Chief Fire Officer (SES4H) Queensland Fire Department

at  Queensland Fire and Emergency Services

About Us
The Queensland Fire Department (QFD) provides fire prevention, preparedness and response services to fire in the built and landscape environments, as well as scientific and specialist capabilities to Queensland communities. The QFD provides a multi-hazard emergency response, including road crash rescue, bushfire, hazardous material, technical and vertical rescue, severe weather incidents, remote and Swiftwater rescue, and provides a number of functions supporting community safety outcomes.
The department encompasses Queensland Fire and Rescue (QFR), Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ), as well as the broader department which work together to pre-empt, prevent, mitigate and manage the consequences of fires and other emergencies on Queensland communities and support our large volunteer membership across the state.
The QFD is an organisation that is focused on reframing the department’s relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, communities, and organisations through the Path to Treaty, Closing the Gap and building our cultural.
Purpose of the role
The purpose of the role of Chief Fire Officer is to provide advice to the Commissioner about the fire services, including matters relating to service delivery, operational culture, innovation and research, and evaluation of strategies to ensure best practice processes meet current and future needs of the department. The role of Chief Fire Officer is established in the Fire Services Act 1990 and reports to the Commissioner, Queensland Fire Department.

The Chief Fire Officer is required to lead the performance of the Office of the Chief Fire Officer. At the direction of the Commissioner, specific Chief Fire Officer responsibilities will include:

• Providing expert advice and insight on matters of operational practice that ensures continuous improvement, identification and implementation of innovative approaches that lift service delivery and safety outcomes
• monitoring operational culture and implementing actions to drive positive cultural change
• establishing and driving implementation of formal interoperability planning to support the integration of fire and emergency services
• analysing lessons from major events, engaging with the capability framework, and applying innovation and best practice to identify and test solutions to enhance business and operational practices
• identifying opportunities to undertake research to inform future strategy.

The position requires strong professional leadership and management capabilities. The Chief Fire Officer is to provide high level leadership particularly by working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders. As an executive, your performance will be assessed in accordance with the following four key accountability perspectives: financial; stakeholder and outcome; internal business and learning; and growth.
This position is accountable to the Commissioner, Queensland Fire Department.
Your key accountabilities
Your part in the ongoing success of our department in providing key frontline services, will see you responsible for a variety of work including, but not limited to:
Financial
Lead strategic resource planning processes for your function and manage the effective delivery of services through best use of the human, financial and capital resources, ensuring government and corporate objectives are met.
Stakeholder and outcome
Develop effective and professional internal and external relationships with a diverse range of significant stakeholders within Queensland and across jurisdictions including: staff; volunteers; other government agencies; industry bodies; unions; and associations.
Provide leadership regarding emerging trends in fire services and programs to identify opportunities to improve the department’s service delivery and maximise outcomes for the community.
Build and leverage cross-functional collaborative relationships and partnerships to drive interoperability planning and integration of services to achieve shared business and operational outcomes.
Represent the interests of the QFD and the state of Queensland effectively at public forums.
Provide leadership and drive performance and accountability throughout your function to contribute to the department’s strategic priorities and meet customer performance expectations.
Work closely and collaborate with all members of the senior executive and divisional heads in the development and implementation of key business strategies, particularly targeting operational capability and continuous improvement.
Internal business
Participate in the development and implementation of business and operational strategies at the senior management level.
Provide leadership within the department and across the community through the provision of insights and expert advice that ensure the delivery of contemporary fire services that deliver value-for-money and are professional, preventative and responsive.
Critically review strategies and programs in accordance with both the internal and external operating environments and assist to inform the direction of the organisation, its current and future services and the longer-term development of the organisation.
Through the provision of expert advice, ensure QFD’s compliance with relevant legislation, government policy, corporate direction and contemporary best practice in the delivery of fire and related services, with a commitment to continuous improvement.
Ensure that the Commissioner is provided with proactive and comprehensive high-level advice on a broad range of complex and sensitive issues.
Provide expert advice, forward planning and strategic decision making that has a significant impact and that is critical to the continued success of the department.
Monitor the implementation of strategic initiatives aimed at continuous quality improvement and aligning the organisation with relevant accreditation and legislative standards to ensure best practice.
Providing expert advice and oversight on strategies to address critical risk areas, including mitigation strategies and processes to monitor risk over time.
Monitor the external environment to enable anticipation of, and strategic responses to changes in government policy, and provide expert advice to ensure that all relevant legislative and regulatory obligations are met.
Act as an escalation point and oversee the management of, and accountability for operational and community safety initiatives.
Learning and growth

Support the Commissioner to ensure, through monitoring and regularly evaluating operational and emergency capability is continually improving with a priority focus on ensuring local governments and fire/disaster management groups are ready to support the communities we serve.

• Provide leadership and advice in the recognition and action on critical risk, including: best practice approaches to health, safety and wellbeing of staff
• operational effectiveness
• identification and remediation action plans to address interoperability gaps
• understanding of community impact and opportunities to improve outcomes
• legislative compliance
• improvements required in emergency response and continuity plans.
• Provide leadership in the development of strategies that support organisational and cultural change across whole-of-department service delivery, and which keep the department’s and the Queensland Government’s values and the needs of the community as the core objective.
• Collaborate across the organisation to enable the provision of strategic and expert advice to the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Chief Officer and Chief Operating Officer by gaining deep understanding of impacts on performance and capability to enable a planned approach to continuous improvement.
• Manage the implementation of broader government reform agendas and department commitments within your function in alignment with the department’s approach.
• Manage the implementation of effective corporate governance and business improvement frameworks and practices.
• Implement sustainable and effective performance management to enable individual and team professional growth and development through planning and review.
• Manage human resource management functions and processes, ensuring they are undertaken in a fair, transparent and timely manner.

Capabilities
Basis for selection
Mandatory Qualifications

To be eligible for appointment as Chief Fire Officer you must have:

• professional firefighting experience; and
• incident control expertise; and
• fire prevention expertise

The Chief Fire Officer is employed under the Fire Services Act 1990.
As a leader in the Queensland Government you will display: outstanding judgement; a high level of integrity; strong agility to adapt to a constantly changing environment; a strong achievement orientation; and excellent communication and negotiation skills.
You will lead by example and fulfil the responsibilities of this role in accordance with the departments values and behaviours and participate as an active member of the executive leadership team setting clear direction and vision, aligned to the organisation’s strategic objectives.
The position requires a person who will take personal responsibility for serving the government of the day and meeting the needs of Queenslanders. As Chief Fire Officer you will work towards a system of world class service delivery and public sector management.

The Chief Fire Officer is required to lead the performance of the Office of the Chief Fire Officer. At the direction of the Commissioner, specific Chief Fire Officer responsibilities will include:

• Providing expert advice and insight on matters of operational practice that ensures continuous improvement, identification and implementation of innovative approaches that lift service delivery and safety outcomes
• monitoring operational culture and implementing actions to drive positive cultural change
• establishing and driving implementation of formal interoperability planning to support the integration of fire and emergency services
• analysing lessons from major events, engaging with the capability framework, and applying innovation and best practice to identify and test solutions to enhance business and operational practices
• identifying opportunities to undertake research to inform future strategy

Accountability

• Fosters healthy and inclusive workplaces
• Pursues continuous growth
• Demonstrates sound governanc