QUT Transition Support Manager: 12-Month Change Role Closing 13 August

QUT is hiring a Transition Support Manager to sit inside the Office of the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law. It's a 12-month, full-time fixed-term role based at Gardens Point in Brisbane's city centre, with hybrid arrangements available. Applications close 13 August 2026 at 11:30 pm AEST.

The base rate is this: most professional-services change roles at Australian universities never leave the internal applicant pool, and QUT has limited this one to current staff plus Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants from outside. The exception is the salary band, which is substantial for a fixed-term change role: $136,251 to $142,738 base, rising to $161,241 to $168,919 total remuneration with 17 per cent superannuation and 17.5 per cent recreation leave loading.

A colleague who helped steer a faculty restructure at another institution — call her Dr. P — described the job as 'the person who turns the org chart from a rumour into a workflow.' That matches what QUT has written down more literally, and it's probably the most useful lens for deciding whether to apply.

What the role actually asks of you

The position description is not vague about this. You'll support the delivery of transition activities and change management initiatives across the Faculty of Business and Law, contributing to the Faculty's Change Management and Implementation Plan. You report to the Executive Dean.

In practice the duties sit in five clusters:

• Contribute to the development and application of a Business Process Review Framework, then lead the review, redesign and documentation of business processes, operating procedures and performance measures.
• Provide high-level strategic advice to Faculty leaders on change management activities, including monitoring outcomes, identifying risks and emerging issues, and making recommendations to support executive decisions.
• Lead improvement initiatives, including process and system enhancements to improve service delivery and cohesion inside the Faculty.
• Compile, analyse and summarise formal and informal feedback to build a picture of change impacts and operational effectiveness.
• Partner with Faculty leaders to establish integration, onboarding and capability development for the new organisational arrangements, and act as a key contact for internal stakeholders involved in the Change Management and Implementation Plan.

The role is not a training post. QUT wants someone who has already lived inside large, complex organisational change, preferably with the documentation to prove it.

Who QUT will consider

Eligibility is narrower than most advertised roles. QUT has restricted the field to current staff with unrestricted work rights in Australia. In support of its Indigenous Australian success priority, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people who are not current QUT staff are also eligible to apply. Current staff seeking a secondment need supervisor approval before submitting.

The six selection criteria are specific enough that a generic application will sink quickly. You need education, training or experience equivalent to postgraduate qualifications in a relevant area, plus substantial experience supporting organisational change in a large and complex environment. Three of the criteria deserve extra attention: the demonstrated ability to prepare clear, well-structured documentation that informs decision-making; experience leading business process review and continuous improvement initiatives; and a demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity and Indigenous Australian engagement.

The base rate is that many internal candidates will tick the qualifications box. The exception is the candidate who can name the processes they redesigned and the performance measures that shifted because of it. One panel member I know keeps a single question for change roles: 'Tell me what you stopped, not what you launched.' It separates the people who actually closed loops from those who only facilitated workshops.

Pay and conditions

This is a HEW9 classification with a base salary of $136,251 to $142,738. QUT reports the full package as $161,241 to $168,919, which includes 17 per cent superannuation and 17.5 per cent recreation leave loading. For a 12-month role that's a serious band, and the same HEW9 band appears across several other QUT professional manager roles currently advertised, from medical programs manager to student experience manager.

Benefits include primary carer parental leave of up to 26 weeks, a purchased leave scheme allowing up to eight extra weeks, Fitness Passport, salary packaging for additional superannuation and vehicle leasing, and on-campus services such as childcare, parking and gyms. You can read the full position description in QUT's PDF for reference 26403.

Why this job exists now

QUT has been working through faculty realignment for several years. In August 2020 the University Council approved a move from six faculties and two institutes to five faculties, with the Faculty of Business and Law among the new structures. That change took effect on 31 January 2021. More recent adjustments inside the faculty have continued as the operating model matures, and this role exists to hold the Change Management and Implementation Plan together during the next phase.

QUT's formal change framework requires a Proposal for Change and a Change Management Implementation Plan for significant workplace changes, with consultation obligations under the relevant enterprise agreements. The policy also commits the university to support staff through change, including counselling, career planning, redeployment and retraining wherever possible. If you're applying, read the Workplace Change Management Policy before the interview — it's the rulebook this role has to operate inside.

The wider restructure climate

Change management roles at Australian universities have become some of the most scrutinised jobs on campus. A NSW parliamentary inquiry in 2026 found six universities appeared to overstate financial problems to justify staff cuts, according to ABC News reporting. QUT was not among those institutions, and nothing in this vacancy suggests the same pattern. But the broader atmosphere means that whoever takes this role will be working in an environment where staff now ask harder questions about change proposals, financial models and consultation.

Deakin University withdrew a major restructure proposal in June 2026 after a union campaign, and other institutions have had change plans paused or modified under public pressure. The point for an applicant is straightforward: transition support is no longer treated as internal housekeeping. It is contested work, and the quality of written documentation and transparent process matters as much as the structural outcome.

What this means for your application

Don't wait until the last week. QUT panels receive a lot of fixed-term internal applications, and the ones that advance are the ones that read like they were written for this specific role, not for the candidate's last job. If you need help with the written component, the guidance in our guide to writing a winning academic CV applies here too — the structure is similar even though the role is professional staff.

Before you write, pull your most recent change project and write one paragraph showing the before state, the actions you took, and the measurable result. Then map each selection criterion to a concrete example. If you don't have a business process review example, find the closest thing and own the gap rather than padding it. Panel members can tell the difference.

The full job details and application link are on the Transition Support Manager job page.

Next step

The deadline is 13 August 2026 at 11:30 pm AEST. If you're a current staff member considering a secondment, get supervisor approval now because that conversation can take longer than the application itself. Then open a blank document and write one paragraph about the change project you're most proud of. That paragraph will become the spine of your cover letter.