Manager Austroads Technical Specifications

Austroads is looking for a suitable candidate to manage the maintenance and, as necessary, the further development of Austroads Technical Specifications, ensuring their ongoing value and relevance regarding the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges in Australia and New Zealand.

Based in either Sydney or Melbourne, this full-time role forms part of Austroads’ Research, Guidance and Practice Team.

Austroads and its members are producing a set of harmonised technical specifications for the construction of roadworks and bridgeworks that incorporate the most appropriate technical requirements.

Member agencies use technical specifications, which rely on unique road agency test methods, in procurement contracts. Harmonisation through the Austroads Technical Specifications has the potential to improve efficiency for road agencies and industry, and improve compliance with contract requirements.

Austroads and its members engage on Austroads Technical Specifications through the Austroads Technical Advisory Group (ATAG), which comprises state, territory and New Zealand chief engineers or equivalent.

This senior role combines technical knowledge with a capacity to negotiate to achieve consensus and results. Skills in process development, knowledge management and business acumen are also required.

Major responsibilities/accountabilities

The role is responsible for:

• Working within the Austroads team to develop and implement a suitable knowledge and document management system (for at least the initial 12 months):
  • Collaborating on the design and implementation of a complete technical document management framework, including classification systems, metadata structures, and version control protocols.
  • Helping to develop charging models, including subscription tiers and pay-per-use frameworks, that balance accessibility to the Austroads Technical Specifications with revenue generation.
  • Supporting and maintaining document quality standards, templates, and style guides.
  • Contributing to the implementation of appropriate document management technologies, including establishing feedback collection mechanisms and document improvement workflows.
  • Develop metrics and reporting systems to track document usage, quality, and financial performance with respect to the Austroads Technical Specifications.
• Ongoing management and optimisation:
  • Manage a program of reviews of Austroads Technical Specifications in association with subject matter experts to ensure compliance with legislation, contemporary technical developments, and consideration of stakeholder feedback.
  • Liaise with relevant industry and government stakeholders, including notifying them of published and revised specifications.
  • Manage the Austroads Technical Specification document lifecycle from creation, through updates and archiving.
  • Monitor the day-to-day operation of the technical document library, including monitoring and analysing usage patterns and feedback to continuously improve document quality and system usability.
  • Report the performance of the technical document library, status of developments and reviews, and member adoption, including attending meetings with state, territory and New Zealand chief engineers.
  • Periodically review the subscription models for suitability.
  • Maintain and adhere to Quality Systems processes and procedures associated with the role.
• Leadership:
  • Build and lead a team of document coordinators and technical writers (includes external contributors).
  • Develop training for document authors, reviewers, and users.
  • Foster a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
  • Collaborate with IT, legal, finance, and subject matter experts to ensure system effectiveness.
• Other duties as directed.

Qualifications, knowledge, and experience

The Manager Austroads Technical Specifications will possess:

• A tertiary degree in engineering or similar.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills, including technical writing.
• Thorough understanding of procurement practices (desirably those relevant to the road and bridge engineering industry).
• Demonstrated experience in change management, process development and implementation.
• Demonstrated project management skills (including risk management) associated with a portfolio of projects.
• Experience in experience in technical documentation, knowledge management, or content management roles.
• Experience working in a federated environment would be advantageous
• Understanding of technical jargon, especially relating to road and bridge engineering, is advantageous.

Personal qualities

A successful candidate will need to present a professional image and build strong relationships across the enterprise. Specifically, the role requires:

• The ability to lead and collaborate with a range of people, some of whom may at times have different agendas.
• Capacity to understand technical concepts relating to road and bridge engineering.
• Readily adaptable between a strategic thinker with strong execution capabilities, and process-oriented with meticulous attention to detail.
• Customer-focused, with business acumen.
• A preference for work that requires robust process and documentation, analysis of issues and solving problems, managing competing priorities and working to a schedule.

View a copy of the position description

For more information or to express interest in this role, please use our online form to contact our Human Resources Manager.