working out which experience is relevant, ask Team 3Thirty about application support.