About Palladium
Palladium is a global development and consulting firm, part of the GISI Consulting Group, working alongside some of the world’s leading project management and engineering organisations. We partner with governments, businesses, investors and communities to design and deliver complex programs that create lasting impact. With a presence across more than 90 countries, Palladium offers the opportunity to work on meaningful challenges, alongside talented colleagues, in environments where your work can truly make a difference.

About The Program
Australia is a long-term supporter of the Indonesian basic education sector, with continuous investments supporting education quality improvements for the past two decades, including through the INOVASI program (Phase 1 2016-2020; Phase 2 2020-2023) that focused on supporting acquisition of literacy and numeracy foundational skills in early grades classrooms; exploring local problems and solutions; and generating evidence to inform government policy development and practices.

This third phase of INOVASI (2024-2027) builds upon the existing program’s approach and lessons learned and takes the focus on the development of foundational skills through to the end of the primary grades. Phase 3 will engage with priority issues of Australia’s development policy: gender equality, effective inclusion of children with a disability, responses to the climate change challenge in education. It will focus on the challenge of policy implementation and the gaps that exist between national policies and practices at district and school levels, and use the well attested-success of INOVASI’s local problem-based approach to continuously support policy development for effective fit between policy and implementation context.

INOVASI Phase 3 is implemented in 25 districts and cities across Indonesia, in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan, East Java, West Java, and Maluku. The program also works in Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN).

The Program is implemented by Palladium on behalf of DFAT.

About the Role
The Operations Manager will be responsible for providing operational leadership and management of the national and provincial Operations teams to ensure that project implementation is flexible in responding to changing program requirements and is aligned with Palladium, DFAT, and GOI regulations.
The Operations Manager is also responsible for overseeing the INOVASI Procurement and Grants Coordinator, Activity Coordinator, Administration and Office Coordinator, and IT Specialist for performance management purposes.

Working with children 
Is this position likely to come into contact with children?                ☒ Yes              ☐ No  

Primary Responsibilities

• Manage and oversee the program’s operational units, including Procurement & Grants, IT, Administration & Office and Program Activity functions, including the effective management of a team across national and sub-national operational staff
• Oversee and supervise INOVASI Operations Coordinators and other Operations staff as needed, provide guidance and support to the Operations Coordinators and Operations teams as needed, including provincial operational teams
• Provide quality oversight of the day-to-day operations of the INOVASI office in Jakarta and support the provincial and district offices as required
• Ensure coordination between the various Operations functions at both national and provincial level
• Review, approve and provide quality assurance of regular daily operational tasks, including but not limited to: payment process, procurement and grants contracts, evaluation forms, guarantee letters, sub-contracts, note to files, etc.
• Under the direction of the Deputy Program Director - Operations, review and authorise Program Activity Budgets when required

Please refer to the Terms of Reference to learn more about the role: ToR Operations Manager, INOVASI.pdf

About You  
The Operations Manager will possess the following qualifications and experience:

• Advanced degree in a relevant development subject or appropriate tertiary qualification and significant, relevant experience in education
• Over 10 years of professional experience on donor-funded development programs, experience on DFAT-funded programs is highly desirable
• Demonstrated knowledge of DFAT rules and regulations and experience working across the following operational and financial disciplines: financial and budget management, project management, procurement, contracts, subcontracting, human resources and general operations and administrative management
• Experience managing and prioritizing a high workload and multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines
• Experience in proactively identifying and addressing issues that arise in field office finance, administration and operations, and reporting issues to Senior Management
• Strong understanding of GOI systems and procedures at national and sub-national level, especially within MoPSE
• Experience in providing training and mentoring/coaching
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills in English and Bahasa, with strong analytical capabilities
• Demonstrated strong leadership and management skills, with strong interpersonal capabilities, including the ability to work effectively in cross‑cultural contexts
• Sound problem solving and decision-making skills; ability to work independently and as a part of a team
• A high level of integrity, initiative, adaptability, and ability to perform in a high-pressure environment

We are committed to building a diverse workforce that strengthens the support we provide.
We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, including people with disabilities - disclosure will not affect your application, and we will work with you to provide appropriate adjustments.

To be considered for this position, you must have valid work rights in the country where the role is based. Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Salary and benefits: Competitive locally engaged salary and benefits.

Please note: This role involves working with children, and the successful candidate will be required to complete both a police check and relevant due diligence checks as part of Palladium’s commitment to being a child-safe organisation.

How to Apply
Click the "Apply Now" button

Please submit your application online, including your CV and a brief cover letter, outlining your suitability in line with the requirements of the position. 

Closing date: Sunday 21st June 2026 11:59pm Jakarta time
  
If this opportunity interests you, we encourage you to apply promptly, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Please note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

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 accommodations 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.

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as all the actions taken by Palladium to protect our people, communities where we work and our clients from harm, including Sexual Exploitation, Abuse or Sexual Harassment; Child Abuse in any form; Trafficking for sexual exploitation of adults or children and any form of Trafficking of children. We have zero tolerance for all forms of child abuse as well as sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment and zero-tolerance for inaction to prevent, protect against, respond to and report 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. Our Code of Conduct and Child Safeguarding and Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Guidelines have additional details.