Training level or qualifications:

Level 6 duties typically require a skill level which assumes and requires knowledge or training equivalent to:

• a degree with subsequent relevant experience, or
• extensive experience and specialist expertise or broad knowledge in technical or administrative fields, or
• an equivalent combination of relevant experience and/or education/training.

Occupational equivalent:

Graduate or professional with subsequent relevant work experience (including a computer systems officer with some experience); line manager; experienced technical specialist and/or technical supervisor.

Level of supervision:

In professional positions, general direction; in other positions, broad direction. May have extensive supervisory and line management responsibility for technical, administrative and other non-professional staff.

Task level:

Perform work assignments guided by policy, precedent, professional standards and managerial or technical expertise.  Staff members would have the latitude to develop or redefine procedure and interpret policy so long as other work areas are not affected.  In technical and administrative areas, have a depth or breadth of expertise developed through extensive relevant experience and application.

Organisational knowledge:

Perform tasks/assignments which require proficiency in the work area's existing rules, regulations, policies, procedures, systems, processes and techniques and how they interact with other related functions, and to adapt those procedures and techniques as required to achieve objectives without impacting on other areas.

Judgement, independence and problem solving:

Discretion to innovate within own function and take responsibility for outcomes; design, develop and test complex equipment, systems and procedures; undertake planning involving resources use and develop proposals for resource allocation; exercise high level diagnostic skills on sophisticated equipment or systems; analyse and report on data and experiments.

Typical activities:

In technical positions:

• manage a teaching or research laboratory or a field station
• provide highly specialised technical services
• set up complex experiments
• design and construct complex or unusual equipment to general specifications
• assist honours and postgraduate students with their laboratory requirements
• install, repair, provide and demonstrate computer services in laboratories.

In administrative positions:

• provide financial, policy and planning advice
• service a range of administrative and academic committees, including preparation of agendas, papers, minutes and correspondence
• monitor expenditure against budget in a school or small faculty.

In professional positions:

• work as part of a research team
• provide a range of library services, including bibliographic assistance, original cataloguing and reader education in library and reference services
• provide counselling services
• undertake a range of computer programming tasks
• provide documentation and assistance to computer users
• analyse less complex user and system requirements.