Service NSW to hire 200 engineers, designers

Service NSW is planning to hire more than 200 product engineers and designers in one of the biggest intakes of digital specialists in recent years.  

Digital and customer service minister Victor Dominello announced the recruitment drive on Thursday to maintain the state’s position as a leading digital government.

It comes just days after Transport for NSW revealed intensions to hire “hundreds” of new IT staff over the next four months across teams its project teams.

“We’ve seen through the pandemic with QR codes, Dine & Discover vouchers and the delivery of business grants, how important a world-leading digital product is for the people of NSW,” Dominello said.

“This recruitment will ensure that we continue working towards making life safer and easier for the people.”  

Around 135 of the 205 new roles are in engineering, with 65 senior product engineers, 30 junior product engineers, 25 product engineers and 10 principal product engineers expected to be hired.

The remaining 70 roles will be senior product designers, senior content designs and senior service designers (40), product designers (25) and principal product designers (10).

Engineers and designers will work in multi-disciplinary teams to look after new and existing Service NSW’s products, including the software – namely Salesforce – and data that sit behind them.

A spokesperson for Dominello's office told iTnews that recruitment for the engineers and designers is underway and that Service NSW intends to fill all the roles as quickly as possible.

As the government’s one-stop shop for government services, Service NSW already has one of the largest digital workforces in the country.

It is responsible for the Service NSW app, which houses digital licences and the all-important COVID Safe check-in tool used for contact tracing, as well as other core transactional systems.

The government is also in the process of digitising further licence types after deploying a new digital platform underpinned by Calytera’s Amanda solution.  

Dominello said the additional investment in staff would help the government to continue to deliver a world-class customer experience to citizens and business.

“NSW is the most digitally advanced jurisdiction in Australia and we’re committed to becoming world leaders in service delivery,” he said.

“By recruiting additional engineers, designers and frontline support staff, we’re fulfilling our promise of putting the customer at the centre of everything we do.”

Dominello added that NSW’ ability to complete with the private sector for tech talent would be made easier if it could demonstrate that working in the public sector is “dynamic, fast paced and rewarding”.

“You need to look no further than Service NSW to find a public sector organisation that defies the stereotypical view of ‘working in Government’,” he said.

“Through organisations like Service NSW, the NSW government is offering tech graduates the opportunity to work on a huge pipeline of transformational, customer-facing digital products and services.”