Coordinator, Events and Engagement – NCP MASS

Senior Coordinator, Events and Engagement – NCP MASS

About Palladium

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

About the Program

The New Colombo Plan (NCP) is an initiative of the Australian Government which aims to lift knowledge of the Indo-Pacific in Australia by supporting Australian undergraduates to study and undertake internships in the region. Students undertake scholarship programs, participate in Mobility projects, and on completion become alumni. About the New Colombo Plan | Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Palladium is contracted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to manage the NCP Managed Administrative and Support Services (MASS) program which underpins the effective operation of the scholarship, mobility and alumni streams, and provides the cross-cutting functions of finance, communications, business engagement, risk management, and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL).

This Opportunity

The Senior Coordinator, Events and Engagement in NCP MASS will lead on providing support to the NCS for its events and stakeholder engagement activities, supporting all three NCP program areas: Scholarships, Semester and Mobility, as well as alumni engagement and events. Key stakeholder groups include Australian universities and the international education sector, businesses and other organisations that provide study, work experience and professional development opportunities for NCP participants.

The role will lead on supporting DFAT in delivering a program of events and engagement activities, which includes both online and in-person events, and activities targeting NCP stakeholders, in line with NCP policy and operational procedures, and the annual workplan.

The role is expected also to:

• Liaise with the relevant counterparts in DFAT including having the lead relationship with counterparts leading on stakeholder and business engagement.
• Work collaboratively with the Alumni and Communications team in delivering events and engagement activities, and will support the Scholarships, Semester and Mobility program areas as required on key events and stakeholder engagement matters. The role will collaborate with the contracts, finance and operations functions on the delivery of key events in line with procurement, contracting and finance SOPs. The role will also coordinate with MEL, risk and data management roles.
• Engage with relevant NCP stakeholders, from business, university and other sectors – and will directly liaise with stakeholders such as guest speakers and presenters, and service providers for events delivery.

The role carries a high degree of autonomy and having key responsibilities for coordinating on events management, providing updates at meetings with the client, and engage directly with the client when required. The role will lead on business engagement activity working closely with the client on assigned initiatives.

Location

This is a full-time, fixed-term position with a contract running until 30 June 2026, and with the possibility of extension. The role will be based in either Palladium’s Adelaide or Brisbane office. Palladium encourages flexible work practices to enhance wellbeing, productivity and team culture in line with the Flexible Work Policy.

Reporting Lines and Requirements

This role reports into the Program Director. Reporting requirements may include but are not limited to:

• Attendance at client and team meetings.
• Regular (minimum of monthly) one to one meetings with your line manager on the status of personal performance, career development discussions and any other matters.
• Palladium encourages flexible work practices to enhance wellbeing, productivity and team culture. For this role, we require that employees maintain an in-office presence for the majority of their working week. For example, if an employee works five days a week, they must spend at least three days physically in the office

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of the Senior Coordinator, Events and Engagement, can be broadly described as follows:

1. Demonstrate commitment to the contract requirements and service delivery standards for the NCP MASS program.

2. Effective coordination of planning and budgeting for the program of NCP events.

• Coordinate planning and budgeting for events included in the NCP MASS annual workplan.
• Lead market research and market scans into events related suppliers such as venues, AV and videography/photography, events management companies, catering and accommodation suppliers, and work with the contract management team to consider contracting arrangements, including panels of preferred suppliers.
• Work with Scholarship, Semester, Mobility and alumni program leads, as well as the contract management team to ensure NCP events are planned and delivered in line with all relevant NCP operational policies and SOPs, as well as the annual workplan. This includes ensuring communications, risk management and MEL requirements are integrated into all events and engagement plans.
• Contribute to the development of Tasking Notes for individual events and ensure appropriate project management structures and processes are set up for each event, involving MASS team members, NCS staff and relevant suppliers or stakeholders.
• Coordinate diverse project teams consisting of MASS and DFAT staff, as well as consultants and third-party supplier, ensuring clear roles and responsibilities for all tasks and liaise with responsible officers to monitor progress and troubleshoot issues.
• Work closely with the operations team, ensuring all procurement, supplier contract management, travel and logistics are effectively facilitated to meet the specific needs and objectives of each event and in line with standard operating procedures.
• Lead project management of all events projects, facilitating client and project team meetings, tracking budget expenditure and producing reports for the client on results and lessons.
• Ensure high quality post events lessons learning sessions are feeding into MEL, communications and business improvement activities.

3. Stakeholder and business engagement.

• Contribute to the planning and implementation of stakeholder engagement strategies, plans and activities for the program and priority projects as required.
• Coordinate activities supporting implementation of NCP business engagement priorities, including supporting meetings with business stakeholders, and contributing to initiatives aimed at promoting further business engagement
• Working with the Scholarships, Semester and Mobility and Alumni teams as required, support activities aimed at promoting quality internships for NCP participants, including coordinating the development of guidance and promotional material, supporting engagement with host organisations and promoting opportunities to the scholar community.
• Support engagement activities involving other stakeholders as required, including university sector, government, diplomatic community and civil society.
• Support activities to develop engagement and promotion campaigns targeting NCP stakeholders.
• Manage the NCP stakeholder contacts databases and ensure up to date.
• Lead on reporting on stakeholder engagement activities.

4. Other responsibilities

• Coordinate the production of high-quality reports, risk assessments, planning documents and presentations for clients where required
• Contribute to learning and business improvement based on practical experience, including if required, making suggestions for improvements on project management systems, processes, tools and techniques.
• Project manage initiatives involving alumni engagement where required.
• Ensure role specific procedures and all relevant documentation are kept current and available as per Program and Palladium requirements.
• Maintain events schedules, calendars, engagement materials such as briefing packs as required.

Skills and Experience

• Experience delivering end-to-end virtual and in-person events, including for medium to large scale events.
• Exceptional project management skills with experience managing programs or projects, that include delivery of events, workshops, and conferences as key project activities.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple events/projects simultaneously with competing deadlines and multiple stakeholders.
• Strong process skills and an ability to develop systems, tools and processes to improve project efficiency and effectiveness.
• Experience developing and implementing stakeholder engagement strategies and plans, including demonstrating experience of working with stakeholders from business, government and higher education sectors.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to effectively communicate both written and verbally and build a rapport with a diverse range of stakeholders both internally and externally to deliver successful events/programs/services.
• Strong analytical thinking and pro-active problem solving.
• Excellent organisational and computer skills especially with MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion, particularly in a cross-cultural context.
• Experience of delivering projects and/or events for scholarships and awards programs, or international development programs.
• Experience of delivering projects in the higher education, international education or international development sectors.
• Relevant degree or qualification, such as project management, events management, communications and marketing, international development.

How to Apply

Please submit your CV through the Palladium International Careers Page. Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis. The closing date is Monday, 15 December 2025. For more information about the role, please send your inquiry to: NCP Recruitment at ncp.recruitment@thepalladiumgroup.com.

Please note that are only accepting applications from applicants with full working rights within Australia as this role is unable to be sponsored, and we are not accepting resumes from recruitment agencies for this role.

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Equity, Diversity & Inclusion: Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodation to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss.

Palladium recognizes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the country throughout Australia, and we pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future.

Safeguarding: We define Safeguarding as “the preventive action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

How to apply

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