Defence Signals Directorate Reveal their secrets....Protect our own
Benefits

DSD offers employees an attractive range of conditions and benefits.

Remuneration

Salary ranges for different APS classification levels are available from the Defence Salary Scales chart. In addition to salary, APS employees are paid 15.4% superannuation.

Under the Defence Collective Agreement (DECA) 2009–11, two types of pay rises are offered:

  1. A DECA pay rise of 6.2% (spread over the life of the agreement), available to all employees participating in Defence’s Performance Management scheme.
  2. An annual performance progression pay rise of 3.8%, paid to eligible employees who achieve ‘fully effective’ or ‘outstanding’ ratings in their performance agreement assessments.

Further information about our competitive salaries, pay rises, entitlements and conditions of service for Defence APS employees is available in the DECA.

Leave Entitlements

Flexible Work Options
Flexible work hours are offered as an alternative to the traditional 9 to 5 work day. Flexible work hours allow staff to vary their daily arrival and/or departure time to fit with their lifestyle. The span of time within which staff can work their required hours on a flexible basis is 0700 to 1900. Please note that access to flexible working hours is mainly available to employees at the classification of APS level 6 (or equivalent) and below, but local arrangements can be entered into for Executive Level (EL) staff.

Flexible work hours can take a variety of different forms including a ‘compressed working week’, where employees work their standard weekly hours in fewer days than normal.

Other flexible work options, such as part-time work or job sharing, are also available to assist employees whose lifestyle, private commitments or fitness status are incompatible with full-time or standard hours of employment.

Broadband Advancement
All APS positions at DSD are part of a broadband advancement structure. Advancement within a broadband enables employees (who meet certain eligibility criteria) to advance to the next classification level within their broadband. Broadband advancement has the same effect as a promotion, however, you don’t compete for advancement against other applicants. Advancement is only applicable between the following classification levels:

Facilities
DSD headquarters is located in Russell Offices in Canberra. A number of facilities are available onsite and nearby including:

Counselling Service
Employees and their immediate family members have access to a free, professional and confidential counselling service called the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Counselling is available face-to-face or over the phone to help resolve personal or work-related issues.

Salary Sacrificing
Employees can access salary sacrificing arrangements provided under the Defence Flexible Remuneration Packaging (FRP) Scheme. Salary sacrificing enables employees to use some of their pre-tax earnings to pay for benefits such as extra superannuation contributions, a car or laptop computer.

Defence Benefits
DSD employees are entitled to a number of Defence-wide benefits including: